Not enforcing immigration laws penalizes legitimate business that hire legitimate workers
This is in response to Suzanne Brown’s article “State’s immigration bill is mean-spirited and anti-business” dated 7/16/2008. Ms. Brown states that the E-verify program will drive many businesses to relocate due to the number of regulatory burdens. This is nonsense. The E-verify program takes minutes to complete and even exceptions, in most cases, are not very time consuming.
In relation to the other tasks that Human Resources personal conduct as part of the hiring process, E-verify is insignificant. Stating that it will drive business out of the state or prevent businesses from locating here is nonsense.
Her comments on immigration training of the Missouri State Highway Patrol are equally misguided. Her point on racial profiling has no merit and we have many mechanisms in the US that are actively used to punish those who do racial profiling. It cannot be a reason to not enforce our laws.
Also, concerns about reporting crimes by illegal aliens can be easily solved by letting the community know that reporting a crime will in no way factor in your residency status. The majority of the illegal aliens quickly learned that there were laws that weren’t being enforced and it’s likely they would also quickly learn they could report crimes without threat of deportation. Statistics show that most criminals commit other crimes. Use of our police force to remove those individuals from our society will only benefit us all and eventually reduce the work load of our law enforcement officers.
Her last point is that it breaks up families. If we were to use that logic then no laws would be enforced. We would be living in anarchy.
Finally, this is not an immigration bill. It is a bill to attempt to control what is uncontrolled illegal activity. These illegal activities penalize legitimate business that hire legitimate workers, result in overcrowding, poverty and depress the wages of recent legal immigrants, and result in negative sentiment towards the groups involved in breaking our laws.
Eric Vastag
St. Falls Church, Va.
Since when, is enforcing laws considered being “mean spirited”? We have an illegal alien problem, in every state, and open warfare in a few spots along the border with Mexico. Illegal’s are using our hospitals, highways, fuel, and any product or service you would care to mention. 12 to 20 million illegals, that don’t pay for hospital services, drive up the cost of those services. Just ask the hospitals that have closed because of it.
I also think Federal Funding should be witheld from sancutary cities, like New York and San Francisco.
Lax enforcement of our immigration laws also allows the government in Mexico City to shirk its responsibilities to its poorest citizens. The Mexican government is the beneficiary of all the money shipped south of the border by undocumented workers while also relocating many poor and uneducated Mexicans to the United States.
While I agree with the intent and spirit of the bill, this is hardly significant in the state of Missouri which is estimated to have only 22,000 illegal immigrants (less than 0.4% of the state’s population). Good political posturing though.
Political posturing, yeah right.
10,000 going to the emergency room, with a conservative cost of $500 per visit = $5,000,000.
5,000 going to the emergency room, with serious problem, with a conservative cost of $1,500 per visiy = $7,500,000
Multiply that cost with 12 to 20 million illegals.
Political posturing? Only in your dreams!!!
Why is some clown from some East Coast right wing neocon Brown Shirt weblog echochambering foundation messing with Missouri and its pandering to the far right?
We have our own homegrown group of the “Axis of Ignorance” like sick and vicious, Tang, jonesy, Centwisted, slick Nick, and Not a Sage! We don’t need no outside agitators horning in on our “Axis of Ignorance!”
Hey, Yappers! The Sioux went to court and won when they challenged the taking of the Black Hills from them , and our breaking every treaty we signed with them. Instead of getting their land back, the USSC gave the Sioux money (which they haven’t taken!)!
What part of Illegal don’t you yappers get!
If you don’t like illegals, get out of this country and go somewhere else because unless you are a Native American, you are most likely an illegal alien living on someone else’s land which was stolen from them!
If the act of illegal immigration and the hiring of illegal immigrants were to be made “Capital Crimes”, we would soon be hearing a giant whooshing sound as they headed for the southern border.
Kenrick, it wouldn’t have to become a Capital crime. All that would have to happen would be for some of the CEO’s of the major employers of illegals (Tyson, Iowa Beef) to do perp walks and it would end.
It’ll never happen, because those guys are big time political donors, and they don’t want enforcement.
hs,
If it is big business that is the cause of the illegal immigraiton problem, then why is your party on the same side?
This is such a simple problem to solve. If you are in here illegally, see ya. Go back home. If you know someone is here illegally, report them. If you are in law enforcement, do your job and deport them.
Employers hiring illegal aliens should be required to provide healthcare coverage. As stated above, the cost to us all of these off-the-books employees getting “free” coverage at the ER is simply a transfer of wealth from all of us to these employers.
JD,
Good point you raise about cost of health care to support illegals. You have eloquently laid down your estimates. Let me buttress that with another fact. We had 771,682 uninsured Missourians in 2006. Would you care to put cost of 22,000 illegals in perspective now ?
My point is that if we put forth solutions simply based on emotions without understanding the major and minor causes, we are never going to solve the problem.