Immigration: America Needs Iowans to Get This Issue Right

No one wants to allow illegal immigrants into the U.S. because we need secure borders.  But we already have millions here, and the vast majority work hard, raise their families in peace and pay their bills.  This Bank of America credit card issue, the checking accounts and mortgages are old news.

And it’s not just Bank of America that’s offering credit cards.  Citigroup has issued them to illegal aliens for years and now Wells Fargo is looking into it, (March 3, 2007 Des Moines Register, “Banks enter immigration debate”).  So Iowans and Americans need to consider the following before jumping to a Tancredo-like conclusion calling for illegal aliens to be deported or put in jail.

First, immigrants have been coming to this country for more than two centuries and, yes, some of them have been criminals.  But the vast majority have been honest.  And this current wave, including people from Southeast Asia, have shown the same generosity as previous groups by sending a portion of what they earn back home to support loved ones.  In other words, immigrants simply want the same security, freedom and prosperity that attracted all of us.

Secondly, people who have money don’t foment revolution which is why Mexico and the Philippines are doing so well.  Economies are balancing acts where growth has to match up with labor and technology.  If an economy is not growing fast enough to absorb population growth, whether by birth rate, or by immigration, then you are likely to see cars burning at night, as has been the case in France.

The U.S. economy has been experiencing very good growth and immigrants have filled many jobs for unskilled laborers.  If we didn’t have these new people many businesses would suffer, along with our economy because they shop here, too.

In the larger picture, America also benefits when immigrants send money home.  Remember that Obrador, the Mexican Marxist, lost his election by less than a half a percent last fall.  In great part, he lost because of all the money that goes back to Mexico, that country’s second largest generator of economic activity, (“Cavuto on Fox,” February 17, 2007).

Had it not been for the generosity of the immigrants, legal and otherwise, Obrador would probably have won.  Then we, as American taxpayers, would have had to fund a standing army on our southern border, at enormous expense, to stop a Hugo Chavez-like government that would also be out to cooperate with Russia and Iran. 

But that isn’t necessary thanks to the fact that we get eight hours work for eight hours pay, and the immigrants send some of their money back home.  And it’s their money because they earned it.

In the long-term picture, without immigration, America’s population is not growing, but our entitlements are.  The federal government has presided over programs in Social Security and Medicare, in particular, with unfunded liabilities estimated at $70 trillion, (yes, trillion).  Because of these entitlements and our population problem, seniors need the immigrants paying into the Social Security and Medicare systems to help ensure that promised benefits will be made on-time and in-full.  Younger Americans need the immigrants to share in the liabilities Washington has burdened them with in order to have decent standards of living.

But make no mistake, America benefits from immigration: we always have and always will as long as our taxes are low and our standard of living is the highest in the world.  That’s not to say that there won’t be problems.  We can and should deport, or jail immigrants who break the law after arriving.  

Further, politicians like Tancredo have been in Congress while give-away programs have been enacted that play a role in attracting both legal and undocumented immigrants.  So let’s make certain that candidates like that don’t get a free ride on the immigration issue when their largesse has played a significant part in creating the problems that have been caused.

As long as all these millions of immigrants are here, we need to welcome the ones who are hard working and family oriented by helping them enter into this great melting pot we call America.  It’s up to Iowans to get this right and lead the nation away from a disastrous policy decision.  That is the only way Washington will catch up with the real world and make Americans more secure, while enhancing our freedom and helping us become more prosperous.

Kevin McLaughlin, Volunteer

Brownback for President