President Bush’s Immigration Speech
(Transcript and Video availible here)
I thought that the speech and policy prescriptions it outlined were ok. I doubt that it will please anyone who is deeply interested in this debate, but for the most part it seems like a reasonable compromise to me.
The one thing I most dislike is the guest worker program. Not that I am opposed to more people being able to come here legally, far from it actually, but that I would much prefer to have people who come here to work also be coming here to build a life.
It seems to me that there is a different type of person who will come here temporarily and work for a while and then go home than the type of person who wants to come here, set down roots, and become a permanent part of America. I prefer having more of the later and less of the former.
I am also unhappy with the idea that these people are tied to an employer. One of the benefits of immigration is that immigrants tend to also be entrepreneurs. The guest worker program effectively destroys that benefit. We need more legal immigration of permanent citizens and less temporary workers who are not going to become a permanent part of our society.
I have maintained that the way to curb illegal immigration comes from a combination of increased border security and enforcing the labor laws.
Simply put, illegals are highly unlikely to come to this country if they can’t find work. Yet few seem willing to suggest that we go after the employers who hire them in the first place.
True, some will argue that if employers can’t hire illegals that prices will go up. These people need to ask themselves what is thus more important to them… stopping the flow of illegals coming to the United States, or saving a few bucks on their grocery bill that they wouldn’t if an employee was demanding a higher wage and getting it.
People can’t have it both ways.