Editorial
Immigration 'Reform' Will Turn the US into a Police State
Whenever the federal government decides to reform something we can be fairly sure that the problem is about to get worse, especially if they call the plan bi-partisan. The bi-partisan immigration reform proposal launched last week in the US Senate will be no different.
The new plan, introduced by Sens. McCain and Schumer, would provide a path to citizenship for many of those in the United States illegally. This would only begin after the borders are deemed secure and applicants have paid fees for their illegal entry. They must also pay back taxes on their earnings while working here without government permission. Those on a path to citizenship would be subject to background checks and would be monitored while in the US.
The devil is in the details, and the details of the McCain plan are deeply disturbing. To secure the borders he is calling for a massive increase in drones flying over US territory, spying on US citizens along the border – and presumably within the 100 mile "border zone" over which Department of Homeland Security claims jurisdiction. What if these drones detect suspicious activity unrelated to illegal immigration? Imagine the implications for the federal government's disastrous war on drugs. Imagine what's left of the Fourth Amendment completely tossed into the trashcan. The "privatized" prison system in the US that now benefits from the war on drugs and illegal immigration will no doubt look forward to booming business thanks to the army of drones overhead.
Additionally, the McCain/Schumer plan calls for a nationwide, mandatory E-Verify program, which forces employers to act as federal immigration agents, and forces American citizens to prove to the government that they are allowed to work. E-Verify is an East Germany-like program that creates a massive federal database of every American citizen and notes whether or not they are permitted to work.
As Cato Institute privacy expert Jim Harper noted of E-Verify, potentially tens of thousands of American citizens would come up as a false positive for illegal status, denying them the right to work and forcing them to prove to the government that they are not here illegally. He writes, "If E-Verify goes national, get used to hearing that Orwellian term: 'non-confirmation.' "
Harper rightly notes that E-Verify is in fact a national ID card, writing last week that, "the system must biometrically identify everyone who works—you, me, and every working American you know. There is no way to do internal enforcement of immigration law without a biometric national identity system."
Much of the most recent immigration problem of the 2000s was actually created by the federal government. The easy money policy of the Federal Reserve blew up the housing bubble and created enormous demand for labor. This artificial demand was filled largely by workers who crossed into the US illegally. Within a year of the housing market crash in 2008, an estimated one million illegal workers left the United States for Mexico and beyond. Net illegal immigration into the United States last year had fallen to zero.
As I noted in my most recent book, Liberty Defined, much of our immigration problems would be eliminated were the federal government to simply return to sound money practices and end the welfare incentive for individuals to come to the US illegally. Afterward, what remains of the problem would mostly be solved with a far more generous and flexible guest worker program. Whatever the case, turning the US into a police state in order to fight a hyped up illegal immigration "crisis" is a bad deal for us all.
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Posted by Ol' Grey Ghost on 02/06/13 05:23 PM
In regards to my earlier post, I do have a complete collection of "Rambo" DVD's I would willing to trade for a complete set of "Diehard" DVD's...
Click to view link
@ Optout
Try this one on for size...
Click to view link
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Posted by Optout on 02/06/13 01:55 PM
The real issue here is: Why does there have to be immigration? What right does a government have to draw arbitrary lines on a map and declare all who live within their subjects? The whole issue has been so twisted that the basic premise is not even questioned.
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Posted by mava on 02/06/13 12:42 AM
@camigda:
"I never thought about the bribery scheme to keep Mexicans in! Thanks for that enlightenment. Also I never realized the overall numbers/percentage of Mexicans self-deporting. Personally I directly compete with businesses who hire illegals, at one time I was calling for them to leave also. That is until I simply found a better way to "sell" my business. Truth, honesty, integrity. Although I had it all the time I quickly realized that yes you can compete and earn a decent living, just do it on your own terms and don't worry about what others are doing. Well, the other little guys that is! "
Not sure if you wrote that with tongue in cheek, but here are some answers.
Right now, I do not think that I can say that overall, Mexicans are self-deporting. This has started, however, and appears to accelerate. In any case, if US waits until this becomes obvious to everyone, it would be too late to offer them the citizenship for two reasons: One is that they will already have a mindset to be "getting the hell out of Dodge", and two is that at the time it will become obvious to anyone, it will also be obvious that the citizenship offered is simply a trap.
Truth, honesty, integrity are also the principles of my business. Always a good idea, and will never get out of fashion, I hope.
On asking them to leave... I have to confess I never was against illegals. I had a point against them only with regards to the US government so easily allowing them to stay, that it is really offensive to anyone who spent years trying to acquire proper status legally, in the ways that are expected, not by jumping over the border. This, however, is simply a sour grape. It is likely rooted in a deep dissatisfaction with poorly chosen path. I mean, yes, true, Russians, Koreans, Hungarians and South Africans can not simply jump the border. But then again, why didn't we go to Mexico first?
I am not really upset with Mexicans. They do what they can. If I was in their shoes, I would probably do the same.
However, I never supported those who want to throw them out. The reason they are coming here is opportunity to honestly work. As to the bad part of them that comes here to sit on welfare, it is not their fault! We are the ones to institute the program that they exploit, not them. We break the natural law by having this program, of course there are going to be consequences! If we had simply abolished the evil welfare, then as by magic, all the bad Mexicans would leave, and all the good hard-working Mexicans would remain.
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Posted by Jeanna on 02/05/13 06:24 PM
Key is US Citizen status... . Definition of a US Citizen is one who lives in the District of Columbia or one of its territories, works for the corporate US gov't, and has given them an oath of office. If none of these apply, then you are not a citizen of the corporate gov't. You may be an American National, if you are born in the continental united States. If so, you are a non-resident alien of the District of Columbia corporation. Quit telling them you are a US Citizen.
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Posted by camigda on 02/05/13 03:22 PM
@mava, I never thought about the bribery scheme to keep Mexicans in! Thanks for that enlightenment. Also I never realized the overall numbers/percentage of Mexicans self-deporting. Personally I directly compete with businesses who hire illegals, at one time I was calling for them to leave also. That is until I simply found a better way to "sell" my business. Truth, honesty, integrity. Although I had it all the time I quickly realized that yes you can compete and earn a decent living, just do it on your own terms and don't worry about what others are doing. Well, the other little guys that is!
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Posted by victorbarney on 02/05/13 03:18 PM
Ron, I love you, but here's what the Hebrew-Inspired, not Greek(Zeph. 3;9, Acts 26:14, 1 Cor. 4:6) Scriptures have to say: As proven by MARXIST(ANTI-CHRIST) IN IDEOLOGY England for OVER 100 years, we too are Isreal by the seed of Joseph(Gen. 48:16), not Judah, only promised Messiah(Gen. 49:10)! I didn't write that Ron, it was written by Hebrew-Inspired prophets! Next, one of these soon coming Feast of Trumpets(WAR)comes the two-witnesses of Revelation, chapter 11 & these two-witnesses will appear to witness against u.s. for the following 3 1/2 years! Theme: Don't be one of those who will be giving themselves PRESENTS at the endtime when the "ANTI-CHRIST"(MARXIST/DUH?)has them killed and also when the "First"(Cain) will be last & the last(Seth) will be FIRST to become resurrected! AGAIN, WATCH, but only if you're one of the 144,000 anglo-saxons left alive!... You have been warned, also as promised! Again, just saying...
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Posted by fabien on 02/05/13 02:32 PM
1776 you don't live in Switzerland. I live now in LA in feel much safer and quieter than in Geneva where the cops solve about 7% of burglary cases. Furthermore Latinos illegal in the States are much less of a drain than illegal muslims in Europe; they keep quiet, work and go to church. There is more violence in the States because of a frontier mentality and the war on drugs, which at least we don't have in Switzerland.
One point Ron Paul is perfectly correct is that this growth at any cost policy brings much more problems than it solves.
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Posted by Ol' Grey Ghost on 02/05/13 02:27 PM
A few interesting co-inky-dinks to ponder about the U.S. police state -
o The U.S. military has had a program for some time now that assists recruits in paying off their student loan debts
Click to view link
o Presidential candidate B. Obama called for the creation of a Domestic Security Force, as strong and as capable as the U.S. military, to "protect" the Homeland
o In his first term, President Obama, with a complicit Congress, nationalized (or "federalized") the majority of the Student Loan business
o Rep. Charles Rangel has called for the reinstituion of the "Draft" (read: military conscription) so young people (18 - 42 years of age) can share in the privilege of defending this country, overseas or here in the Homeland
Click to view link
o Civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson, Sr., has called for the occupation of the city of Chicago by the Dept. of Homeland Security to help with the incredibly high violence happening in that city (at the same time, he labels gun owners and those who advocate for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as "domestic terrorist" while missing the fact that Chicago is essentially a "Gun-free Zone")
Click to view link
o Many students are leaving colleges and universities up to their eyeballs in student loan debt with very poor prospects of ever paying it off by finding sufficient "gainful employment"
Click to view link
So if we connect the dots, what do we have?
"A kitty?!?"
No it's not a cat. It's a possible route for the President and his minions to raise their "Million Man (and women)" National Police Force (a true domestic terrorist organization; ironic that many older Poli Sci textbooks list "Terrorism," like "Socialism," as a form of government). So what can we expect from this?
Click to view link
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I had to throw that last one in for fun since it stars another Hollywood hypocrite that makes millions on movies that glorify gun violence while advocating for the disarming of the American people...
Click to view link
"Rocky is a Fascist! Rocky is a Fascist!"
Now cut that out!
"It's true, isn't it?"
Well, yes, but I don't like you dancing on my desk. Look at those scuff-marks.
"I wonder what color shirts these new "federales" will wear."
Black or brown has been the traditional choices.
"I think this time they should go with green."
I think the good people here on the staff of the Daily Bell have pointed that out once before...
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Posted by 1776 on 02/05/13 02:06 PM
Dec 30, 2009
Switzerland has the lowest crime rate in the world,because the people are armed,basic military is mandatory for men,and after wards they are required to keep their weapon at home.A crook will think twice about breaking into houses knowing this,people who think the world should get rid of guns should think again.
Click to view link
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Posted by mava on 02/05/13 09:43 AM
"The wall" is certainly to keep all of us inside, there is no doubt about it, as US never ever need a wall to keep someone out. Specifically, the problem of the day is all the Mexicans.
The problem is that they are about to leave, and we absolutely can not have that happening. There are a lot of uninformed "patriots" running around calling to get rid of Mexicans. What they don't understand is should the Mexicans leave, the jobs that they do will have to be done by someone else, or the GDP is going down. The formerly mentioned "patriots" imagine that the Americans will do those jobs. However the pay that Americans expect, doe not match the pay for those jobs. What these "patriots" have missed, is that while they sung kumbaya, the FED had been printing. And by now, there is a significant pent-up inflation, that the FED had created.
The solution to hide that inflation was the usual (however not the usual textbook yet) one: substitute better quality goods with worse quality goods, for the price of those with better quality, and there is it, the price rise that no one can see. Wages economically are just costs, so the scheme worked.
But, if the Mexicans leave, then either:
1) the average white wages will have to go down
2) the GDP will have to go down
3) all the good Mexicans used to produce will have to go up in price
We can't really afford either of these.
So, the decision had been made to keep the Mexicans by bribing them with legal status, while at the same time use this opportunity to work on building the concentration camp border around US, to keep everyone in.
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Posted by Patrick_Henry on 02/05/13 08:51 AM
I'll never forget something that Ron said during one of the debates when they were on this subject. They were talking about building a wall, something I at the time was all for. He said something to the effect of needing to be careful of building a wall with guns pointed out. He said that those guns could just as easily be turned inward to keep people from leaving in perilous times. Good on ya Congressman Paul, I for one miss having a voice of reason in the House.
