Not Legal? Solly Chawlie...See Ya!
Speaking of Immigration reform…there’s been some debate lately between myself and a friend of mine (you know who you are~!) about whether or not it’s a key issue for the upcoming 2008 elections. Realistically it’s a key issue for more Republicans than Democrats but I’d say it’s likely in the top 5 for both parties.
Now my views on illegal immigration are extremely conservative so I was all cheers this morning when I jumped on my computer and saw this article detailing Arizona's new crackdown on businesses that hire illegal workers. As of January 1st, 2008, businesses caught employing illegal workers will suffer up to a 10-day operating suspension; Repeat offenders (meaning one time-repeaters) will have their operating licenses revoked.Yikes.
So what makes this any different that what many states have in place today? The AZ law effectively removes the role of the federal government, an action-less third party that has been the roadblock to progress anyway. The process of determining which employers knowingly hired illegal immigrants lies directly in the hands of the state and the state's attorney's.
If this law really does go into effect, no one really knows what impact it will have on local businesses or the state's long-term economic growth particularly since, according to this NY Times article, Arizona's illegal immigration populatoin is one of the fastest growing in the country. Having said that, I give my personal kudos to AZ for being a leader and having the balls to take that risk. And this is a state that has long been divided on the subject of illegal immigration and how best to handle it. My sincere hope is that bordering states will follow their lead and those efforts will eventually lead to a domino-effect crackdown across all states.
Labels:
News and Politics
3 comments:
Just to clarify, I had two points, which I surely articulated with my usual skill. :-)
First, importance: my point was not that immigration was unimportant, but that it was relatively less important than other issues - by a significant margin. The War and the economy are generally mentioned as most important by 2X-3X as many people as immigration (call this the major league). Immigration seems in a group (Triple A?) with terrorism, and the environment. (To continue the metaphor, health care seems to be called up and sent down from survey to survey.)
My second point was that all the major candidates from both parties are in favor of tougher enforcement of immigration laws. So I don't see the point in spending so much debate time discussing who would be tougher on illegal immigrants. I would much rather hear their views on something like tax policy where there are major differences (at least among the Rs).
OXOXOX
Wow. Take a load off the coffee and relax buddy.
I responded to your second point already in a previous discussion and obviously there's no need for me to argue over the fact that you'd rather hear discussions on other issues - OK, I get it.
As for your first point..What I said was that we disagreed on whether immigration was a "key" issue. If you don't feel it's a "key" issue then the obvious inference is that you feel it's "less" important than what you believe the key issues are.
yeesh...
I'm with you Ms. D. Illegal labor has been distorting the market by allowing employers to pay substandard wages for certain classes of jobs. Many businesses will have to now pay prevailing wages to employ legal workers and that's a win for economy in the long run. Some prices will go up and some people may do without some services like child or lawn care in the short term but...so be it.
In time the market will stabilize and Arizona will see several benefits as social services, schools, hospitals, and police departments will require fewer tax dollars as they will no longer have to deal with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
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