Proposed Arizona law most certainly unconstitutional, unjust

The xenophobes in Arizona are at it again.  On the heels of passing a very tough anti-immigration law that turns the state into a police state, they have now proposed that children of illegal immigrants will not automatically become US citizens if born in the US.  

Citizenship is a federal matter, not a state matter, so it is unclear how this would be enforced (it appears they would deny birth certificates, which is very odd).  But even if they are able to get the logistics straight, this is still a federal matter.  

The rationale behind this is to prevent "anchor babies" where parents will not be deported if their kids are US citizens.  However, anchor babies are more myth than fact; you cannot deport a US citizen but you can deport their parents, whereupon they would become a ward of the state.

In any case, a child born here deserves to be a US citizen.  Think of it this way: your parents are illegal immigrants from Mexico.  You are born in the states and raised in the states.  When you are 15, your parents immigration status is uncovered.  Now tell me this, is it ethical to deport someone who likely speaks English as good as anyone else and has never known another country?

Immigration reform possible in the fall

Immigration has been a contentious issue for the past few years but has been on the back burner since the meltdown happened.  It looks like this autumn, we could see some real immigration reform, including a path for illegals to become legals, which I support.

At this point, there are probably a majority of Americans who agree with Lou Dobbs and would like to send every illegal back home.  But that is not logistically feasible, and even if it were, it would be very expensive both in the cost of rounding everyone up and shipping them out, and also in lost revenues that we get from their work.  A better solution is to have them pay some kind of tax and then get to the back of the line.

The Immigration Bailout

Seems that it may actually be possible to implement a "buy a house, get a visa" program.  Especially for more expensive houses, but I agree that we should just make it a $100,000 investment in something American, like a typical house.

This program would be good for several reasons:

1. We'd get more smart people immigrating to our country from China, India, and other locations.  This will give us a sustainable advantage over other areas of the world.

2. We get some of these foreclosures off the books of the banks

3. Immigration is always a good thing.

Time to open the immigration floodgate?

Friedman thinks so.  I tend to agree.  We can't lock talent out of our country by keeping companies out of the visa market, or making the world's other citizens feel unwelcome here.

It's not just the USA

As an update to my last post, America is decidedly not the only country who hand picks its immigrants based on race.  Israel is now shutting the door on Ethiopian Jews.  Law of return my ass.

When immigration enforcement becomes racism

Here is a disturbing article in the Washington Post about how our own American citizens are being detained and deported, accused of being illegal immigrants.  In most cases, the accused are either hispanic or African.  They sometimes are mentally challenged, or illiterate.  They are rounded up in immigration raids and held for hours.  The burden of proof is on them to show that they are Americans.  

Our war against Mexicans has become a full out racist war.  One of our main grievances against King George during the American Revolution was that he passed laws prohibiting immigration.  We have turned into the very despots we overthrew.

One of our specific complaints against the English king: 

"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."

We are now at a point where our own citizens are terrified.  And for all you that say, "well, I'm white so its OK" I've got news for you.  Not every illegal immigrant is non-white.  A bunch of Israelis were rounded up in Iowa a few months ago when a Kosher meat packing plant was busted.  So, should the government be able to round up anyone who speaks Hebrew?  Of course not, just like we should not be able to apprehend a bunch of people speaking Spanish.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is truly an American holiday.  Before you go all Lou Dobb's on me, let me state my case.

The Cinco de Mayo celebration is largely an American invention.  It is only celebrated in one small state of Mexico, to mark the defeat of Spanish troops in battle.  It is not celebrated much anywhere else in the country.

Us gringos, however, have made it our own.  Everything from Corona's to churros to tequila flows today.  We dress up in stupid Mexican hats, use Spanish words, etc.  We have made that culture our own.  Which we probably should, since a sizable minority of Americans have Mexican heritage.

Illegals and the IRS

Another benefit of illegal aliens: they pay more than their fair share of taxes.  Just their contributions to Social Security could help the program stay afloat for a few more years than projected.