03/03/2011
[See also: Why I Am A Democrat (And An Immigration Reformer), by Donald A. Collins]
My February 24 column, Democrat Asks: Why Are Most Democrats Congenital Open Border Advocates? brought numerous comments (none unfavorable, significantly).
But I did get a questioning email from a friend and fellow Democrat who has long been very liberal on immigration — I believe for the reasons of group loyalty cited in my article. This, despite the fact she is living in a border state and thus cannot ignore the effects of the immigration invasion there.
This was the question she put to me:
"Don, what is the wording you would recommend for legislation to address/solve the problem? Joanne"
I suspected she was saying to me, politely, "Tell me one good reason why I should change my mind? Give me specifics!"
So, Folks, here is the email I sent back:
Dear Joanne,
Thanks for reading my recent OP ED and for asking the right question.
However, no single piece of legislation or court decision would adequately deal with the range of immigration and related issues that cry out for solutions.
While more and more Americans are demanding answers, as we all can see the disastrous effects of the growing immigration invasion, the answers are obvious — but far from politically achievable. Below, some urgently needed actions.
First, a moratorium on all immigration until the following steps are accomplished:
Of course none of this is likely to happen with the present Democratic control of the Senate and the White House.
Our present problem has bipartisan roots. Certainly, the addition of 120 million more humans, most of low education, to our numbers since 1965 can be blamed on the terrible legislation then. But the subsequent mess is due to the failure of both parties.
I have just (January 17-21) been to the Arizona border with a group led by Jerry Kammer, a long-time Arizona resident and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter. Our group was briefed by US Border Patrol, ranchers, reporters and others who completely disagree with the recent claim by Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano that the border is more secure.
Both parties agree we are in a mess. But amnesty has been a failure — and amnesty is what Democrats are proposing, whether they call their plan "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" or alternatively, the Dream Act. The 1986 Amnesty for three million aliens led to the estimated 12 million now living in the US. As noted, the chance for a moratorium until we got it right seems to be zero. So more and more and more mostly uneducated aliens will pour in, while our government will keep authorizing over 1 million work visas, and the unemployment percentage–real unemployment — stays in the high teens with 25 million Americans now out of work.
I guess the US Chamber of Commerce and the ethnic and religious lobbies must like the situation like it is — so screw the 65% plus of American citizens who are very unhappy about these high immigration numbers. But hat’s not my idea of democracy.
As a Democrat, I am fully aware of the ideology of many in the new Republican House majority, who have decided to wage war on women’s reproductive rights.
Thus I was particularly pleased when a conservative newspaper owner from Pittsburgh, PA, Dick Scaife, wrote an impressive Op Ed foursquarely against de-funding Planned Parenthood. [Don’t defund Planned Parenthood, February 27, 2011]
Of course, if the Republicans manage to un-fund family planning services, that will only exacerbate the number of poorer, uneducated, un-acculturated people our staggering welfare system has to provide for.
As with our un-repayable national debt, now at $14 plus TRILLION and going higher, what may happen is that the Federal Government will kick the immigration can down the road.
But will your successor family members feel good when we add another 40 or 50, or more, million people by 2050?
We didn’t need the last 120 million people. And we don’t need the next huge tranche.
But they are coming — unless enough Americans wake up and miraculously derail the cheap labor express train now bearing down upon their children’s lives.
Cordially, Don
Donald A. Collins is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.
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