The Mandate and Immigration

So yesterday Mitch McConnell continued with his great big ideas out of the GOP by suggesting that odds are against repealing Obamacare.

“If you thought it was a good idea for the federal government to go in this direction, I’d say the odds are still on your side,” McConnell said. “Because it’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place.”

True that, but you’re sounding a little defeatist there. Which puts me in mind of border control.
The GOP doesn’t really want border control because in reality illegal aliens are helpful to the economy. Whenever they discuss cracking open the borders a little more and lightening up the immigration process, it’s all about educated immigrants who will enhance the republic. The uneducated are not included in ideas for increased immigration as they could potentially be a drain on the system.

But…..these uneducated illegal immigrants are needed/wanted for the economy. Hence the GOP just talks around the edges and nothing is done.

The GOP believes in personal responsibility. The mandate, mandates personal responsibility so in reality it’s a good thing. It was just the opportune subject to help fight Obamacare because tea partiers suggested it just might be unconstitutional to require a private citizen to buy something from another private citizen. Now that it’s enacted and passed through the Supreme Court, you bet your tushy that Republicans will let it stay. Hospitals are required to treat so people are required to pay…but since people don’t pay they’ll now be required to pay through insurance.

I have my doubts that repeal will happen with ease and am only hoping that Obama is voted out so that the Supreme Court at least has a chance to not turn so far left that we no longer recognize this country. But yes, each passing year sees the slipping away of the original ideals.

Sadly Victor Davis Hanson is not all that cheery either. I understand.

UPDATE: Keith Hennessey has a good column in the WSJ today that notes what I’m trying to say here [ht jg]:

Once the individual mandate is repealed, these popular insurance changes cannot stand by themselves. Without the mandate, people have every incentive to save on premiums and not buy insurance until they fall ill. This will send premiums through the roof for healthy people and, if the government clamps down on increased premiums, destroy private insurance companies. Those Republicans who say they favor legislated guaranteed-issue and community-rating requirements but oppose the mandate will be forced to acknowledge that all three must go.

You’ll note that he too has good ideas for reform unlike Mitch McConnell did on Sunday.

“It’s the right thing to do”

Per Obama, his decision on illegals who arrived before the age of 16, are under the age of 30, have been in the United States for five years, have no criminal record, and attend high school or college or be a military veteran is the “right thing to do”.

I don’t disagree, but for whom is it the “right thing to do”? He keeps setting up all of these new rules but they hardly ever seem fair to me.
I’m 31, came here when I was 5 and this doesn’t apply?
I’m 18, came here when I was 16 and this doesn’t apply?
I’m 21 and a citizen and can’t get a job….how is this right for me?
I’m the employee of 20 of these folks and paying them the prevailing wage, when they all quit because there are now better opportunities….is this right for me?
I’m the one who’s been waiting in line at the immigration office for 4 years to get into the US legally. I don’t really have skills, but can contribute. Is this right for me?

Obama has no idea how things work in the real world. These 1 million people can now come out from under the shadows….and maybe this is a good, for them. But they will no longer need to be yard crews, or vegetable pickers or dish washers. So we’ll need a whole new crew willing to work in the shadows and suddenly there is even more competition for that job opening at the factory.

Luckily Mexico’s economy is doing better, yet still I suspect there will be plenty of folks who think “5 years?….I can hide for 5 years until junior can become legal there….it will certainly be better than dealing with the cartel situation here!”. And we’re back to square 1.

I’ll say it again.
There is a line of folks wanting to be here in the US. Give these people who were dragged here as young people a pass towards the beginning of that line, but don’t skip the whole thing.
And change the requirements, but keep the dang line. Those who have patiently waited have been screwed again.

UPDATE: Hey someone agrees with me!!! Thank you SooperMexican for writing this post. It’s must clarer than all of mine.

Immigration

For first time since Depression, more Mexicans leave U.S. than enter

Mexicans come to this country illegally for work and the wages that work earns. During hard times, there is less work and many will go home. Others won’t because this country is their home. This is no surprise.

So where does a statement like this come from? Bold is mine.

“I think the massive boom in Mexican immigration is over and I don’t think it will ever return to the numbers we saw in the 1990s and 2000s,” said Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which has been gathering data on the subject for 30 years.

Why?
In 1986 Reagan signed the amnesty bill giving amnesty to illegals already living here. What happened then is more people arrived illegally and have awaited a 2nd amnesty. doh.
So if the economy improves and there is more work…..(or if the industry of agriculture is no longer able to use their 17 year old kids as free labor so there are a LOT more cheap jobs available), and if more talks get going about another amnesty bill, then Mexicans will most definitely return en masse illegally.

Professor Massey doesn’t even bother discussing the economy in Mexico. If it improves to a great extent, then that would be a reason the mass illegal immigration would not occur again.

It’s as if people think the world is a static place now that they are in it.

Oblivious much?

Perfect

Bill Whittle takes on those who claim those of us who disapprove of illegal immigration are in the wrong, and Ed Morrissey adds some commentary.

The Big AZ Boycott Whiplash Dance

Those dirty rotten sons of guns in AZ – what do they know of immigration…we here in San Diego – we can work with these good people. Let’s call for a “statement of opposition” to AZ.

Good plan, good plan.

Oh crap….those Arizonans think we called for a boycott….. a lot of Arizonians come to San Diego for the nicer summer weather and now they’re canceling.
I know – we’ll write a nice letter explaining it wasn’t a “boycott”, just a statement. That’ll make em want to come back.

Good plan, good plan.

Oh crap….if we write the letter, we’ll make the news. If we make the news, then people across the country will know our Schools have written a “letter of opposition” and they’ll think it’s a boycott and then they won’t come either. We better keep a low profile., no letter.

Good plan, good plan.

(ht Maggie’s Farm)

Do you suppose all those folks who are boycotting their travel to AZ realize that immigrants (legal and otherwise) make up the bulk of the service industry?

Illegal Immigrants

Maaan – I thought I was done with this subject.

As raids have increased and the recession has worsened and the talk of illegals getting amnesty has died down illegals have been going home.

As illegals have gone home for whatever reason wages have increased to replace these workers with legal workers.

But President Obama wants granting a path to citizenship via illegal immigration vs via shortening the regular lines at the border to become part of his massive agenda.

I can’t say it any louder. Fix the damn process of getting legal immigrants granted their visas. Ignore and prosecute illegal immigrants as you encounter them. Encourage the hiring of legal people all over this country.

Do something for the actual poor and unemployed citizens and legal immigrants that are here!!!!!

Just last month, Mr. Obama openly recognized that immigration is a potential minefield.

“I know this is an emotional issue; I know it’s a controversial issue,” he told an audience at a town meeting on March 18 in Costa Mesa, Calif. “I know that the people get real riled up politically about this.”

But, he said, immigrants who are long-time residents but lack legal status “have to have some mechanism over time to get out of the shadows.”

There IS a mechanism. It’s called, go home and stand in line.
…………….

Administration officials said that Mr. Obama’s plan would not add new workers to the American work force, but that it would recognize millions of illegal immigrants who have already been working here.

That’s right, the big Obama plan wouldn’t add new workers because theoretically all those workers now who are here illegally working in the shadows will continue their crappy low wage jobs once they get their visas. How idiotic can he be? don’t answer that.

I KNOW illegal immigrants. They would LOVE for amnesty to happen so they can move out of their current jobs and into better jobs. Everyone wants to better themselves. This is simple math, not calculus.

Illegal Immigration

You folk who read me regularly know that I have a serious problem with illegal immigration. I am perfectly fine with increasing levels of legal immigration, but I want our borders to mean something.

John McCain was an author of the comprehensive immigration bill that didn’t pass last year. He realized that the people want the borders secured first and while he has never been fully convinced it’s a good plan, he has been convinced that we the people think it is.

That being said, he still is reaching out to the Hispanic community, through La Raza and good for him.

According to the LAtimes he brought secure borders up at every turn.

During a 15-minute Q&A after McCain’s speech, a young woman asked if he would support the Dream Act, which gives illegal immigrant children a chance to earn citizenship by attending college or enlisting in the military.

“Yes. Yes,” he replied, then added a sentiment that he incorporated into almost every answer: “I would also enforce existing laws of our country, and the nation’s first requirement is the nation’s security, and that’s why you have to have our borders secured.”

Here’s a clip from Hot Air showing him taking on an open borders guy.

And here he is taking on Obama’s statements concerning him and immigration.

Obama took aim at McCain when he addressed the same group in San Diego on Sunday, saying he had admired McCain for bucking his party and pushing for the legislation, but that eventually McCain “abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote.”

McCain said he wanted to correct the record. He said he had supported the immigration legislation even though his critics said it would be “political suicide.”

“I took my lumps for it without complaint. My campaign was written off as a lost cause. I did so not just because I believed it was the right thing to do for Hispanic Americans. It was the right thing to do for all Americans. Sen. Obama declined to cast some of those tough votes,” McCain said.

Good for him. McCain did take his lumps and he did what he thought was right. I admire him for that and will vote for him for that EVEN THOUGH I am a believer in secure borders and getting to the end of the line before you get to get legalized.

Michelle Malkin continues to look for any bending to accommodate Hispanics. She’s a bulldog in that regard and frankly it’s gotten to be wearing. La Raza (yes, it means “the Race”) is an Hispanic group who’s soul purpose is not jihad against the US of A.

Our ICE agent are not terrorists, but yes there are times when they deport without regard to the children left behind. These are families and compassion is not too much to ask for from this country. Yes, deport them, but come on.

Immigration (both kinds)

I had to link to this column by Ralph Peters today concerning immigration because he agrees with me.

Have solid/strong/enforced borders.
Increase visas/citizenship to what is actually needed.
Don’t kick out the 12 million illegals here, but do give them consequences for having broken the law.

What’s the worst thing we could do about the new global migration? Ignore it. Postpone solutions. Pretend – as we did 20 years ago – that illegal immigration is a temporary phenomenon curable with a “one-time” amnesty.
What’s the best we could do? Control our borders, but be honest about our needs and treat legitimate immigrants with dignity and decency.

I’ll post, you do the math

Teens can’t find summer jobs.

There’s a serious labor shortage for farmer’s harvests.

Hmmmmm….

Good news

The State dept has determined that some of it’s idiotic rules of immigration need some review.
In the meantime they have stopped giving out straight denials of green cards.

The catalyst for yesterday’s decision, Scharfen and other officials said, was a Washington Post article last weekend about a translator for U.S. forces in Iraq. Saman Kareem Ahmad, 38, arrived in the United States under a special visa program for those assisting the nation’s war effort, after his life was threatened in Iraq. He had received commendations from the secretary of the Navy and then-Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, now the top U.S. commander in Iraq, as well as strong support from Marine and Army officers with whom he had worked. Ahmad was later granted political asylum, but his application for permanent residence was denied last month on grounds he had once served with Kurdish military forces that fought against Hussein.

You know we go on and on about the main stream media, but they do serve a good purpose many, many times. This is one of those times. Great job WAPO!