Homeland Security's ICE is killing immigrants and New Americans through brutal neglect

It was not until the nativists and white supremacists took control of the GOP and most of US politics in the last 20 years that the concept of "illegal immigration" became mainstream.

human migration patterns are as old as time. people coming into this country, falling in love, creating a family is nothing new. what is new are the draconian roadblocks to citizenship and the new militarization of ICE.

the US is becoming one of the worst Human Rights violators, right up there with China.

Human migration patterns may be "as old as time," but they have never been on the scale at which they are today. When you call the GOP "white supremacists," you are playing the race card as a means to rationalize why their shouldn't be any control over immigration. To do so, is really racists on your part. The GOP is anything but racists and I think you know it. The main point here is what and how the citizens of the US want immigration handled. Obviously we are open to immigration since the US was at one time built upon it, but then as now we want immigration to be controlled and monitored, and regulated. There is no Ellis Island today making certain the wrong types of people aren't coming in, their isn't any control on the numbers of people who are coming in. The social system and even basic services such as roads can't absorb the millions of people entering the US as it is yet you seem to want the citizens to fork over billions of dollars on their own money to support this out of control immigration. It isn't our responsibility to pay for the health care or education of citizens of other nations. There is nothing wrong with the US saying as every other nation in the world does, that we have the right to uphold laws regarding immigration and those who break our laws should be treated as every other person who breaks our laws and that is as a criminal. If you want to come into the US, it is easy, do it legal, and then you'll have earned the respect of the citizens of this country. Do it illegally and you will have lost any respect.

One thing that gets ignored, more or less, by the anti-immigrant faction is the dependence our economy has on those immigrants. Now I am not saying this is a simple issue. Laws have to be enforced and borders protected and labor laws also need to be enforced (a part of the equation ignored by Republicans). But our economy is being hit by the current wave of anti-immigration laws and enforcement. Farmers in the Midwest have been having problems finding the labor for harvests because of a reduction in illegal immigrants. Construction, agriculture, day care industries all depend, for better or worse, on illegal immigrants and cracking down on immigration has and will cause labor shortages and/or price increases.

Hell, even on Anthony Bourdain's program "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel he encountered a town in New Mexico renowned for their chilies. That is their specialty crop and they produce among the best chilies in the world. Problem is, the relatively labor intensive chili crop is dying because of a lack of labor to pick the chilies. This correlates with the current anti-immigrant sentiment.

Until the anti-immigrant faction finds a solution to this labor shortage, their policies are counter to American interests. I suppose the true free market approach is to open the borders and let the labor force grow to match demand. But that isn't the solution either the Dems or Repubs want. On the other hand, closing the borders is also insane because it will ruin the construction, agriculture and day care industries. That seems to be the Repub "solution" and it is the worst. On yet another hand we have the status quo which is more or less to have laws that are counter to our economic interests but which we enforce irregularly so the labor force is regulated by how much we enforce our border laws. That seems a pretty haphazard way to do things.

I don't have a solution, but I do know the current Republican anti-immigrant approach is hurting people, hurting our economy and costing us way more money that it is worth. We need some new thinking on the matter and it has to depend on a respect for immigrant labor (which built this country in the first place), a respect for labor laws, and a respect for our national boundaries. Those are three competing needs but they definitely need to be balanced.

The answer is a work visa program which the US government controls, and which is already in place, but most illegal simply don't bother to use it. We don't need 21,000,000 people illegally here doing jobs they claim Americans don't want to do. Certainly there are jobs like that, but 21,000,000 such jobs isn't the case and it isn't up to them to determine what America needs or don't need. Farmers not finding workers in the US is hardly the problem, and you can't justify braking the laws of the US for something like that. Besides US farmers could hire Americans to do that work, but they are not willing to pay minimum wage or supply benefits, so they would rather exploit illegal workers. You tell me how you can rationalize that? American citizens without a high school education make up the largest part of the American unemployed. Last I looked it was somewhere around 17% unemployment for such citizens. That very well may be a direct result of illegal immigration since these American citizens are no longer able to find work which have been taken by these exploited illegals.

And if you are speaking about harm to our economy then how about the drain on public services caused by illegal immigration? Cities like LA can't cope with the vast migration of people to their city. Roads are clogged by people who aren't even able to pay an impact fee which most American citizens have to pay whenever they move to a new city and apply for a driver's license. Then the strain on social services such as hospitals and school is in the billions of dollars thanks to an out of control immigration system. How can you even suggest for one second that it is fair to the American people to have to pay for this? It is just wrong! Then look at the billions needed to fight the ever growing crime in cities with high immigration. Look at the cost of boarder control which is needed to stem the flow of people into this country. It simply isn't right or fair to expect US citizens to flip the bill on all this.

Finally, it all comes down to obeying the law. You can't rationalize breaking the law just so a farmer can have his entire crop harvested. The laws are there for a good reason. You just can't have the US overran by vast amounts of immigrants. The system simply can cope and the money for it must come out the pockets of US citizens. US citizens who I might add do not welcome the kind of over immigration. If the government were truly reflecting the will of the US people then they would get a control on immigration. Sadly the US government is doing a half-ass job and it is the US citizen who has to pay for it.

that allowed white men to own african slaves.

seriously.

get an education.

What the hell does African slavery have to do with anything we were talking about? Oh, I get it, the race card yet again is being played. First off, I'm Asian-American, and as far as I know my people had nothing to do with slavery in Africa although, yes, I'm also American, but if you were more educated then you would know that most people came to this country after the American Civil War which ended slavery here. Slavery in many South American countries continued after that. If you were more educated then you would also know that slavery is as old as prostitution and their is no one race who is guiltless including the Africans who, if you were more educated you would know, that there is still slavery in Africa and the Middle East to this day. In fact the Arabs are perhaps the world's greatest slavers both past and present. Regardless, playing the race card and painting your opponents as racist is not an argument. It only makes you appear desperate by trying to deflect from the fact that illegal immigration is illegal and wrong. It has nothing to do with race, but everything to do with legality, and what is fair for the host country to deal with and what isn't. All of which is up to the citizens of the US to decide.

In the future you may want to reconsider throwing terms such as "American Fascism" around like you have since it really is a false statement which only builds animosity. As I pointed out before, it creates a "US vs. You" mentality. If you truly wish to be a part of the American nation then that isn't the best response from you. The idea of America is that we are all of different backgrounds who have come together to create a truly wonderful country full of opportunity for all. While it isn't perfect it is a great country that many in the world want to immigrate to. Not only S. Americans, but Asians, European East and West, Africans, so it isn't right to just allow S. Americans in, but to control it so others from elsewhere can have the opportunity to come in legally. It is impossibly to allow the flood of humanity to simply pour in uncontrolled. It overwhelms US social services and adds to crime, and even possibly terrorism coming into the country by not having secure boarders and proper laws. It is our country and our laws, so if you don't like then I suppose you could always move back to wherever your family originally came from. You are free to leave it if you dislike as much as you appear to from reading your blog.

Yeah...there are laws and there are laws. Separate but equal was the law and it was wrong. I have never advocated breaking the law or abandoning all immigration laws. But you continue to ignore the fact that current immigration law doesn't work because there is a free market labor demand that the illegal immigration fills while no other source is able to fill when the government cracks down on the illegal immigration. In many ways it is similar to Prohibition. Supply and demand keep working even when alcohol was illegal. The solution wasn't more and more enforcement of the law...that never worked and created far more problems than it solved. The solution was changing the law that wasn't working.

Work visas have become prohibitively difficult to get. I know Chinese scientists who can't do their work because of the insane Homeland Security crap that prevents them from getting work visas. Well, that sure helps China keep its scientists home. Now if a scientist has increasing problems (and it used to be much easier) a migrant worker needed for harvesting crops will have no chance. So our farmers suffer because of poorly thought out laws.

so, do you know why i love you? it's these moment that make me go ... mmmmm, yeah, that's my managing editor smacking these idiots down.

just saying

And you Liza have offered nothing in defense of illegal immigration or even over immigration other than a few insulting remarks which shows more your racist attitude than any concrete arguments. So far I have heard nothing from you or anyone else which would make me consider for a moment that illegal immigration is good for America. All I see in my city is the negative effects of over immigration. I see it everyday and wonder why my government isn't doing more to control this flood of people coming into my community and taking advantage of everything the citizens of the US have worked so hard to achieve. I'm sure it sucks to live under Chavez, or under Castro. I'm sure it is terrible to live in a country such as Mexico which just can't seem to get it together, but that isn't my responsibility. My tax money goes to citizens of the US and not millions upon millions of foreign nationals who don't even respect the laws of this country.

Illegal immigrants do not receive much of your tax money at all. What they do draw is more than balanced by the sales tax that they pay just like the rest of us. In fact you pay more in taxes to enforce immigration law than you pay to any illegal immigrants.

As to the negatives and benefits of illegal immigration, please look at the costs of produce, day care and construction. Double those costs and you have some idea of the benefit you receive from illegal labor. This does not justify breaking the law, but it does show that the issue is not as simple as you claim.

It's fun at first, but the inane repitition of discredited arguements gets tiresome at first. Only way I made the last global warming denial folks stay reasonable was to threaten banning if they didn't back up their assertions with facts.

This crowd seems to have maybe three talking points and little actual knowledge of history or economics. I don't disagree with their basic point that illegal immigration is a problem, though I may view the abuses of workers it engenders as the key problem as well as the rare cases where there is competition with urban unemployed (part of the conflict between NYC "Southern" blacks and Caribbean blacks from what I have seen). They seem to have a simple fear of immigrants (forgetting their own past, I assume, unless they are 100% Native American) and so want to see the laws enforced more...but aren't willing to pay the prices for it.

To say, "there is a free market labor demand that the illegal immigration fills" is a fallacy. It simply isn't true. Again please examine the unemployment in the United States which is recently on the rise. Please look at the figures for those without a high school diploma regarding their unemployment. It was at 17% when last I looked and that was before the economic downtown. I have friends who worked in the catering business who have lost their jobs to cheap Mexican labor. It isn't right that some employer can exploit these illegals and at the same time deny a job to a proper citizen. The US must come down much harder on these employers who are not looking to simply fill some labor demand, but rather are looking for cheaper labor in order to cut their overhead, so they can make more money. Regardless, if what you were saying were the least bit true, it is up to the US to allow a certain number of persons from outside of the country to come in and work. It isn't a path to citizenship, but only a work visa program which would fill some jobs such as in the farm industry or construction, which as far as I can tell is the only area which has a need. By the way, both those industries are on the decline. The building bubble has burst and American food is being imported. Our immigration laws are more than fair and without them this country would be overrun by people fleeing Central and South America. I would flee to if I were living in their countries as well. I've been to Mexico and have seen the poverty there however; you simply can't allow millions of people to come in just on a whim. The type of immigration we have now is so out of control that cities across the US can't cope and with the economic downtown it is difficult for them to pay for US citizens let alone the citizens of Central or South America. A last point is that one of the reasons South and Central America are such third world countries is because people don't stay to build them up, but rather they leave. Cuba is a terrific example of how immigration has allowed the Communist dictatorship to stay in power all of these years. If the US had never offered asylum to Cuban nationals then chances are those who were discontent with Castro's dictatorship would have eventually removed him from power. As it is 1/3rd of the population of Cuba has fled to the US and Castro remains in power thanks to that US policy. These Cuban immigrants invaded Miami and created such a strain on the city of Miami that the US government had to give emergency money just to cope with the mass migration. The crime rate in Miami also reached record levels thanks to this migration. Again, it is not fair to expect the citizens of cities such as Miami to deal with this flood of humanity. It must be controlled, or you will have major problems, not just economic, but also social. In LA the black communities are at war with the Hispanic communities although the roots of these problems are also economic, but again it is causeing conflict. It is simply wrong and illegal immigration must be stopped. America has the right to say how many is too many and not the foreigners who have abandoned their own countries. They have no rights here! The negatives associated with over immigration far outweigh any positives. And if you wish to live in a country which lives by the rule of law then you better obey those laws. You can't take that law and disregard another law because you have lunatic fringe idea that American should be forced to except all these people with no questions asked. If you break a law you may not agree with and it is a law of the US then you are a criminal.

I guess you do not understand economics. The seasonal labor that mirgant workers fill has almost never been filled by locals even in ancient times when neighboring semi-nomads would fill that need or landless migrants. In the 1920's it was Americans displaced from the dust bowl. Right now it is illegal immigrants. Urban unemployment has nothing to do with labor demand in rural regions because the urban unemployed don't have the means or inclination to leave their families behind to do seasonal labor. Illegal immigrants DO fill that role.

New home building is on the decline, but repair and renovation of old homes is not. If anything, illegal workers are used more by contractors rennovation and repairing than they are for new construction. That said, in urban areas there is indeed more of a direct conflict between urban unemployed citizens and illegal immigrants. In fact the construction industry probably is the main example of direct competition. Nevertheless, for better or worse, simple capitalism means that that very labor competition keeps prices low. Please learn basic economics.

Day care has some such conflict as well, but many cannot afford licensed child care so make ad hoc arrangements with immigrants...this very thing brought down an anti-immigration Republican in California when he ran for Senate (forget if it was against Boxer or Feinstein). People hire whoever they can afford and don't check for immigration papers. They check references of previous employers, but not immigration papers. Again, free market, for what it's worth.

I left out the restaurant industry. The lowest level of restaurant work is often filled by illegal immigrants who work for below minimum wage. Dish washers and bus boys are proverbiably immigrants. This keeps costs down, once again, and without the immigrant labor (legal and illegal) the positions are hard to fill because few citizens other than a handful of hardworking teens saving up for their first car to wreck are willing to work crap jobs like that.

Having a legal way to fill these needs and respect labor laws (something ignored by Republicans) would be fine. Funny you should suggest that after I have suggested it several times. In other words simply enforcing the existing laws more strictly will do nothing except cause a labor crisis, increased taxes and increased prices (inflation). I advocated reform of the laws. So, it sounds like you agree with me. Reform of immigration law to a.) respect the need and dependence on immigrant labor America has, b.) respect our territorial integrity and c.) respect American labor laws that protect workers. I should note that Republicans ignore a and c completely, which is why their solutions never work. They still believe in Prohibition despite the fact it never works.

I understand economics enough to read the rising unemployment rate in the US and see there isn't a significant need for foreigner workers. I understand economics enough to see the housing and building bubble has burst and the need for construction has virtually collapsed. There are Americans enough to take care of repairs. I understand economics enough to see trade deals done with S. America which have made it cheaper for Americans to buy their food from S. America than from farmers here in the US. Simply put there is no reason why we have over 21,000,000 people in this country illegally. They are not here because the American people want them here, nor are they here to fill some lapse in the job market. If there is such a need then again it can be all managed legally through the US government. Those who are here illegally are breaking our laws and they are doing so willfully.

I have a story regarding illegal immigration also. When I was young I could go and earn a few bucks cutting grass as a kid. Today kids can't do that because these illegals are in fact doing it for less than what most kids are willing to do it for this job. Sure it makes it cheaper, but what you fail to see is that is has the effect of driving down wages! It further has the effect of creating a black market of sorts where these workers are not regulated or protected by the government. This further break the labor laws of the USA. It is wrong on so many levels that there simply is no way you can justify it. It is like you are grasping at straws and trying desperately to justify why 21,000,000 people are willfully breaking our laws. You are trying to justify why some American employers are exploiting these illegal workers.

Lastly, you must be one of the anti-Republican types. If you are so pro-illegal immigration then you must know that it was President Reagan who gave amnesty to all the illegals in the US during his presidency. It was a total mistake since people in Central and South America saw that and it began the flood of people entering this country and disregarding our laws with the believe that amnesty will happen again. It is also President Bush who is part of the problem because he is more about business then about protecting US jobs, or even our boarder. The Republicans are happy to allow cheap Hispanic labor to come in and work like Chinese labor. They don't care that American jobs are being lost, or that wages are being driven down. If anything I've heard stronger anti-illegal immigration talk for Democrats who are more about protecting the US worker and US wages. Point in fact, Obama is pro-Union and to be in a Union in the United States means you must be a citizen. I think you may want to look at the role each party plays in regards to illegal immigration because the Republics are more about what you call for, driving down prices, but the Dems on the other hands are against that move.

One last thing, I just can’t say it enough, but maybe one more time will help it to sink in with you. There is a right way to legally immigrate into the US. The problem is we simply don’t need the amount of people who are here already, nor can we afford to pay for all these millions of illegals here. Regardless, if you do come into the US legally then you deserve to be here. You followed the laws, you did what the people of the US require you to do and you deserve a place here and respect for obeying our laws. If you don’t obey our laws and come into this country illegally then you have already shown that you do not deserve a place here. You don’t deserve respect of any American citizen or any immigrant who came into this country legally. The don’t have the right to break our laws!!!