Oct. 05, 2005 - 18:48 MDT

BOTH WAYS ?

I've cussed and discussed this situation many times and have pretty well come to the same conclusions as Bill Johnson a Rocky Mountain News columnist. His column of today is apropos and is little likely to be heeded, probably. In full :

PUNISH EMPLOYERS, NOT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

"If David Schultheis really wanted an up-close look at the dynamics of illegal immigration and what should be done about it, he didn't have to travel all the way to the Mexican border in Arizona."

"He could have accompanied me and the family to dinner last Saturday night."

"We'd wanted Italian. They sat us near the kitchen, where you can see the flames leap and the pizza tossed. My 16-year-old son, smart as anything these days, pointed out the incongruity behind the glass partition."

"The three cooks assembled our orders without speaking a lick of English. They weren't speaking Italian, either. My son's Spanish III class was paying dividends, as he translated the bulk of their conversation."

"I've got a sawbuck here that says there wasn't a legitimate Social Security or green card between the three of them."

"I've lived in the West a long time."

"And in that time, I have marveled at what men and women born into desperate poverty, who leave their loved ones for a job -- any job -- on this side of the border, are capable of achieving."

"I do not need to stand, gazing over Arizona scrub, as Rep. Schulthies, R-Colorado Springs, and two other state GOP lawmakers are doing this week, to understand why those three cooks are in this country."

"They are here because the corporation that owns the restaurant where we dined is all too willing to hire and train them."

"If you want to stop the poor from migrating illegally into this country, all you need to do is put fire to the feet of those who give them jobs. Sock them hard in the wallet with draconian fines. Do it, and we are talking about something else today."

" No one survives drowning, trudges for miles in the burning desert and then risks his or her life in the back of a smuggler's van in search of work they will never get."

"It's that simple."

"Such an approach, though, is problematic on a couple of levels: It is not a call to arms; it's not scary, a sure-fire vote getter. And it will really tick off the corporations and other big businesses that employ the bulk of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in this country. Those same corporations, we all know, provide a politician's lifeblood."

"Instead, we get Rep. Schultheis and Reps. Jim Welker of Loveland and Bill Crane of Arvada walking shifts with ther wackos of the Minuteman Project, the civilian, wanna-be border patrol who fan out amid the cactuses and imagine they are reducing illegal crossings."

"They are being accompanied by Arizona representatives like Russell Pierce, men and women who make the papers by providing heat but absolutely no light with rhetoric like this: "This is a war we're waging," Pierce bellowed in this newspaper Tuesday. "We're trying to save America."

"David Schultheis, ever ready to prey on our worst fears, chimed in: "We're looking for warriors to join us in this fight."

A war ? Warriors ?"

"Goodness."

"The Colorado legislators said the trip was a fact-finding mission taken because their constituents had voiced concerns that illegals are taking jobs, burdening public services and committing crimes."

"And Schultheis also hopes to repeat here what Arizona legislators managed there with Proposition 200, a voter approved initiative that did away with medical and welfare services and education opportunities for illegal immigrants and their offspring."

"I would love to talk to the emergency room physician who allows a man, woman or child to, say, bleed to death because their immigration status could not immediately be determined."

"Such meaures are representative of the growing backlash against illegal immigration in this country. And perhaps such a backlash is long overdue."

"The United States, it should be acknowledged, is remiss in the extreme for failing to secure its borders."

"Yet in the absence of a coherent federal response to the problem, state and local leaders are leading the charge, many of them fear-mongers who vilify the desperate while completely exonerating those who provide the jobs they seek and profit from their labors."

"It isn't just restaurants."

"No, walk among the men driving nails and hanging wallboard at any new housing development. You, too, will need at least Spanish III."

"Stand in any central California tomato field at 7 a.m., and hear and look into the faces of those who will still be picking beneath a blazing sun at 3 p.m."

"They know nothing of David Schultheis' supposed war. They only know of making the pittance per basket being offered by the big growers they work for, which often is not even enough to feed the children at home."

"If you want them gone, don't blame them as the source of the problem. NO, go after the people who hire and pay them. Fine the employers. Heavily."

"And maybe then you too, can apply for their old jobs."

"By the way, I can still taste the heavenly, cooked-to-perfection mushroom smothered pork chops that came out from behind that glass."

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So often I have reflected and realized that I too would have braved all the dangers facing the illegals if it had been me who was the alien and where I wanted to go could offer me at least more than I could make in my own country. Especially would I have been driven as a father of a family. So I respect any person who is trying to make enough of a living to survive.

In my memory is the times I have seen the poop put out, "We have to compete against the world, so you peons will have to give something up." "Peon" or what corporations try to dress up in diplomatic language by some other name.

And also said corporations and businesses, large and small, all want to hire and pay the illegals because of the lower wages they pay them and the clubs they hold over their heads.

And now the problem has grown to the extent that there are just not enough federal enforcement people to handle the inflow let alone the staff to keep track of the known folks who have filtered in, one way or another.

So the big boys tell us country bumpkins, "Well, just look at the bargains you get from us. We couldn't afford to price stuff so low if you Anglos demanded the wages far above what we pay." And then, due to the bind they rave about us being in, the same businesses outsource work to other countries, because they can get the work done cheaper.

Sure, there probably is a solution somewhere. Something that a double dome not paid by the biggies could think up. But I don't think such a solution stands a chance in hell of ever being put in force as long as the biggies draw as much water as they do and play on our fears and greed.

To bring a bit of might to bear on the situation we have to ask ourselves and answer the question properly, Do we want it BOTH WAYS ? . . . . . . . . .

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