There's an article in today's Washington Times that includes a few choice words about the facts that over the last few weeks enforcement has been stepped up in the area of illegal immigration, with 14 illegals having been nabbed in the Loudoun Virginia area in a single raid, and nearly 1,200 illegals in 26 states having been nabbed at IFCO Systems North America Inc. plants.
The usual cast of characters is out decrying this treatment of people that are just here to find work, or who are claimed to be hard-working members of society. The problem for those folks is that the folks that have been nabbed are not supposed to be in this country currently, and none of them apparently went through proper channels to get themselves here.
Personally, I'm glad to see this rise in enforcement efforts. I do feel sorry for the people that are here trying to make a better life for themselves, but there are proper methods to get here. Apply for a work visa, or go through other legal channels and you'd be welcomed here. Cross the border illegally and you earn nothing but my scorn.
I know that there are plans among immigrant groups to host rallies and strikes in the coming days. Personally I'd have the paddy wagons ready for rounding up the marchers and would be checking credentials of anyone found in the crowds. Again, it's not racial profiling, it's not harrassment, it's the cost of being in this country and holding up signs protesting treatment of people that are not supposed to be here.
Sooner or later we really might see immigration reform, improvements in border security, and efforts to help keep down illegal immigration in favor of legal means of coming to this country to do work. Meanwhile, the dirty employers that have been enriching themselves on the backs of illegal immigrants should be finding themselves cleaned up and/or cleaned out. Their cheating ways, too, must end. It should not be acceptable to management and officers of the companies that have been doing such business to bring in labor that isn't here legally. There are requirements on the books for employers to verify and document the workers they hire. That many companies haven't done it, or have cheated in doing it, is wrong. Those companies should be paying major fines, money that should be pooled and collected for enforcement and improvements in border security. When we get done collecting the several billion that should be out there, perhaps we'll have enough to get the security we need without ever raising taxes on a single U.S. citizen.
Granted, we might pay more for some services or goods we buy, but at least we would know we were supporting honest businesses. If those businesses really do find that things are too tough for them to do business here in the U.S.A. while paying the prevailing wages, then perhaps they really should consider moving their plants and efforts south of the border where they can find cheap labor that is in need of a job. In doing that, perhaps the job market in Mexico will improve to the point that would be immigrants find work at home and don't need to come here to the U.S.A. They too can benefit from that which is capitalism, and they too would be able to take their hard earned wealth and pay it into taxes that might help their own brothers and sisters in their home country more directly.
