Beer + Barbecue + Idiots = Political Arguments and Some Guy Who Fell on his Ass

I got into a wonderful little argument this past weekend concerning immigration. The boys and I were drinking (go figure) at the tailgate and we somehow got started on a conversation about the War in Iraq. One guy mentioned that while he isn’t a republican he would probably vote that way in the coming elections. His reasoning was based on Democrats stances on the War and immigration policy. We went a couple rounds on the War and then we did a couple on immigration, although, I’m not really sure what the big deal is.

Here are some of my friends concerns:
1) Illegals committing crimes
2) Illegals not paying taxes and sending all the money they make back home to Mexico
3) Illegals wanting to protest
4) It’s illegal

My responses:
1) I understand the concerns about illegal immigrants committing crimes. Somebody attempted to quote me a statistic saying that approx. 90% of illegal immigrants in jail committed violent crimes. I’m not sure I believe this, but I don’t know where to get statistics like this (I’m not sure anybody reads this blog yet, but if you do and you know where to find stats like this, let me know). I too am concerned about illegals committing violent crimes, and if I thought that effectively closing the borders would substantially decrease the amount of violent crimes in America then I would be all for that. A) I’m not entirely sure there would be a decrease and B) I’m not entirely sure it would be possible to effectively close the borders. The U.S./Mexico border is over 2000 miles long. I have no doubt that it could be done, but the time, and effort, and money that would be needed to do this job right, in my mind, negates the impact.
2) The guys I was arguing with said that there isn’t a significant economic benefit to the United States to keeping the borders open. I countered with a statistic I remember reading a few years ago that said for every job someone comes over here and takes they create two. I don’t know if is still or was ever true. If it is, then the economic benefits are obvious. Aside from the fact that Mexican immigrants are typically finding jobs in America that Americans don’t want. So I say let ‘em have them. But they’re not paying taxes and they’re receiving the benefits of our social welfare programs. So instead of figuring out a way to lock them out, figure out a way to get your damn taxes. But they send all their money back to Mexico. I don’t care. That means they’re building the wealth of that nation, and the more they do that the less they’ll need to come over here to get jobs.
3) One of the guys got pissed off because he had seen a protest in Chicago of illegals protesting some immigration reform. He wasn’t real specific and he didn’t need to be. His point was is that you’re here illegally, so you don’t get to bitch about the process. My thought on this is that if somebody wants to participate in an American political process where something like 30% of eligible voters actually do vote, then let them. More power to them. The political process in this country is broken. Citizens are apathetic and jaded and don’t feel like they make a difference. If someone comes over here and has something to say, if someone thinks they can make a difference, then kudos to them, they’ve just earned the right to protest. It kills me that these white, suburban kids are bitching that illegals are protesting when they themselves have never protested.
4) The point we kept coming back to was that it was against the law for them to be here, at which, point I had to keep reminding them that we were all drunk in public, that we had a keg we were breaking the law to have, that we drive too fast and that sometimes we litter. We break the law, almost every single one of us, and if it doesn’t hurt anybody then we don’t care all that much. Who cares if an illegal’s only crime is that they came here?

That is my immigration rant. I’d really like to understand this issue a little better. Please give me more sides and arguments. I don’t feel I understand enough about this issue. What are the other questions and concerns? I want to know. Maybe I’ll tell you what we had to say about the War in my next post. How original, a blog about the War in Iraq

-Hogan

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