The Untruth of the Whole Immigration Issue

So, people are upset about all the 'illegals' that 'flood' the US and bemoan 'liberal' attempts to give 'amnesty' to all of these interlopers.

So, that overly inflated sentence is meant to inflame.  It's hyperbole and indicative of the debate (if you want to call it that) in this country.

Why is there illegal immigration?

This is the question that isn't really explored.  People with a short attention span would say that people come to this country for our jobs.  Well, that's partially true, but what most people don't get is that the jobs that illegal immigrants usually get are the lowest paying type of service jobs that many in this country don't even want.  In addition to the low pay, employers are not really encouraged to hire 'real Americans' over illegals for those types of jobs, because they save money by ignoring the fact that those people are not American citizens.  The illegal worker doesn't demand health care or try and collectively bargain for a higher wage.  They are a class of people in indentured servitude, unable to complain.  They can only work and die.

The attack on illegal immigration is currently aimed at trying to find, round up, and deport illegal immigrants.  This is massively inefficient.  Why is there no real attempt to address the reason for illegal immigration at the root; the people who knowingly hire illegal immigrants?  The simple answer is that it is politically easy to hire officers and throw people who don't have a voice in this country out.  It's a political win/win.  Increased attention on tax paying employers who have political clout and produce items at a low cost to the consumer are a much harder sell.

Now, we sit here with no legal ability to bring people into this country, few resources to deal with what is here (due to a systematic reduction in funding for those agencies that deal with immigration) and a new crisis on our border due to the influx of children coming from war torn areas of Central America.

Congress turns a blind eye to the whole issue, but uses it as a cudgel against their opponents because it is an easy issue, without an easy solution.  The key points behind any comprehensive immigration reform is to have a valid path to citizenship for people who legitimately want to make a go of it in this country, but there also needs to be funding for interdiction and a crackdown on employers who hire illegals.  It totally ignores the fact that legal immigrants add to the national revenue.  This is a hard sell.

The American public would have to stomach higher prices for produce and other currently 'low cost' goods for a lasting immigration solution.  The political landscape is such that the Democrats want to try, but their efforts are seen as week (even though Obama has deported more people than any other President).  The Republicans want a stronger presence on the border and to focus on introduction, but are loath to pay for that increased presence and they don't even want to address the employer (the people that vote for them).  So we are stuck with no real solution and a permanent Catch 22 on how to deal with this.

There is no easy answer.  The hard answer costs money and pisses people off and causes higher consumer prices.  Therefore, it's okay to bitch and moan about illegal immigration, but if you do so and think that there's an easy answer and that one political diatribe is superior, then you are fooling yourself.  Nobody wants to address the people who employ illegal immigrants.  Nobody wants to tell Americans that they will have to pay more for food and other services.  That's the hard answer.