Illegal immigrants and their supporters will gather in Washington, DC, and a handful of sanctuary cities today for a so-called National Day of Action (and here). Their list of demands is loco:
- Stop separating families
- Stop the torture of 4 million U.S. citizen children
- Stop the raids and deportations
- Stop the no match sanctions
- Stop the hatred
The poster child for family reunification is Elvira Arellano, a twice-deported illegal alien who committed identity theft and thumbed her nose at the rule of law until she was finally sent packing last month.
Amidst all the español, one is not likely to hear the incontrovertible fact: Arellano chose to separate herself from her son whose education, health care and other social services are being paid for by American taxpayers.
The demonstrations come on the same day the Senate is holding a second confirmation hearing for Julie Myers, who as acting head of ICE is responsible for enforcing the nation's immigration laws.
While illegals are outside chanting "Si, se puede," Myers will be inside testifying about what ICE is doing to make sure they can't.
If the open borders crowd had its way, the tax burden on middle-class American families would be even higher. Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson recently wrote:
We shouldn't think that our massive efforts to mitigate poverty have had no effect. Immigration hides our grudging progress.
A second reason is that immigration affects government policy. By default, our present policy is to import poor people (emphasis added). This imposes strains on local schools, public services and health care. From 2000 to 2006, 41 percent of the increase in people without health insurance occurred among Hispanics. Paradoxically, many Hispanics are advancing quite rapidly. But assimilation -- which should be our goal -- will be frustrated if we keep adding to the pool of poor. Newcomers will compete with earlier arrivals. In my view, though some economists disagree, competition from low-skilled Hispanics also hurts low-skilled blacks.
We need an immigration policy that makes sense. My oft-stated belief is that legal immigration should favor the high-skilled over the low-skilled. They will assimilate quickest and aid the economy the most. As for present illegal immigrants, we should give most of them legal status, both as a matter of practicality and fairness. Many have been here for years and have American children. At the same time, we should clamp down on new illegal immigration through tougher border controls and employer sanctions.
Samuelson on the mainstream media and the link between illegal immigration and poverty:
Journalists are also leery of making the connection.
As a citizen journalist, it's my mission to make the connection and tell the rest of the story.
