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In the minimum wage thread the conversation has turned to illegal immigration, I figure since it is such a prominent topic this election cycle that it deserved its own thread.
Before I launch into my rant I just want to say for the record that my father is an immigrant. He came to this country legally, then after working a few years here he was able to bring his mother, father and brother to this country. After he did that he enlisted in the Air Force and soon became a citizen. He did it the right way, IMO.
I AM AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
That said, Trump's plan to deport all of the illegal immigrants is comical. It's an oversimplification to a big problem.
Lets break it down and really look at this:
1. How do we deport them? How do we find them? House by house search? Random stops on the street? Will there be special hot line numbers we can call to report suspected illegals? Do we go on looks? Accents? My father because of his accent has been accused of being an illegal, do lock up people like him until my mother or I can bring to the jail proof of citizenship?
2. So we are somehow able to lock up all of the illegals, what about their children that were born here? Children that are now US citizens? I know, Trump is claiming that he's talked to legal experts and he's saying that they're not citizens, but once again that's comical.
Here's some shocking news, not all of the children born to illegals are children anymore. They've been working and paying taxes. Do we strip their citizenship and deport them too? And if they have children and/or grandchildren born here do we strip their citizenship and deport them too? If the children of illegals aren't legal than their children aren't legal, right?
But if Trump's legal experts aren't correct and these children are citizens do we keep them? Send them to the country of their parents? Will those countries even take them? Do we put them into orphanages? Foster homes? Can we kick US citizens out of the country because of a crime their parents committed? Who the hell is going to pay for that? Wait, we'll make the parents of the illegals pay for that! We'll keep their children but won't allow the parents to see them unless they pay for us to keep them! If they'll pay for a wall they'll pay to see their kids!
Immigration is a much more complex issue than what is being bantered about. A big part of the problem is the companies that hire them.
One of my neighbors is an illegal, lives a few houses down in a home he purchased in 2007 on a variable interest rate mortgage that has been at 12% for years. The bank knows he's an illegal, that's why they won't refinance the loan. He works two jobs, one he works graveyard as a "private contractor" doing maintenance and repairs on the local McDonald's milkshake and french fry machines, the other job he works for a landscape company. The landscape company won't pay him if their clients don't pay them. He's done the work, he'll be right back at the exact same place the next week doing the work but every month there are always jobs he doesn't get paid for because his boss claims he didn't get paid for them. No benefits, retirement, workers comp, vacation, sick leave, now yes, he's here illegally and even without those things he's far better off than if he had remained in Mexico but aren't both of these businesses using and profiting off illegals?
Shouldn't there be some sort of penalty for the businesses that are using illegal immigrants?
Again, this is similar to saying we're going to end the war on drugs by locking up and throwing away the key on everyone who uses illegal drugs. We're not going to go after the drug dealers, we'll just ignore them. If we lock up the users the dealers won't have anyone to sell to, problem solved!
Before I launch into my rant I just want to say for the record that my father is an immigrant. He came to this country legally, then after working a few years here he was able to bring his mother, father and brother to this country. After he did that he enlisted in the Air Force and soon became a citizen. He did it the right way, IMO.
I AM AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
That said, Trump's plan to deport all of the illegal immigrants is comical. It's an oversimplification to a big problem.
Lets break it down and really look at this:
1. How do we deport them? How do we find them? House by house search? Random stops on the street? Will there be special hot line numbers we can call to report suspected illegals? Do we go on looks? Accents? My father because of his accent has been accused of being an illegal, do lock up people like him until my mother or I can bring to the jail proof of citizenship?
2. So we are somehow able to lock up all of the illegals, what about their children that were born here? Children that are now US citizens? I know, Trump is claiming that he's talked to legal experts and he's saying that they're not citizens, but once again that's comical.
Here's some shocking news, not all of the children born to illegals are children anymore. They've been working and paying taxes. Do we strip their citizenship and deport them too? And if they have children and/or grandchildren born here do we strip their citizenship and deport them too? If the children of illegals aren't legal than their children aren't legal, right?
But if Trump's legal experts aren't correct and these children are citizens do we keep them? Send them to the country of their parents? Will those countries even take them? Do we put them into orphanages? Foster homes? Can we kick US citizens out of the country because of a crime their parents committed? Who the hell is going to pay for that? Wait, we'll make the parents of the illegals pay for that! We'll keep their children but won't allow the parents to see them unless they pay for us to keep them! If they'll pay for a wall they'll pay to see their kids!
Immigration is a much more complex issue than what is being bantered about. A big part of the problem is the companies that hire them.
One of my neighbors is an illegal, lives a few houses down in a home he purchased in 2007 on a variable interest rate mortgage that has been at 12% for years. The bank knows he's an illegal, that's why they won't refinance the loan. He works two jobs, one he works graveyard as a "private contractor" doing maintenance and repairs on the local McDonald's milkshake and french fry machines, the other job he works for a landscape company. The landscape company won't pay him if their clients don't pay them. He's done the work, he'll be right back at the exact same place the next week doing the work but every month there are always jobs he doesn't get paid for because his boss claims he didn't get paid for them. No benefits, retirement, workers comp, vacation, sick leave, now yes, he's here illegally and even without those things he's far better off than if he had remained in Mexico but aren't both of these businesses using and profiting off illegals?
Shouldn't there be some sort of penalty for the businesses that are using illegal immigrants?
Again, this is similar to saying we're going to end the war on drugs by locking up and throwing away the key on everyone who uses illegal drugs. We're not going to go after the drug dealers, we'll just ignore them. If we lock up the users the dealers won't have anyone to sell to, problem solved!
