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Why Legalization Programs for Illegal Aliens Won't Solve the Problem - Granting an outright amnesty to the estimated 8 to 11 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. would be about as popular as tripling the California car tax. However, both political parties must contend with pet special interests that dearly want to see illegal aliens legalized. What’s a politician to do? Cleverly, both parties broken up what prior to 9/11 looked like the mother of all amnesties, into lots of little ones, each innocuously renamed so as to minimize public opposition. One would grant amnesty to students and who wouldn’t want to be compassionate to kids? Another would make millions of illegal aliens into “guest workers” who would then “earn” their right to become legal permanent residents. Then, as Sen. Ted Kennedy, one of Congress’ leading amnesty advocated, stated, other programs will be devised to cover the rest of those illegally in the country. Whatever terminology is devised to bestow legal status on millions of people who are in the country illegally, amnesty violates basic principles of fairness, promises to be enormously expensive, and will do nothing to stem the flow of still more illegal immigration to the U.S. Granting amnesty to people who settled here illegally is an affront to millions of people all over the world who have waited, often for years, to come to the U.S. as legal immigrants. Moreover, the various amnesty-disguised-as-guest-worker programs being discussed include provisions that will allow the family members of illegal aliens to be admitted ahead of those of legal immigrants. The cost of administering legalization programs that could involve many millions of applicants would be staggering. If the Department of Homeland Security were to actually attempt to conduct thorough background investigations to weed out both fraudulent claims and potential terrorists, the process would either take decades to complete, or they would have to hire an army of new civil servants. Neither of these scenarios is likely. Instead, millions of applications will get rubber stamp approvals and everyone will hope for the best. The cost of providing a range of social services that is straining many state and local budgets including education, health care, housing assistance and countless others will almost certainly increase. While it is true that some of the erstwhile illegal aliens who have been working off-the-books may be drawn into the above-ground economy, it is equally likely that they will also sign up for even more costly social benefit programs than they are currently accessing. Even after receiving amnesty they will still be poor and still require public assistance. Finally, granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens will result in still more illegal immigration. Millions more people will be encouraged to come here illegally in the expectation that some future Congress and president will opt to make the problem go away with the stroke of a pen in a Rose Garden ceremony. Moreover, employers who prefer to hire illegal aliens because their status limits their bargaining power, will simply begin hiring the next wave of illegal entrants. So long as there is no enforcement of laws barring them from employing illegal aliens, there is no incentive for these employers to deal with millions of newly empowered amnesty recipients when there is a fresh crop of illegal aliens ready to take their place. Even in a best-case scenario, in which employers opt for a steady supply of authorized guest workers, they will have succeeded in ensuring that the wages of millions of workers in the United States are artificially capped. If our objective is to guarantee a labor force that works for minimum wage and under minimally acceptable standards, then massive guest worker programs are surely the way to go. Most Americans are viscerally opposed to amnesty for illegal aliens, or turning them into guest workers, because it rewards people who have broken the law. But the overwhelming majority of the public also opposes the idea because they plainly see it for what it is: a massive labor subsidy program that they are paying for. By whatever name the politicians choose to call it, legalizing millions of illegal aliens would not only constitute a perversion of justice, but would be a frontal assault on what remains of America’s middle class. |
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