I think the people on both sides of this debate, need to stop trying to reduce their arguments to sound bites and talking points. It's just not feasible. This is a very complex issue, and deserves to be dealt with as such.
Do illegal immigrants take jobs? Yes. Do they take jobs that American workers want? Well, Americans don't want them at the rates that they're paying the illegal immigrants. To which the anti-illegal crowd screams, "Well, if you paid decent wages, Americans would work these jobs." True. But it's not that simple. If you pay an illegal $1 an hour to pick fruit, but have to pay an American worker $15 an hour, plus health benefits, you've just driven the prices of fruit through the roof. Once that happens, we'll have people screaming that fruit is one of the four basic food groups, and it should be affordable to all people, not just the wealthy. So now, the government will have to step in and subsidize the fruit market. In response to these newly created subsidies, the government will be forced to raise our taxes. And what about all the single mothers, who cant afford anything but an illegal female worker to watch her children (because she cant afford the cost of daycare provided by Americans), while she goes off to earn a living? Would it be better if that mother went on welfare instead? The point being, if you could waive a magic wand, and replace the millions of illegals, earning slave wages, with Americans, making good wages and receiving benefits, there would be serious and undesirable consequences, that are difficult to fully comprehend without a doctorate level understanding of macroeconomics.
Im not saying we should do nothing. Im not even certain where I fall on this issue. Im just saying, theres a layer of complexity here, that very few people seem to be speaking to.
As for the whole "Speak English or Die" crowd& I'm guessing that most of the people who hold that view haven't done much traveling internationally. On one of my trips to Mexico, the wife and I ended up at a bar, discussing world politics with a small group. In that group was someone from a French-speaking province in Canada, someone from Germany, someone from the Netherlands, someone from Italy and our bartender, who was born and raised in Mexico. As this discussion went on, it occurred to me that the entire conversation had transpired in English, even though English wasn't the native tongue of anyone at the bar besides my wife and I. I felt truly embarrassed at that moment. We were the only people involved in this discussion, capable of speaking in only one language.
No matter where you go in this world, by and large, people are capable of conversing in multiple languages. Yet, here we sit, ignorant, yet feeling superior and thinking the world needs to learn our tongue. And while I appreciate that English is the language of commerce, it doesn't mean we shouldn't recognize that there's a big planet out there. Perhaps it wouldn't kill us to learn a bit of someone else's language, or at least be a little less critical when people struggle with ours.
Zod
P.S. - the chick holding the sign is totally hot
