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Opinion

Handle it the American way: Let it be

Joseph Tutt
Guest Columnist

As part of my normal routine, I was watching FOX News last night, and I could not help but notice they were having a debate that was both fair and balanced. After I regained my composure and pulled my jaw off the ground, I quickly realized why the debate was fair and balanced. It was about immigration, and conservatives have a vital stake in both sides. While being war hawks, big on defense and xenophobic, they are also big businessmen and realize the importance of cheap labor in our economy.

This is one issue where conservatives, especially Bush, have an opportunity to be reasonable, and for the most part, Bush always has been savvy on immigration policy. However, since it is a new world after 9/11, Americans are trying to force him to give up one of the few issues he has a solid grip on. 

This debate is getting old and does not even need to take place. I say this because everyone knows nothing will change. American history shows a nice cycle of xenophobia and anti-immigrant spirit. I just hope the debate will hurry up so things can get back to normal; by normal, I mean having borders too large to reasonably enforce and an economy dangerously reliant on a steady stream of workers flowing across the border. 

Regardless of how insecure people feel about the ability for an impoverished Mexican to swim across a river in desperate search for a better life, there is no easy solution to the problem. If history and political science have taught me anything, it is that when America is faced with a tough problem, the best way to handle it is by not handling it at all.

As most people probably know by now, there are at least 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, which is much too large of a number to be able to do anything about. Furthermore, removing them would destroy our economy, especially in Texas. 

The only part of the argument that seems to have much merit is that illegal immigrants are a drain on social services and the educational system, and that they have caused an influx of crime. 

As for the first part, even though illegal immigrants do pay into the system, overall they cost more than they put in. However, let us be reasonable about this. That is the entire reason we have social programs. If people were putting more into the system than taking out, they would not be requiring social service payouts. It is not a problem with illegal immigration; it is the basic principle of the system. Everyone pays in, and the ones in need take out. If someone feels the need to attack this aspect of the problem, they are better advised to become a libertarian and try to end social programs altogether, rather than get angry with an immigrant who needs emergency room treatment.

As for crime, I admit, areas with illegal immigrants most likely do have higher crime rates. Are Mexicans natural-born criminals with an unquenchable thirst for unruly behavior, or is it the fact that lower income areas are always high in crime and illegal immigrants are paid sub-human wages?

The bottom line is that social service payouts and crime come with people in poverty. The only real solution is to make legal immigration much more appealing so people do not believe fording a river, jumping a fence and possibly being shot at by the Minutemen is a better option than filling out some paperwork. Then, the government could raise the minimum wage, for the first time in nine years, to a livable level. That way, immigrants are legal, paying more into the system, and are not forced to live in slum areas. Then again, that would require doing something. 

Tutt, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu