Sunday, February 13, 2005
Part two in this ongoing series is the illegal immigration problem here in the US. 700,000 (conservative estimate) illegal immagrants make it to the US every year, which translates into nearly 2,000 entering daily. As of January 2005, the percentage of people unemployed who are able and want to work is 5.2%. While that is an excellently low figure, there are easy ways to get that 5.2% back to work and earning money. If we are to seriously fix the unemployment problem, we must take a look at our booming illegal immigration problem.
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that only immigrants who speak english and have a skill which is needed in Britain would be allowed into the kingdom. I hope that if this works, we begin implementing it here. 20 million illegals reside in the US (as of the 2000 Census data), many hold unskilled and low wage jobs. One argument I have heard in regards to why illegals should reside in the states (and one the President Bush has cited) is that many of these workers do jobs that Americans are unwilling to work. Yes, we are a very rich nation, and some kid from New York City would probably rather be unemployed than work on a farm in Kansas. I believe that given a few years without illegal immagrants, however, the market will make a minor shift, and that kid from New York will be employed, and the farm in Kansas will have no lack of workers. Unfortunately, the government is making no effort to allow the market forces take effect, and instead do very little to solve our immigrant problem.
But, the government did try to dissuade illegals from entering the US once. A proposal entered congress allocating funds to providing a fence in high traffic areas along the Mexican/US border. And, to tie this into my last post, there was one large hang up. Apparently there is a rare species of bird living along that border, and PETA stood up to the birds' deffence. Now I have no problem with environmentalism, and I'll admit that to a degree I am one, we all are for that matter. But when a bird gets in the way of our security as a nation and affects the US market to such a ammount, we must start making better decisions. A fence would be a great start. Not exactly the best fix, but it should cut down the ammount of illegals entering into the US enough to justify the cost. We should also take a page out of Britain's book and only allow english speakers who have a needed skill. For as socialist as Britain is becoming, this is a brilliant device to help an economy. Speaking of, I've got a great post on outsourcing coming up, so stay tuned.
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that only immigrants who speak english and have a skill which is needed in Britain would be allowed into the kingdom. I hope that if this works, we begin implementing it here. 20 million illegals reside in the US (as of the 2000 Census data), many hold unskilled and low wage jobs. One argument I have heard in regards to why illegals should reside in the states (and one the President Bush has cited) is that many of these workers do jobs that Americans are unwilling to work. Yes, we are a very rich nation, and some kid from New York City would probably rather be unemployed than work on a farm in Kansas. I believe that given a few years without illegal immagrants, however, the market will make a minor shift, and that kid from New York will be employed, and the farm in Kansas will have no lack of workers. Unfortunately, the government is making no effort to allow the market forces take effect, and instead do very little to solve our immigrant problem.
But, the government did try to dissuade illegals from entering the US once. A proposal entered congress allocating funds to providing a fence in high traffic areas along the Mexican/US border. And, to tie this into my last post, there was one large hang up. Apparently there is a rare species of bird living along that border, and PETA stood up to the birds' deffence. Now I have no problem with environmentalism, and I'll admit that to a degree I am one, we all are for that matter. But when a bird gets in the way of our security as a nation and affects the US market to such a ammount, we must start making better decisions. A fence would be a great start. Not exactly the best fix, but it should cut down the ammount of illegals entering into the US enough to justify the cost. We should also take a page out of Britain's book and only allow english speakers who have a needed skill. For as socialist as Britain is becoming, this is a brilliant device to help an economy. Speaking of, I've got a great post on outsourcing coming up, so stay tuned.
