AMERICA HAS VOTED

By Nathan J. Muller
www.ForTheCause.US

The results of the November mid-term elections did not appear to move the dial on illegal immigration. Although voters did not come out as forcefully against illegal immigration as we would have liked, enough crumbs have fallen off the table to give us reason to believe that amnesty and a path to citizenship for guest workers will not come to fruition, even under a Democrat-controlled Congress that appears to side with President Bush on the need for “comprehensive” immigration reform. In fact, there is no need for panic just yet.

Battleground topology

At the federal level, the mid-term election really had no bearing on illegal immigration; the overriding issues were anger with Bush for the lack of progress in Iraq, the culture of corruption fostered by the Republican Party, and a Congress that just couldn’t get its act together on anything meaningful for the middle class. Therefore, the Democrats do not have a mandate to pass anything that even looks like amnesty. To do so would introduce an element of risk in their quest to get to the next level – full restoration of party dominance in 2008. Instead of campaigning in support of amnesty, Democrats ran on strong border security as the first order of business.

Some believe there will be quick action by the Democrats to grant amnesty or “earned citizenship” to illegal aliens in an attempt to remove it as a campaign obstacle well before 2008. Ostensibly, this would give voters time to forget. But any new federal program would take time to ramp up, which means its effects would peak right before the election.

Even with their new majority in Congress, Democrats will not risk alienating the middle class by having them watch our border being overrun following an amnesty. This would jeopardize their pursuit of the Holy Grail: the election of Hillary Clinton as President in 2008. Democrats have just witnessed the wrath of voters; they dare not bring it on themselves with any rash moves. Senator Clinton will have something to say about that.

Democrats profess to care about the middle class – those who have lacked a voice in government under the Bush Administration. An amnesty will hurt the middle class by saddling them with even more social welfare costs and depressed wages than beset them now under the current “do nothing” policy.

Furthermore, lack of progress on immigration reform has always served both parties well, so there is no new incentive to do anything about it. This means most of the action on illegal immigration will continue to come from states and municipalities, accompanied by the usual street confrontations by activists on both sides and sporadic court challenges to break up the monotony.

Despite the current spirit of cooperation among Democrats to work with Republicans to accomplish meaningful objectives on behalf of the middle class, the fact is this kind of euphoria always follows elections. The mood will vaporize quickly.

There already is talk among Democrats for investigations of the Bush Administration for its decision to go into Iraq. There will be more investigations of corruption on Capitol Hill as well as a halt to energy company subsidies, a hike in the minimum wage, a rollback of the tuition loan interest rate and approval for stem cell research, among many other things. Against this contentious backdrop, not much will be done to stanch the flow of illegal immigration.

Power base remains intact

In the House, the power base against illegal immigration remains largely intact. Incumbents with the best track records against illegal immigration won reelection to the House in large numbers. Of the 98 members of Rep. Tom Tancredo’s 104-member Immigration Reform Caucus who ran for reelection, 91 won their races (6 did not run again). Therefore, the core leadership against illegal immigration in the House remains in place.

Among the other strong voices returning to Congress are James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Peter King (R-NY), who are not members of the Caucus.

Not all newly elected Democrats support illegal immigration. In Indiana, Sheriff Brad Ellsworth (D) defeated House Immigration Subcommittee Chairman John Hostettler (R). Although Hostettler had a very strong voting record on immigration issues, Ellsworth was just as strong, and he proclaimed it on his website:

“We face a national crisis when it comes to illegal immigration. The honest truth is that part of it is our own making. When we capture illegals here in Vanderburgh County, my deputies call INS and INS tells them there’s no place to put them. That’s not right. It’s also not right when an Indiana employer passes over an American for a job only because an illegal worker is cheaper. We need to tighten our borders, enforce the laws we have, and punish employers who break them. This is about economic security as much as it is national security.”

In South Carolina, Democrat John Spratt won re-election, and he too espoused a stong position against illegal immigration. According to his website, “Whatever we do about immigration, we first have to secure our borders and control who enters our country. John Spratt has voted to double the Border Patrol, to deploy troops on the border, to build an electronic fence and walls, and to increase the number of immigration officials. He has voted for stiffer penalties, for an entrance/exit system to track foreigners here on visas, and for driver’s licenses and Social Security cards that cannot be counterfeited.”

Although Democrats are now in the majority, the House remains a bulwark against the Senate. So many Democrats won their House seats based on strong border security that even Tom Tancredo thinks he can work with them. Therefore, if anyone in the House must temper their views, it will have to be the new House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

The challenge for the Democratic leadership will be how to appear to be doing something about illegal immigration, but without actually doing anything about it.

The rebellion continues

Opponents of illegal immigration must be more creative in bringing about change. For starters we must support efforts by the new Congress to raise the minimum wage. Six more states just voted to hike the minimum wage, bringing the total number to 29. This is not only the right thing to do for our fellow American citizens, but it will make it more unattractive for exploitive employers to hire illegal workers. Numerous studies confirm that increasing the minimum wage promotes job growth without negatively impacting business growth, despite what corporate lobbyists may say.

We must also be more aggressive in supporting worker rights, even if those whose rights we are fighting for happen to be here illegally. Exploiting people for profit is clearly wrong, no matter what side of the political spectrum we identify with. We must support efforts to force employers to provide adequate safety for their workers and decent working conditions. We must oppose employers who threaten illegal workers with deportation if they complain about being cheated out of their wages and benefits, or who are forced to work long hours without overtime pay. All of these pressures remove incentives of employers to hire illegal workers, while leveling the playing field for American workers who are now forced to compete against subsistence wages. The playing field also gets leveled for law-abiding employers whose businesses are threatened by exploitive employers who continue to operate with impunity.

In addition to stepping up the pressure on employers, we must step up the pressure on illegal aliens who break our laws and jeopardize the safety of American citizens. We can work on the local level to fight overcrowding, for example, making it financially impossible for illegal aliens to live in this country by accepting low wage jobs that undercut American workers. This may entail putting pressure on town, county and city officials to actually enforce zoning laws already on the books, or helping them put into place new laws to deal with today’s realities.

Monitor your local traffic court. Insist that local officials meet with traffic court judges to inform them of the importance of applying meaningful penalties to illegal alien offenders, who often drive without an operator’s license, insurance, vehicle registrations and safety inspection stickers. Send statistics to the local media and recommend they report on this dangerous situation. Getting such people off the roads not only removes a safety hazard, it essentially forces illegal aliens to go elsewhere to break the law, forcing other communities to wake up to these dangers.

Push your state and local government to recommend that the Police Department or Sheriff’s Office apply for Section 287 (g) training offered by the Bureau of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (BICE) under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1996. This agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is authorized to partner with state and local law enforcement for the purpose of upholding federal immigration laws. At this writing, 28 state and local law enforcement agencies have 287(g) training applications pending with DHS. Download this 287(g) training proposal submitted to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Northern Virginia. Use it as a template in your local efforts.

Media coverage of street protests at day labor centers and boycotts of illegal employers helps keep our issues alive, so we need to stick with these activities, and even expand them. Even though the new Congress will not act on illegal immigration, continued pressure at the local and state levels sends a message to our representatives that there is still a serious problem out there that will not simply go away. Our position on the issues can be reinforced with the added pressure of emails and faxes.

And when our representatives come home on breaks to meet with constituents, we need to be there to offer some constructive advice. Make sure the right people attend these meetings: business people who can no longer compete playing by the rules; neighbors hemmed in by third-world blight and gang violence; friends who couldn’t get timely treatment in clogged hospital emergency rooms; people who are forced to live next to overcrowded transient hotels because officials are too scared of being called racists if they enforce zoning laws; and victims of car accidents who have no recourse because illegal aliens are treated differently by the police and often let go because they have no fixed address.

Our opponents have already made one serious mistake: they are gleeful. They think the majority of Americans are now on their side just because Democrats will take control of Congress. They could not be more wrong.

Nathan Muller is co-founder of For the Cause and the author of 26 books and numerous articles on political, regulatory, legal, management and technology issues. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and other events. He can be reached at this email address.

Permission to reproduce this article in whole or in part is granted, providing that credit is given to the author and For the Cause – www.forthecause.us – is cited as the source.

Source: www.ForTheCause.US