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Five Sept. 11 Suspects to Face Trial in New York

The Obama administration has announced it will try 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9-11 Gitmo detainees in a civilian federal court in New York, allowing them the protections of the U.S. Constitution even though they are not U.S. citizens.

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Four Radical Chinese Muslims Transferred to Bermuda

Four Chinese Uighers (radical Chinese Muslims) were recently transferred to Bermuda. Do you think it's a good idea to release Gitmo detainees to idyllic vacation retreats?

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June 13, 2008

Exclusive: H-2B or Not to Be: That Is the Question

George Weissinger, PhD

The latest immigration fiasco revolves around importing workers into the United States on the premise that we need them. Why do we need skilled workers at the expense of our own domestic workers? Why aren't we training our young students to fill the needs of our society? The myth is based on the immigration philosophy that we are a growing nation and need as many people as we can get. The fact of the matter is that manifest destiny has long since expired and we are no longer building railroad lines stretching from New York to San Francisco.

We should concentrate on improving our existing infrastructure, and we should promote educating our workforce to provide these improvements. These days, many American college graduates are having a difficult time getting jobs. Most people work hard, get their degree and hope for the best. They are not members of the social elite that graduate from Ivy League schools and have their life's goals already waiting for them because of someone they know or their family connections. In my opinion, it appears that the notion of meritocracy has flown out the window these days in more ways than one. It is more who you know than what you know.

Most of us are just ordinary people who ask for a fair shot on the playing field. That is the dilemma. Most of the open border, amnesty advocates begin with the premise that the level playing field must be eliminated and preferences given to those not willing to wait in line. They do not believe in fair play, and abhor the notion of meritocracy as the basis for success. Liberals also want everyone to be equal, as opposed to having equal opportunity. It is sheer utopian dreaming without the means to implement the dream. It suggests change but does not specify how we can accomplish the change. More importantly, it does not even specify what the change is to be implemented.

The H-2B program is a disgrace and insults the honest, hard working American who seeks a decent job at a fair wage. Like those affected by the amnesty issue, temporary workers risk being underpaid and abused by greedy employers who are not willing to pay the going rate for American workers. Even leading economists agree that the program does not work the way it is supposed to. Employers really don't make any concerted effort to find American workers. Why should they, when they can get foreign workers willing to work at for less and who will be willing to do anything to stay in the United States? Any legitimate temporary worker program must consider American workers and the labor market. The current program is nothing more than a loophole in the immigration laws that attempts to break down the efforts of restricting unnecessary immigration. Many employers who utilize the temporary worker loophole seem to be ending up in the middle of a criminal fraud prosecutions.

The logic of such mandates contributes to the ongoing confusion about the illegal alien problem. At this level, it is not prudent to condone unauthorized immigration in the form of lax temporary worker programs. Ray Marshall at the Economic Policy Institute points out that the amnesty law of 1996 (IRCA) was flawed and so contributed to the influx of more illegals rather than stemming the tide. Aside from the cogent points made in his article, I must disagree with this opinion. Unfortunately, many laws are flawed but law abiding people attempt to follow them. They do not intentionally try to circumvent the intent of the law. That is the social contract that we live by in order to promote a social order worth living in. Blaming the victim is not a sound argument because we make laws not to enforce them, but to promote social order. It is the voluntary participation in this process that makes a society strong. Proponents of amnesty and lax immigration enforcement fail to acknowledge this basic fact.

One must ask whether we should reward law breaking, or even promote it. That is the question.

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord...

--James 5.4

George Weissinger, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at a college on Long Island. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.

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