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June 6, 2008

Exclusive: Immigration Raid Should Be a Wake Up Call for America

Michael Cutler

This Associated Press article about the recent raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Iowa is important for a number of reasons.First, itclearly illustratesthe outrageous conditions under whichillegalaliens often toil. They are perceived as being easy to exploit because of their illegal status in our country.This exploitation takes many forms, including the payment of substandard wages and substandard working conditions that themselves are illegal.These working conditions forillegal aliensoften imperil their lives.Consider the serious injuries that had been suffered by the employees of the Agriprocessors plant, including amputations, eye injuries and hearing loss.

While not discussed in the news article, it is significant to consider another component of the employment of illegal aliens: often, payroll withholding taxes are not taken out and the employer does not pay any fringe benefits for illegal aliens or make the required payroll deductions to Social Security.This means that not only are illegal aliens being exploited but our government (and hence American citizens) is not being paid the taxes that a company operating "on the level" would be paying into the system and our nation's economy.This is also true of taxes not paid to states and municipalities by these unscrupulous employers.

Remember too, that generally when United States citizens and resident aliens receive their pay checks, they often make purchases. The circulation of this money through the economy means we all benefit.That is the theory behind the "Economic Stimulus" program that was implemented this year to provideAmericans with relatively minor amounts of cash to make purchases andhelp to jumpstart our nation's faltering economy.

Illegal aliens make little enough money to start with, butfurther exacerbating the economic side of the equation is the fact that most illegal aliens invest hefty amounts of money to smugglers to get them into our country so that they can send money back home. Last year it was estimated some $45 billion was wired from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean by illegal aliens.Money was also sent covertly from our country to other countries.This money is permanently lost to our economy, as it does not circulate within the United States, thus spurring economic growth and our nation's economy.

Meanwhile, the fastest growing white collar crime is identity theft.It would be interesting to find out exactly how many illegal aliens are responsible for committing this crime in order to secure a job or hide "in plain sight."Of those aliens it would be perhaps even more interesting to find out how many are criminals and terrorists.

The Agriprocessors case is particularly egregious.As you read the accounts of the injuries that the illegal employees suffered, I want you to think about the advocates for open borders whoalways like to raise the issue of the "dignity of the undocumented."

Here is what I find so amazing:

James Carstensen, a spokesman for Rep. Tom Latham, said he views the raid as a blow to families seeking a better life and for the community, which is suffering economically.

"It's a tragedy of an immigration system that is absolutely broken and the tragedy of an enforcement system that is probably not working as effectively as promised by the Bush administration," Carstensen said.

That statement nearly takes my breath away!Rep. Latham is a Republican and, I suppose, is trying to be supportive of the president. However, after the abysmal track record established by the Bush Administration over the last seven years, how could anyone possibly express any surprise that the "...enforcement system is probably not working not working as effectively as promised by the Bush administration"?

The enforcement and the administration of our nation's immigration laws has been little more than a charade for the past several decades and the current administration has arguably the absolute worst track record of any administration in the history of our nation.

Frank Sharry is someone I generally disagree with, but I find myself agreeing with at least half of what is attributed to him:

Such raids are designed to get headlines and make it appear that the federal government is cracking down on illegal immigration, said Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration reform group America's Voice. But he says even those who think enforcement is the answer can't seriously believe the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. can be arrested and deported.

As for the arrest of the 12 million illegal aliens, I would suggest that by now there are probably twice as many illegal aliens here, since each and every day thousands of illegal aliens manage to enter our country in violation of law or violate the immigration laws since they entered our country lawfully.The open borders advocates havebeen using the 12 million number for quite some time.

While I agree that it would not be a good idea to attempt to apprehend all of the illegal aliens who are present in our country today, the solution is simple: no one would break into an amusement park if they could not get to go on the rides and, at the end of the day when they shut down the rides and turn off the lights, everyone heads for the exits.Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, the Washington-based "think tank" with which I have been proud to have been affiliated for the past five years, has simply referred to this concept as the "attrition" way of dealing with the huge numbers of illegal aliens who are present in our country.Make it difficult (if not impossible) for illegal aliens to obtain a job, secure a driver's license, open a bank account or own property in our country and they will understand the futility to violating our nation's borders and immigration laws.Many will leave and many others will be deterred from coming in the first place.

I have written a couple of commentariesabout the raid at this particular food processing plant.If the management of this corporation is not held accountable for the violations of law committed by the company and its employees, the message to all employers will be crystal clear.Even with the high profile field operations that have been conducted to create the appearance of a renewed interest in the enforcement of the immigration laws, employers of illegal aliens have little, if anything, to fear.

I participated in a conference this past weekend in Santa Barbara, Californiathat was sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center.The panel discussion in which I participated included Chris Burgard, the producer of a documentary, Border (in which I have a very small role), ChirsSimcox of the MinutemanCivil Defense Corps, and Rep. Tom Tancredo.

As I am certain you must all know, Tom mounted what would ultimately prove to be an unsuccessful bid for the presidency. He was accused of being a "single issue candidate."

I wish that Tom had responded to that criticism by saying, "No candidate for the presidency of this nation, nor any candidate who seeks a seat in the House of Representatives or the United States Senate,should seek such elected office without being deeply concerned about national security, criminal justice, the economy, the environment, health care or education and a number of other issues.The common thread that runs through each and every one of these highlyimportant issues is the impact that our nation's failure to secure its borders and create a secure immigration system has on these important areas of concern."

In a nutshell, immigration is not a single issue but is, in reality, an issue that impacts nearly every other issue that challenges our nation today.