Immigration: A Cloudy Issue

I have noticed an annoying trend of taking important issues and slowly changing the focus until no one remembers what the problem was in the first place. The master of this was a former president who tried to confuse the courts over the definition of 'is.' Now I see a trend of confusing the issues of illegal and legal immigration.

Several times in the last few weeks I have read/heard comments from people who do not seem to understand the difference between legal and illegal immigration. The latest to add to the confusion is Brian Scheid who reports for The Intelligencer newspaper of Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania.

"Help or Hindrance to U.S. Economy?" is an article by Mr. Scheid in the April 3rd Intelligencer. The focus of the article is the effect of immigration on the U.S. Economy and the possible ramifications of the bills pending before Congress. While I give Mr. Scheid credit for attempting to look at the human aspect of this issue, I question his starting the article off with the story of a legal immigrant.

Ursulo Ramos is the first person mentioned in the article and is, according to Scheid's own reporting, working in the U.S. on a temporary work visa. The article does not explain how or why Mr. Ramos would be restricted by any of the bills being considered. (In fact, I suspect an amnesty/guest worker program might make it more difficult for Mr. Ramos to keep his job as it would increase competition and further drive down wages.) Is Mr. Scheid implying Mr. Ramos might somehow lose his visa due to congressional action?

To my knowledge the debate in Congress is not about stopping legal immigration. Granted making our borders more secure might have some impact on the process of admitting immigrants, but this is a good thing if handled correctly. Articles like Mr. Scheid's only cloud the issue of immigration by making it look as if Congress is out to get hard working, legal immigrants like Mr. Ramos. This only serves to make it more difficult to achieve real immigration reform and to properly secure our nation's borders.

Also read:
Independent Conservative responds to those who say it is not practical to remove all illegal immigrants from this country. His answer is a common sense way to deal with the problem without having to round up one illegal: Simply make staying here less appealing.

I think Republicans in Congress are going about this the wrong way. Right Wing Nation also questions the party's choices on immigration. I do not agree with all of his points, but we do not need to throw more bad laws at a problem (something I thought was a liberal response to issues like gun control). We need good ideas that will fix the illegal immigrant problem.

previous post: Jesus: The Illegal Immigrant