Re: New Texas Immigration Law

In regards to Angie's blog post, New Texas Immigration Law, I can't say that I fully agree. What the Legislature is doing is weighing out the options they have in front of them. Not every decision made and passed by Legislature can be argued as the "correct" solution. Just as well, there are certain things that cannot be resolved all-together; illegal immigration being one of them.

Illegal immigration has been a problem in Texas, Arizon, California, and New Mexico because these states do lie on the border of the United States and Mexico. Border control was hired to lessen the amount of "border hoppers" but obviously, there are still illegal aliens fleeing to the U.S. Efforts have been made to take these aliens that have been taking jobs from legal U.S. citizens, which I agree with. These illegal aliens do not need to be taking jobs from American citizens. There are already a short amount jobs available to those that have had their jobs cut or have been laid off. Illegal aliens should not be able to hold jobs in the United States.

On the opposite side, and perhaps in defense of the state Legislature's actions, if "we", the people, know that illegal immigrants are going to continue sneaking across the border, maybe giving them an option of work could be beneficial. Perhaps giving them some sort of means of income could keep crime down? Sure there is money/jobs to be lost to the immigrants coming from Mexico, but have you ever wondered how much money is spent taking them back to Mexico? I'm not suggesting giving up entirely but trying to keep illegal aliens out of the country is a task the United States is failing at when only one out of every three is caught. Spending more money on border control could also be an alternative, but I think you and I would both agree that we'd rather have more jobs for legal American citizens than keeping illegal aliens out of the country.

Hiring an illegal immigrant to take care of your housework for low wages may seem like slavery, but as a country, slavery is behind us. Just because someone works for very low wages doesn't necessarily mean that the employer would take on the mentality of "I own you" or "you are my property". A lot of times, these nannies or maids become like part of the family. They are offered room and board and actually take care of the family as if they were an aunt or another family member. There are bonds built because of these interactions. People are respectable. I don't think you should assume the worst in people right off the bat. Legislature didn't say it was acceptable to hire these immigrants as editors, general managers, firemen etc. They are simply trying to give them an opportunity to provide for themselves.

Illegal immigrants are just that; illegal. There shouldn't be any sympathy for those that have snuck over and have taught themselves English, studied and taken on the views and values of Americans. They are still illegal. What you may be suggesting is that once an illegal immigrant has been sleeping in the states for so long that they should be granted citizenship and then legally allowed to take over the jobs legal American citizens have the right to work, have the right to be paid for. I disagree.

Lastly, this bill would benefit one group of people mainly and one group of people only, the illegal immigrants. It is granting them the ability to work legally in the states and not fear being deported. The wealthy may be the only ones that could afford a full time hand around the house however, not every wealthy person is going to need or hire this extra helping hand. Your assumption that the wealthy use house workers, maids, nannies, etc. is also suggesting that only the wealthy can afford this kind of labor around the house. If an illegal immigrant were given one of these "around the house" jobs, would they be paid the legal minimum wage?

I agree, illegal aliens should not be allowed to take the jobs legal, law abiding citizens need and are granted to. At the same time, I don't see the issue of the growing numbers of illegal aliens declining either. It's like a problem that cannot be fixed but should be worked around so that it doesn't impact the rest of the population in a severe way. Legislature is trying to do just that.

Pressure Makes Diamonds

That might be the idea some representatives in the house had in their heads this week as they finally decided on a bill to pass onto the senate. With five months left in the fiscal year, the house of representatives passed a bill onto the senate to allow the state to coast along and survive the fiscal year with a balanced budget. With such a large budget to cut and shot over so far, how could this not have been seen earlier, and how come it could not be handled quicker? It's as if the House knew decisions had to be made and were dragging their heels on the subject matter. Of course, twenty three billion dollars is no easy feat to try and cut corners, save some nickels and lay off hundreds of state workers. Even though the House of representatives have decided on a bill, HB4, that does not mean that it's taken care of. The bill is now sent on to the Senate to go under more debate. The Senate has some different options on how much to spend, a good extra 10 billion dollars. Also, the Senate isn't as opposed to tapping into the Rainy Day Fund that the republicans in the house were so quickly to oppose as well when the democrats proposed the idea. The senate will now decide how this bill they want to change if at all. They've already been working up their own version of the same bill, cutting state funded revenues to many state institutions, education, etc. Once the senate has their version revised, again the house of representatives will get their prompt, diligent hands on it. How long can we draw out a 23 billion dollar, time-sensitive matter? This budget deficit can easily be compared to a disease, a virus, if you would have gotten it checked out, treated early, you could have saved yourself a lot of pain. Again, this is a 23 billion dollar matter. I don't expect something of this magnitude to be resolved over a luncheon, but if you know you have so many more steps before the bill can be passed, punch the clock and get to work. Newspapers have to get the news printed by a certain time in the morning, the U.S. Postal Service has to work within time constraints, even the pizza boy has to have your hot pie at your doorstep within thirty minutes, why then, are politicians exempt?