(January 4, 2019 at 1:51 pm)Lek Wrote: I live in the "sanctuary state" of California which refuses to aid ICE in apprehending people who are here illegally and actually seems to encourage people to come here illegally. I'm totally in favor of allowing immigration into the US and see our liberal immigration quotas as a positive. What I don't understand is how we can exist as a nation if we don't have control over who enters the country. I have a question for those who agree with the state of California and are against prosecuting those who have entered the country illegally or preventing undocumented people from crossing into the country as they wish. What is your rationale and why is this good for us?
I’m trying to find a way to phrase this that will clearly convey what I think about this. So if I ramble, I apologize.
Our immigration system is deliberately complicated, and simply crossing our southern border at a port of entry is prohibitively difficult for non-US citizens. This is deliberate. People who wish to come in are forced to come through deserts, rivers, and mountains. Thousands die. And these deaths are seen as a positive by policymakers. They see it as a deterrent. Then when the migrants get here they are faced with horrible working conditions, blocked from social services, and mat be separated from their families. And these people STILL want to come here. They are that desperate.
No amount of cracking down on these communities is going to stop the migration. What states like California are doing is wise, IMO. If these communities feel safe calling the cops, then they will be safer. If they don’t, then criminals will exploit these people and hide in these communities.
If stopping this was actually the goal there’s a much easier and more effective way to do it. They come here because there’s work. Well, what if there wasn’t? Companies hire illegals because they’re cheap, they can’t complain about working conditions, and they can’t really negotiate. So let’s say instead of going after desperate people, we fine the companies that hire illegals. Hard. Let’s say $5k per illegal employee per day.
(Incidentally the reason we don’t do this is because businesses don’t want this. It gives American workers more bargaining power and certain administrations didn’t like that)
My bet is if you did this a lot of illegal immigrants would choose to leave or begin applying for legal status (which we really should make a path for). I would also bet that businesses would start pushing hard for comprehensive immigration reform.
