lewrockwell.com — Make no mistake, Americans are happy to welcome immigrants who follow our immigration laws and seek a better life here. America is far more welcoming and tolerant of newcomers than virtually any nation on earth. But our modern welfare state creates perverse incentives for immigrants, incentives that cloud the issue of why people choose to come here
Oct 3, 2006 View in Crawl 4
stancyoungOct 3, 2006
Amen!
smittingOct 3, 2006
The "refuse to assimilate" concept is always funny to me because no one has yet to be able to define American culture for me in a way in which I am included. The whole concept of "American culture" is distinctly un-American, especially when refering to forced assimilation. Which culture is it you would like? Texan? Californian? New Yorker? Hoosier? Dirty South? Miami Latin?The wall is a silly idea, the bad guys are already building record sized tunnels around Nogales without there even being a wall there.The source of the illegal immigration problem is two fold. #1 - it is impossible to legally immigrate in a meaningful timeframe without being a technology worker assigned to a company (the barrier). #2 - Mexican oligarchy has increased the divide between the rich and the poor (the source problem).Citizenship is on a first-come, first-server basis. Current applications being considered are dated 1994. So, if you were a Mexican in dier poverty in 1994, to be legal you would have had to just deal with it until now, and then your application will be considered. So if you're in this position, what do you do? Of course you become an illegal immigrant. If you don't see yourself doing so, you have probably never been even American "poor".The real problem is that these people aren't documented. They are paid less than minimum wage under the table, and buy stolen social security numbers in order to be able to pass their I9 forms to get employed. Then the crooked ones take out loans for cash and cars with those social security numbers (yay!)Get these people their magic number and enforce minimum wage and we won't see a loss of jobs like we have so far. When a bad guy gets arrested, we might just know who he is.
corrosionxOct 3, 2006
The XIV amendment didn't free the slaves, it made *everyone* a slave of the U.S. government. I guess they don't teach you that in government school.
curseboyOct 3, 2006
Seems to me like another political diatribe seeking to appeal to voters. The article seems a bit disingenuous to me, by using the soundbite term "anchor baby", using statistics that are hard to prove and anecdotal evidence. Although he makes some good points, I think Ron Paul is just pandering in this case, using generalizations and a simplistic approach to a complex situation.I am what you could consider an anchor baby. Yet, my parents don't live in this country, in fact, they went back because they didn't like it here, and they are doing well economically. I can claim that I've never used any welfare-type social benefits, and I've contributed to society in a positive way. I gave the best years of my life so far to this United States, and I am nothing but proud about it. In my enlisted experience, I met quite a few people in very similar situations. What do you know, the offspring of those damn illegals can and do make quite good citizens, many at times at little or no cost to the welfare system.For all my troubles, I usually run into quite the ignorant attitudes of people who assume that I am uneducated, or catholic, or who knows what because of my slight accent and my articulate speech. That is a reflection of American society as a homogeneous group of social animals. Of course blaming it on "illegals" is a lot easier than taking a close look at how we do things. Just for the record, I am against illegal immigration. And no, I am not a democrat. Not that it matters, as some of you will digg me down once you read the first 2 sentences and prove some of the points I make here.
argoffOct 4, 2006
Well, it doesn't make sense to me. The argument that an immigrant can come here, get government freebies, and screw over the taxpayer is very compelling argument against coercing taxpayers to pay for a bunch of handouts, but is not a compelling argument against immigration - illegal or otherwise. This whole country was built on immigration. Immigrants are a gift, not a burden. A blessing built on more people in the world benefiting from mobility and freedom rather than a curse. They bring down costs, and increase productivity and business activity in every sector they touch.
dietprozacOct 4, 2006
@argoff, RTFA:"Make no mistake, Americans are happy to welcome immigrants who follow our immigration laws and seek a better life here... The real problem is not immigration, but rather the welfare state magnet."
zenmojoOct 4, 2006
I actually don't care about US borders. I would actually support open borders, but the way things work out, with huge lobbies supporting the introduction of ONE race into the country and giving them special privileges ... that goes against every egalitarian bone in my body.I just keep remembering images of Haitians being thrown back in the water while Elian is being fought over. "Look how much the brown boy loves Disneyland! Uh oh, black people...throw them back."
hortosOct 4, 2006
A. Whats wrong with requiring people to legally immigrate?B. Atleast 1 parent should be a legal citizen of country in order for a child to be a citizen.C. Alot of litter and traffic problems were drastically reduced in Los Angeles on the day the Mexicans had their protest.D. Illegals are an enormous drain on our health care system.E. The children of illegals are an enormous drain on our school system. We can play the name game and the race game but I live in southern California and it is way out of hand. We have large Costco sized store chains make it damn near policy not to hire anyone that doesn't speak Spanish.Just for fun look at the crime statistics for Rialto, San Bernardino, Ontario, and Fontana. Then go look at the census data you'll see two graphs growing together quite proportionately while average home income falls.I mean people aren't following the American Dream anymore they're just existing.
earthacisOct 4, 2006
All city, county, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations must be in harmony with the federal and state constitutions.Or else it would not work! So yes its has to pertain to Federal as well.And we are talking about the 14th amendment not the constitution.
briman4031Oct 4, 2006
Dr. Paul for president '08'
willcode4beerOct 4, 2006
how about applying to everybody.When immigrants become citizens they have to take an oath to protect and defend the constitution. There is no allegance required for those born here.I say lets not let anybody become a citizen until they do the following (in this order):reach 18 years of ageregister for selective servicetake an oath to protect and defend the consitutionregister to vote
ig33k010011Oct 4, 2006
hes got my vote!
martalliOct 4, 2006
@EarthacisDo you have a company or LLC? Corporations are 'persons' in that they pay taxes, may own property, obtain licenses (eg., a hospital must have a license from state regulators and may get a JCAHO certification).However, they may not vot or count for a state's representation in the House of Representatives. Show me one corporation that is voting. I would like to sign up my LLC to vote!!!
saraiangel0125Apr 11, 2008
this won't keep you from paying taxes.. if you don't like how this country is run, then you can move out of the country! the amendments are amending the Constitution.. and the dmv link was dumb