Democrat Says Senator Harry Reid Deserves Earful Over Immigration

Now let me see if I have the facts right.

First, the January 14th story in El Paso Times reports that

"Mexico is one of two countries that 'bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse,' according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.

The command's 'Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)' report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. ....The report is the latest focusing on Mexico's security problems, which stem mostly from drug violence and corruption. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security and former U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey issued similar assessments."[U.S. military report warns 'sudden collapse' of Mexico is possible, By Diana Washington Valdez]

Then, in the January 15th Houston Chronicle story, Chertoff: Military ready if drug gangs cross border [ By Stewart M. Powell], we learn from Secretary Michael Chertoff "that federal SWAT teams and military units are prepared to respond to Mexican drug gangs in the event they cross the Rio Grande and confront U.S. law officers. The forces, another department official said, also stand ready to manage any surge to the border by Mexicans panicked by the cartels' violence."

Both these articles go on to say how Mexico is suffering from heavy influence from these drug cartels. The Chronicle story quotes Chertoff as describing

 "his department's contingency planning in broad terms in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. The other department official provided details on condition of anonymity. Chertoff ordered development of the contingency plans last summer in response to escalating drug syndicate violence in Mexico. More than 5,400 people were killed there last year in violence among several large gangs and Mexican security forces."

So it is against this background of known dangerous violence which could spring at us from Mexico that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a new "comprehensive immigration reform" AKA Amnesty bill ready to foist on a public which is writhing in pain from the deepening recession. He really handled that Roland Burris seating neatly too, didn't he?

Now we know that one of the big items on the agenda of the Obama Administration is to spend large sums on rebuilding our infrastructure—you know, ailing bridges, light rail, roads, etc. This may be needed, but in talking recently with political economist, Pat Choate, whose recent best selling book,  Dangerous Business: The Risks of Globalization for America alerts us to another danger, I found that he is convinced that "Unless special provisions are included in the infrastructure portion of the stimulus, a large job magnet for illegal construction will be created. That is the 'pull factor.' "(See Will Jobs In Obama's Infrastructure Boondoggle Be Reserved For Americans—As In FDR's WPA? By Steve Sailer)

That "Pull Factor" of course only gets exacerbated as matters deteriorate in Mexico.

Oh, well, folks, it is only your future welfare and that of your fellow citizens which Reid is putting on the line if he proceeds. Immigration policy or lack of it has been festering since 1965. America's leaders in Washington, DC keep fiddling like Nero to the tune of big business while American jobs go up in smoke.

America has arrived at a crossroads on immigration reform. Both Republicans like Senator John McCain, he of the wide open border philosophy, and also Democrats, are going to discover that the immigration issue is fast becoming the new third rail of American politics.

The only way to turn the voltage off would be to truly fix the source of the problem—reducing the unending demand of non citizens to come here abetted by businesses who want the cheap labor.

But what a perfect time to fix the problem with E-verify, a finished border fence, and improving ID for us citizens.

This issue, which by the way is one of both legal and illegal immigration, is truly getting down into the dermis of all Americans. We have long known that a large segment of the Hispanic American citizen community is against the kind of Latino invasion we have experienced. Their voices have seldom been heard , but now we find in another January 15th story from the Washington Post [ Immigration Issue Fades as Priority Among Latinos, by N.Z. Aizenman, that "The immigration issue has receded in importance to Latinos amid their mounting alarm over the economy, according to a nationwide poll released today by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center. Only 31 percent of Latinos surveyed cited immigration as an 'extremely important' priority for the incoming Obama administration, ranking the issue behind not only the economy but also education, health care, national security and the environment."

These American citizens, like all of us, completely understand the implications of legalizing the estimated 12 to 20 million illegal aliens already here.

What perhaps most Americans don't yet realize is that the legal immigration problem is worse than the illegal one. Here are the facts:

In a time of severe economic downturn, in a shrinking job market, American workers have to compete with 138,000 additional foreign workers arriving here each month.

Why 138,000 you ask? According to the Department of Homeland Security,  its most-recent-year data show that the U.S. granted:

• 744,531 permanent green cards to working-age adults ages 20-64, and

• 912,735 new employment authorization documents to temporary foreign workers.

That adds up to an annual rate of 1,657,266 new foreign workers (not counting illegal workers) added to our economy.

There are no indications that the pace has slackened. If it continues, DHS will issue an average of 138,000 new work permits and green cards to working-age adults each month this year. (Arithmetic courtesy NumbersUSA.)

This outrage needs to be stopped. Remember, folks, this 138,000 figure  is only the legal immigrants. It doesn't count the illegal aliens that CNN's Lou Dobbs has been so helpful in identifying.

The cost of those illegal aliens here presently is mounting to huge proportions. For example, in a study just released on January 14th, done by the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), we learn that the cost  to the state of North Carolina per year is over $1 billion. And this level of costs is replicated or exceeded in many other states around the US.

So when good old Harry Reid avuncularly steps up to that Capitol Hill battery of mikes to tell us how neat it would be to legalize the illegals and continue to allow that over 1 million legal aliens to come here every year, he's likely to get an earful from Americans.  As a Democrat, I hope he does.

Donald A. Collins [email him], 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.