Immigrants Versus Alien Workers
The so-called Immigration Bill has been on the front pages and a lead evening TV news story for some time now. As I see it, the current legislation, concerning the estimated 12 million illegal aliens now resident in our country, now being debated contains a fundamental error that precludes its success, and perhaps its passage.
The error is simply that the 12 million or so aliens who reside illegally here are not immigrants. They are more correctly called “alien workers”. My Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, defines the term “immigrant” as “A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.”
Unlike our ancestors when they arrived on our shore and passed through Ellis Island, virtually none of the current illegals entered the U.S. with the intention of taking up permanent residence. Most, if not all, came solely to earn the money needed to support their families who remained in their country of origin. They want to stay in the U.S. to work, but not to immigrate. They don’t wish to become citizens. They wish only to obtain documentation that assures them permanent residence. That being the case, they do not bother to learn English, or our history, or honor our flag. Hence, when they participate in a demonstration in support for their group, they fly the flag of the their mother country.
Such behavior is merely an expression of fee speech, and, I feel, acceptable. After all, ach year, thousands of true, legal immigrants come to our country, as they have past couple of centuries.
The legislation currently being considered by Congress is totally flawed, beginning with the name and purpose of the bill. We U.S. citizens and the 12 million illegal aliens, don’t need to reform “immigration.” The current immigration laws are fine. What we need to do is to write and pass new laws governing the rights, registration, and control of resident alien workers.
These aliens. by the millions, are here, most are hard workers, elements of our economy depend on their labor, and we need to legalize and document them. We don’t need to provide a “path to citizenship”. They didn’t arrive here with any hope of becoming citizens, so why provide a special means to do so. They want only documentation that allows them to work, not to be one of us. Our current laws already provide a well-proven process for becoming a citizen. The vast majority of American citizens ancestors followed it.
To put my position in as simple terms as possible. Devising a solution to any problem begins with a clear understanding of the fundamental cause from which the problem arose. One test of understanding is to be able to assign a name to the problem. Which is why names matter. We won’t get anywhere with our illegal alien problem until we stop calling it an “immigration” problem and begin calling by what it is: An resident alien worker problem.
The error is simply that the 12 million or so aliens who reside illegally here are not immigrants. They are more correctly called “alien workers”. My Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, defines the term “immigrant” as “A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.”
Unlike our ancestors when they arrived on our shore and passed through Ellis Island, virtually none of the current illegals entered the U.S. with the intention of taking up permanent residence. Most, if not all, came solely to earn the money needed to support their families who remained in their country of origin. They want to stay in the U.S. to work, but not to immigrate. They don’t wish to become citizens. They wish only to obtain documentation that assures them permanent residence. That being the case, they do not bother to learn English, or our history, or honor our flag. Hence, when they participate in a demonstration in support for their group, they fly the flag of the their mother country.
Such behavior is merely an expression of fee speech, and, I feel, acceptable. After all, ach year, thousands of true, legal immigrants come to our country, as they have past couple of centuries.
The legislation currently being considered by Congress is totally flawed, beginning with the name and purpose of the bill. We U.S. citizens and the 12 million illegal aliens, don’t need to reform “immigration.” The current immigration laws are fine. What we need to do is to write and pass new laws governing the rights, registration, and control of resident alien workers.
These aliens. by the millions, are here, most are hard workers, elements of our economy depend on their labor, and we need to legalize and document them. We don’t need to provide a “path to citizenship”. They didn’t arrive here with any hope of becoming citizens, so why provide a special means to do so. They want only documentation that allows them to work, not to be one of us. Our current laws already provide a well-proven process for becoming a citizen. The vast majority of American citizens ancestors followed it.
To put my position in as simple terms as possible. Devising a solution to any problem begins with a clear understanding of the fundamental cause from which the problem arose. One test of understanding is to be able to assign a name to the problem. Which is why names matter. We won’t get anywhere with our illegal alien problem until we stop calling it an “immigration” problem and begin calling by what it is: An resident alien worker problem.
posted by Bob Baker at 12:46 PM
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