Friday, February 25, 2005

I find it amusing that the UK is having the same debate as we are on immigration but with a slightly different twist.

"Most immigrants fill posts that keep the economy going. It is funny how peoples' attitudes to immigration change when they suddenly find a Polish or Lithuanian plumber to do a job they cannot find a British tradesman to do at a reasonable price."

Just exchange "Polish or Lithuanian" to "Mexican" and you could be talking about the U.S.

I am not like most conservatives that are against the guest worker program or other immigration reforms. I know there are problems with free healthcare and employers paying low wages, but living so close to the Mexican border, I have seen too many hard working Hispanics taking long hours and low pay for difficult backbreaking work.

People say they need to come in LEGALLY. Well I am guessing that getting into the U.S. legally from Mexico is a lot harder than getting your learners permit to drive when you are 16, which I had to do today with my daughter and it was RIDICULOUS what we had to go through. The paperwork, the confusing directions on what to bring. My paperwork from Austin said if you had a passport then no secondary identification is required. On the secondary identification listed was a Social Security card. I didn't bring that since it was made clear it wasn't needed since she had a passport. But when we got there they show me a paper that says they now require the Social Security card. The problem was it was on their paperwork that you filled out when you got there, not on my paperwork sent ahead. That is just one example of how completely complicated and confusing the process was.

If this is how hard it is to get a freaking learners permit to drive when you have been a citizen your whole life, speak English, and have a passport, I can only imagine the hell the Mexicans go through to get their citizenship here. So maybe the answer to illegal immigration is to make becoming a citizen less complicated and more about TEACHING them to love America instead of filling out tons of paperwork that no one ever looks at or probably understands.


I wonder if we had Polish people taking these jobs if there would be the same complaints?