There was this radio documentary I heard - it must have been on NPR, anyway, it was about this woman who had single-handedly destroyed the economy in her small town in Minnesota. How’d she do that? Long story short, this small town suddenly became the center of a large community of Mexican immigrants. Try as she might to include them in town activities, they weren’t interested. (I mean she did seem a little pushy) She held and ethnic fair, but was disappointed when two years in a row, no one showed up. They stayed in “their” part of town. They kept to themselves. So what did she do? She fought and fought and eventually got something similar to the “no match” law instituted in her town. I listened in horror as this selfish woman who was angry because none of the Mexican immigrants would be her friend, ruined her town. Suddenly stores were closing on the side of town where the immigrants had lived, there just wasn’t enough business and there weren’t enough workers. The town collapsed.
Congress is on a fast track to passing a seriously flawed, bill that could deny millions of U.S. citizens of their right to work. The "Secure America through Verification and Enforcement" (SAVE Act). It’s another really poor attempt at immigration reform. Another way to identify and deport undocumented workers. Another drain on tax dollars thrown at detention programs.
Among other things, the SAVE Act would require mandatory use of the much flawed E-Verify program by every employer in the United States, expand the doubly flawed “No Match” letter program (which killed that small town), criminalize the work of nuns, priests and humanitarian groups and force a possible 2.5 million a year to be classified as unauthorized to work. Great bill.
Actions congress could take - instead of passing crappy bills - to reform immigration:
- Reform NAFTA so people stop losing their farms and other businesses in their countries of origin
- Fixing the jigsaw puzzle and maze that is becoming a citizen of the United States
- A bill that doesn’t deport 12 million members of the US workforce and consumer base
If a system is broken, you don’t throw it out, you fix it.
