Another one of those viral emails -
5,000 years ago Moses said, “Pick up your shovel, pack your ass, mount your camel and I shall lead you to the Promised Land.”
200-plus years ago, George Washington said, “Get off your ass, use your shovel, clear the land, grow plants for camels and it will be the promised land.”
Recently the Congress of the United States said “Si, Amigos, throw away your shovel, sit on your ass, light your Camels. We’re giving you the promised land.”
In Did the Senate Just Blink? Morning Coffee quoted Senator Specter:
“It may be down the line that we will come to some terms on a timetable, with border security first and employment verification first,” he said.
Why do people find these jokes amusing? Because there is a kernel of truth to it. We know the Senate bill was a massive giveaway to illegals and American businesses willing to break the law in order to have cheap labor and higher profits. This email is an example of the entrenched anger that many people feel about the Senate’s “comprehensive” reform, and that anger is not really going away. Now that illegal immigration is no longer the top news story, the anger is simmering, not boiling. Apply just a little heat and the pot will boil over again.
The House, who must fight to keep their jobs three times as often as the Senate, is quite a bit more tuned in to public sentiment on this issue. Immersed in all the legalese was the simple fact that illegal aliens who are permitted to stay under any conditions are, in fact, “cutting the line” in front of tens of thousands of applicants who have followed the rules and properly applied to enter the United States from their home countries. As a matter of simple fairness, this angers Americans. The “22 Problems With The Senate’s Illegal Immigration Bill” listed by John Hawkins at Right Wing News were just icing on that cake.
Emails like this one are signals of the anger many Americans feel about this, and our elected officials would do well to note them. Even people as anti-illegal immigration as I am will concede the difficulty of dealing with people who have been here for a long time. But if we stop the bleeding by closing the border, stitch the wound by forcing businesses to pay the price for their law breaking, and administer antibiotics by stopping government benefits to non-citizens, we will have effectively healed this problem. Consider the illegals who don’t self-deport under these conditions scar tissue, an unpleasant reality after an injury. After the injury is treated (all the other conditions are met) we can deal with it by allowing the illegals who remain a permanent resident status that entitles them to stay and work if they want to, but not receive any government handouts at all.
I hope that Morning Coffee was right and that the Senate blinked. Maybe they’re finally catching on to the reason these kinds of emails make the rounds. This problem is not going to go away.
**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let me know at what level you would like to participate.
That email is priceless. Very good post. I’m really wondering what the Senate and House are going to come up with. I am hearing more and more from both sides on “secure the border FIRST”, so that’s hopeful.
is this about immigration? j/k my thoughts on immigration, is that it is okay but then i thought about it and relized if we keep letting them in then theres going to be more immigrates than actual citizens, then whos going to be ruling our country. but can this actually happen who knows? but really there just here to get a better live style to help there familys and etc. and there getting payed less for the jobs we dont want to do so in all actuallity there just helping our economy
Actually, Ashley, it’s been proved beyond any doubt that illegal immigrants cost us far more than they contribute. Aside from citing studies, facts and figures, which are posted and linked to in many posts on this blog and others, just think about it from a common sense standpoint.
They’re getting paid next to nothing – illegal immigrants are the new slave class – and because they are below the poverty line, they do not pay taxes. Many companies pay illegals in cash so no taxes are even deducted, but illegal immigrants who don’t get paid in cash get a social security number (you don’t have to be a citizen to get one), and many do in fact file their taxes and get refunds, and even the earned income tax credit. Additionally, these low wage crappy jobs rarely have benefits. So when an illegal immigrant needs health care, they go to the emergency room and then just don’t pay the bill when it comes. Hundreds of hospitals have actually closed in border communities because of unreimbursed medical bills incurred by illegal immigrants. They are also eligible for all kinds of government benefits.
Finally, “remittances” are the money sent back to their home country from people who are here illegally. Remittances are the 2nd biggest source of income for Mexico – more even than tourism, and they take billions out of the American economy every year.
Illegals are a huge drain on the economy.