Bordering Insanity

by Paul Wilson

It's election season again...Time for the Republicans to dredge up the old immigration chestnut. Beating the issue like a pinata, the candidates hope that campaign victories will spill out. Even the powerless Democrats, not wanting to appear weak on national security, are jumping on the bandwagon. But no matter who wins in November, it is almost certain that illegal immigration will continue business as usual.

Big business.

This time, the GOP has cranked it up a notch, making the Mexican border a threat from Al Qaida (despite the fact that, like WMD's, there is no evidence that a single terrorists has used the southern route to sneak in). Chances are that if any did attempt it, the Mexican drug cartels would take them out before they got close. Don't want a few bomb-wielding maniacs to ruin a good thing, right?

No, the real campaign slogan is fear and misdirection, as always...Something at which the Republicans have excelled. While Bush and his media stenographers report a strong, growing economy, the average American has seen his cost of living increase and his wages fall. Social Security and Medicare are in danger from privatization. Prescription drug prices continue to skyrocket. And the Baby Boomers are coming...

It becomes so easy to blame illegal immigrants for our economic and unemployment woes. While our own government pushes us into crushing debt, turning our tax dollars into huge profits for Chevron and Halliburton, they point to the border, saying, "They did it!" But before you dust off the torches and pitchforks (they shouldn't be too dusty, since they were just used to blame gays for hurricane Katrina), consider who really deserves your outrage.

The U.S. has, for some time now, had the means to secure our borders. A 20-foot wall from coast to coast is not only ludicrous but unnecessary. Through the use of "fence-less" technology, lasers and G.P.S. systems could pinpoint any location where an illegal crossing occurred.

So, why haven't we implemented this program? Because, like the drug trade, you can't stop the supply until you stop the demand. And who has the biggest demand for a flood of undocumented, cheap labor? Why, the same major corporations that financed the last two presidential elections.

How often have you heard the rhetoric, "Illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans."? Well, it's true. But don't blame the illegals; Blame the companies who hire them for a fraction of the pay and no benefits. Don't get angry with the immigrants for doing jobs that Americans wouldn't do; Get mad at the corporations who pay them a wage that Americans would never accept. Slavery is illegal in this country, but that doesn't stop Big Business from finding the next best thing, all in the name of their god, Profit.

Unfortunately, many small companies are forced to hire undoumented labor, as well, in order to compete. These days, it's either that or leave the U.S. and relocate in China or India, using their slave labor. Either way, American workers lose. But the true fault lies with a government that not only lets it happen but wants it to happen.

Once more, our leaders are using the immigration problem to misdirect the blame from themselves. The "war on terror," like the "war on drugs," is an exercise in futility, with no one profiting from it but politicians and their corporate cronies.

Our obscene national debt is now up for bid for any foreign investors who want to own a piece of America. So, if our country becomes a subsidiary of China and Dubai; if all our jobs move to other countries for the cheap, non-union labor, I am forced to wonder:

Who will be the future illegal immigrants?