Immigration Moratorium Is a Goode Idea

            Recently Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), and with 20 other congressmen, called for effective enforcement of immigration laws to free up for American citizens the jobs held by eight million illegal aliens who now work in this country. “With a 10 percent unemployment rate,” said Smith, “now is the time for the Obama Administration to stand up for citizens and legal immigrant workers.”

            One who agrees is former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode. “But,” said Goode, “we need to go a step further to protect displaced American workers. . . . The first priority . . .  needs to be the interests of American citizens—both native born and naturalized—not “legal immigrant workers”. . . . Even if we completely stopped illegal immigration tomorrow, the government still issues 75,000 permanent work visas and approximately 50,000 temporary work visas every month. These 125,000 jobs should go to Americans first.”

            The proper response now, Goode affirmed, is a “moratorium” on immigration. He added that this would not include spouses of citizens, people with extraordinary skills, and a few other special categories, but it would cut off employment based immigration until “Americans are back on their feet.”

            Goode lamented that since the beginning of the current economic crisis, there has been scarcely any discussion of this idea, one which he described as “just plain old common sense.” With so many Americans without jobs, said Goode, “no one can say with a straight face that immigrants are doing the jobs Americans won’t do.”

            Once a moratorium is in place, the former congressman stated, it would be appropriate to reassess our entire immigration policy. Presently it is the consequence and logical extension of the 1965 immigration act. One of its leading sponsors, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), sold it with false promises, claiming it would not “cause American workers to lose their jobs” . . . and “our cities [would] not be flooded with a million immigrants annually.”

            The vested interests behind mass immigration, those for cheap votes and cheap labor, know very well that a moratorium is an obvious remedy for American workers. But they want no discussion of this remedy because they are totally indifferent to the suffering for their fellow citizens. The silence will prevail until jobless Americans and those concerned about them raise their voices and refuse to be quiet.           

The Gutierrez Bill—It’s Awful

            Many immigration restrictionists predicted that Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s long-awaited amnesty bill would be awful, and they were not disappointed. In point of fact, it’s considerably worse than the amnesty bills that failed in 2006 and 2007. The Gutierrez bill is even more lenient in penalties illegals would have to pay than those of the former bills. They offered what critics derisively called “wrist slaps.” Gutierrez’s measure is more on the order of “wrist taps”—such as the trivial $500 fine illegals would have to pay for a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

            The new bill also would go a long way to eliminate what little effective enforcement of immigration laws we have now. It would abolish the popular 287 (g) program which allows local and state police agencies to assist federal enforcement of those laws, and replace the proven E-verify system, which determines the legal status of workers, with an untested verification system. It would not add more Border Patrol agents or fencing.

            Gutierrez and the rest of the amnesty gang barely seem to notice that they want to ensure jobs for foreign lawbreakers while so many American citizens are out of work. One who did take note was Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), a leading amnesty opponent in the House. Said Smith, “With 15 million Americans out of work, it’s hard to believe that anyone would give amnesty to 12 million illegal immigrants. Even the open-borders crowd agrees that illegal immigrants take jobs from American workers, particularly poor and disadvantaged citizens and legal immigrants.”

            On top of amnesty, the Gutierrez bill would open the doors to 100,000 guest workers a year who could later petition to become permanent residents and citizens. Interestingly, this proposal has caused a rift in the pervious amnesty alliance of Democrats wanting cheap votes and Republicans wanting cheap labor. The Republicans say that the 100,000 is not enough. They want even more, and they won’t support a bill that doesn’t adequately feed their greed. As the two factions fight, patriotic American can enjoy the fracas from the sidelines.

            This legislation is so bad that many observers say it has no chance of passage. That may be, but some observers see it as part of a strategy which could prove successful. In this scenario, the bills takes a lot of flack, and the amnesty lobby responds by offering what it claims is more moderate legislation. By presenting an “improved” bill—perhaps what they really figured all along was the best they could get—they may hope to pass it.

            The point to keep in mind is that no amnesty legislation is acceptable. And if the politicians can’t understand this, the American people—once again—will have to remind them. 

The Refugee Racket Thrives

 

            The massive flow of immigrants into America continues unabated, despite the huge numbers of unemployed Americans who most assuredly don’t need the extra competition for employment. And one category of immigration, refugees, has actually been increasing.

            This year the U.S. took in 75,000 refugees, notes writer Don Barnett in the Tennessean (Nashville) 12/9/09. This is the highest number of admissions since 2001, and a total three times higher than the rest of the developed countries combined. Barnet, an expert of refugee resettlement, observes that most people who come to America claiming to be refugees are not people fleeing immediate danger and persecution. Far more often they are simply claiming to be refugees in order to improve their economic situation.

            Significantly too, 95 percent of the refugees coming to the U.S. are not selected by our government, but instead are referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Because of this, says Barnett, “the U.N. is effectively dictating much of U.S. immigration policy.” The refugees, he explains, encourage flows of their relatives to come to the U.S.

            Refugee resettlement is highly profitable, says Barnett, for “hundreds of taxpayer-funded organizations.” The largest of these is Catholic Charities and its parent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Sixty-five percent of Catholic Charities’ budget comes from government sources, i.e., taxpayers. But the subsidies from taxpayers don’t stop there. Refugees, unlike other immigrants, are eligible for welfare as soon as they arrive.

            Lately it appears that the refugee industry is trying to place as many refugees as possible in our country’s heartland in order to promote their ideological agendas of  “diversity” and “multiculturalism.” This is often done without considering the interests, capacities, or the general consent of the receiving communities.

            The agencies commonly try to get their way by manipulating the theme of compassion. What they don’t let anyone know about is their financial interest in refugee planting. Americans across the country are growing wise to this “refugee racket” and are putting up resistance when their communities are caught in the cross hairs of resettlement schemes. Those who advocate charity might consider—especially in times like these—that charity begins at home.           

Illegal Alien Advocates Plot Strategy

            Illegal alien advocates recently met at Columbia University to plot amnesty for illegal immigrants next year. They expressed no concern about what the granting of legal status to illegal immigrants now holding American jobs would do to the prospects of millions of unemployed Americans. Nor did they seem concerned that amnesty would encourage even more illegal aliens to enter our country—and our job market.

Radical leftist Frank Sharry said he was encouraged about prospects for passage. Sharry heads a group called America’s Voice, a strangely-named organization given the strong opposition of most Americans, as shown in poll after poll, to amnesty.

Sharry said one thing that encouraged him was that he and his allies were able to force the CNN network to drop CNN commentator Lou Dobbs who had regularly informed his TV audience about the problems associated with illegal immigration. Evidently the illegal immigration supporters believe that they have a better chance to push their agenda if the American public doesn’t know what they are doing.

The anti-American voice of Sharry went on to estimate that amnesty has 50-50 chance of passage. He maintained that 52 Democrat Senators are solidly behind “reform,” his word for amnesty, but conceded that it might be something of a problem to win over eight Republicans, so as to reach the total of sixty senators, the number necessary to shut off debate and force a vote on amnesty.

Another speaker at the Columbia meeting, David Ayon, said that he felt that Republican support might be obtained, noting the strident efforts for amnesty by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The South Carolina senator once distinguished himself by describing amnesty opponents as “bigots” in a speech to the National Council of La Raza (The Race), a Latino supremacist organization.

Illegal alien advocates are doing more than talking. Recently they organized two political action PACs to give money to political officeholders and candidates who will do their bidding. So far the two, Immigrants’ List and ImmigrationPAC have raised a total of $100,000.

Patriotic Americans who want real reform, i.e., no amnesty and reduction of immigration to open jobs for Americans, should take note of what the illegal advocates are up to. With Lou Dobbs no longer on television, it is more important than ever to have active networks of citizens who can disseminate accurate information on immigration to their fellow Americans. AIC stands ready to play a leading role in this effort.