California: My home state, which I have always loved. Sixth largest economy in world. Not too long ago, it was seventh or eighth. Big place. Big influence. What happens in California is important to the United States.
There are 10 million immigrants in California, residents not born in the State. 25% of the population. This is the largest percentage of any State in the Nation (Source: Time Mag)
Of the 10 million not born in US, 2.5 million are illegal (Time Mag)
38% of Californians are white. 39% are Latinos. (Time Mag) (I assume white, mestizos, native Mexicans, or full blood Spanish, or maybe Russians, other Eastern Europe, etc. ) Again, we have race versus ethnicity, which is another issue, for another time. I would imagine that the percentages for Southern California show an even greater disparity between Latinos and Whites.
The views of CA citizens regarding immigration, etc might be a shade biased. Apparently, a great number of Californians are more interested in getting their family members and friends into CA than they are in obeying the laws of the Federal Government. At what point does this actually get defined as a serious problem?
Without California, the crazy man Trump would have won the national popular vote.
Some are arguing to abandon the electoral college, thereby handing to California to pick our future Presidents. Really? Is that such a good idea?
Can we pause for a moment from the so unkind-full national debate we are having on illegal immigration to simply ask: is this really a problem?
The US is built on legal immigration. The benefits are so numerous they are hard to even count. Moreover, anyone with a heart has great compassion for immigrants, who are likely to be the very best of their native country because they had the guts to leave everything behind to pursue a higher goal. Finally, with regard to Mexico, as only one example, I love Mexico and I love the people I have interacted with in Mexico on almost countless trips to both the Baja and the mainland over forty years. Not to mention my lovely daughter-in-law. OK. These words are offered to prepare you for this:
I think illegal immigration is a social cancer:
It is unfair for those who stand in line. I stand for fairness, in all things.
It favors a specific geography, mostly Mexico, and brings that culture to our land. The US is a melting pot, not an Irish culture, or an English one, or a Chinese one, or a Mexican one.
It discourages assimilation. When you are illegal you are sort of hiding. You are not embracing culture, civics, school system, taxation , etc. This has not been the US model which has worked so successfully.
It encourages disrespect for the laws. It’s like the small lie. Small lies become convenient. They evolve into big lies. Not healthy.
Illegal communities provide a place for organized crime types to hide. Then, they prey on illegals, as well as on wider dimensions of the community. Illegals are materially defenseless. I have read in serious analysis of the subject that criminal cartels hide among the illegals in East Los Angeles. This makes law enforcement next to impossible.
It has influenced an attitude of non compliance with Federal Laws by the State of California and many of its constituent communities. This is not healthy. This is the same Federal authority which ended legal racial discrimination in States, which has promoted equal sports education for women in Universities, etc. Until we got stuck with this subject, Federal law was respected, especially by the left. If you were a civil rights leader, how do you reconcile using the Federal Government to challenge states in the civil rights area, but block Federal involvement enforcing national immigration laws. I am sorry. This confuses me.
It encourages and even rewards some employers to break the law. This takes us back to the small lie point. Yes, it may seem innocent, in some cases. But it is against the law.
It creates a large cadre of people who consume public resources but pay no FICA taxes, and probably very little of any taxes, other than sales taxes. (Remember, FICA is funding the government, against IOUs at Treasury.) On the other hand, whether its Hospital ERs, some schools, collectively consumed public services, etc. they are consuming services for which they pay nothing. Yes, there is also economic contribution. But, legal visitors and citizens are paying their fair share for public services, which includes roads and public safety, which are collectively consumed. Illegals are not.
When laws are not enforced, the law is depreciated. It is not always easy to obey laws: traffic laws, tax laws, etc. But laws are designed to serve the interest of the wider community. The US prides itself on being a nation of laws. At the top is the Constitution, and all laws flow down to the community from there. (When you mess with that structure you are messing with that which makes the United States unique in the world.)
It creates a lot of tension in the community, among illegals, between illegals and legals, and within our national politics.
I realize that some of my friends will be very angry at this post. But, isn’t it time for honest conversation. 2.5 million illegal immigrants in California is not an accident. It is representative of a way of life which runs counter to what we all agreed to, explicitly when we became citizens, and implicitly, when we took our first civics class, having had the luck to be born in the United States. Solving this does not mean throwing people out of the Country. In means, adopting a new attitude, a new respect for law, and compassionately evolving away from this trend. Of course, that would take bipartisan leadership. And probably a generation.
