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By now we all know that the political and media powers-that-be,
those who purvey the dominant narrative, lie all the time.
We have all been hearing how the nation will not long be
able to survive without the Dreamers. The narrative portrays them as the best
and the brightest, the most accomplished and the most brilliant. If the
Dreamers are deported we will never cure cancer, never fight another war, and
never make another technological breakthrough.
Since we do not possess enough information, we have kept our
skepticism to ourselves. Yet, we know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
Now, Mickey Kaus has laid out some of the facts in the
Washington Post (via Instapundit). You will not be surprised:
Compared
with the general population, dreamers are not especially highly skilled. A
recent survey for several pro-dreamer groups, with participants recruited by
those groups, found that while most dreamers are not in school, the vast
majority work. But their median hourly wage is only $15.34, meaning that many
are competing with hard-pressed lower-skilled Americans.
The
dreamers you read about have typically been carefully selected for their
appeal. They’re valedictorians. They’re first responders. They’re curing
diseases. They root for the Yankees. They want to serve in the Army. If
dreamers are the poster children for the much larger undocumented population,
these are the poster children for the poster children.
Still,
taking the dreamers as a whole, not just the dreamiest of them, they represent
an appealing group of would-be citizens. So why not show compassion and
legalize them? Because, as is often the case, the pursuit of pure compassion
comes with harmful side effects.
Kaus adds a salient point, about the numbers:
Under
“chain migration” rules established in 1965 — ironically as a sop to
conservatives, who foolishly thought that they’d boost European inflows — new
citizens can bring in their siblings and adult children, who can bring in their
siblings and in-laws, until whole villages have moved to the United States.
That means today’s 690,000 dreamers would quickly become millions of newcomers,
who may well be low-skilled and who would almost certainly include the parents
who brought them — the ones who, in theory, are at fault.
Before anyone lets himself be carried away by sentiment and makes any deal about the Dreamers, it is good to examine the facts. Or better, to puncture the media-driven illusion.
Have a nice day!
4 comments:
Kaus: new citizens can bring in their siblings and adult children, who can bring in their siblings and in-laws, until whole villages have moved to the United States. That means today’s 690,000 dreamers would quickly become millions of newcomers, who may well be low-skilled and who would almost certainly include the parents who brought them — the ones who, in theory, are at fault.
Sure, if we're going to import millions of people, it makes sense they should come as families. Conservatives like families, right? And larger families are more likely to depend on each other rather than the government.
The attraction to America is still confusing to me, given the high cost of health care, that anyone wants to move here. Wouldn't Canada be the better bet?
The author is wrong, probably intentionally so. There is nothing quick about this.
Let's put this in perspective.
A petition for alien relative will take about 6 months for approval, but no immigration is possible until a visa becomes available.
Someone here on a green card / legal permanent resident will wait five years before becoming a citizen (unless married to a citizen) and only citizens can petition for visas for parents.
A US citizen brother petitioning his alien brother can wait 20 years for a visa to become available.
Yes, I know there are other venues of immigration, but is the basic law.
Ares - There is absolutely no evidence that larger families always equals people more likely to depend on each other. That is not true across cultures and it certainly is not true today with free flowing government aid.
Jack - 20 years is a blip in time. This will cause huge changes in our nation's culture, economics, educations needs, and so forth. This would present large challenges if we were importing a highly skilled / educated workforce. We are not. Instead we are importing people who will compete with the unemployed millions who are already here for fewer low skilled, low paying jobs.
Personally, with the exception of gang members/drug dealers, I like the people from south of the border. I think our cultures can mesh well if given time and done under the proper circumstances. I welcome them to our country but it should be done legally and we should take care to limit permanent residency to those we really need here. Americans with low skills don't need more people competing for scarce low skill jobs.
Deana, while I'd be happy if Congress decided to shoot illegals after a drumhead trial, that's not going to happen. There will be a compromise for DACA-eligible aliens where certain ones are allowed to stay, others will be removed that will depend on age and hardship to US citizens, as well as current rules of admissibility. Like it or not, someone who has been in the US since he was brought over as a kid and has led an average life is not going to be deported.
I guess it depends on your point of view whether 20 years is a blip in time. The author implied that the US will be flooded with alien relatives over a far shorter time period, so his representations were misleading, I believe intentionally so.
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