Legal Immigration versus Illegal Immigration

As our government struggles with the idea of illegal immigration, it's clear there are two camps. The first camp, which is the camp in charge, or Camp Swampy, as I like to think of them, would like the "guest worker" program.

The guest worker program is actually more of a "guest displacement of American laborers" program.The guest worker program will further feed the wealthy business owners and industrialists by letting them bring in cheap labor who will have no voting rights, and, when they're done with them, require them to leave.

It will displace equally trained or better-trained American workers at a much lesser cost to the shareholders. It will increase shareholder profits and those of wealthy CEO's who are bringing down the bottom line for their shareholders. It will displace American workers trained for those jobs.

Illegal immigration refers to those who have "sneaked" into the United States to take up jobs we say current Americans would not want. I find it hard to believe that those on the unemployment rolls would not want any sort of job, even if it were working in farm labor or for hotels and lawn services.

The argument goes that these jobs are too low paying for American workers, but there is a simple solution. Pay these workers more - a living wage - or raise the minimum wage, which allows all workers to work a 40-hour week and not live in poverty. This should never happen in this country, or any country.

Currently, the 1- percent at the top of the corporate ladder make nearly as much as the bottom 90 percent in their organizations. They do this by reducing insurance, by eliminating pensions, which our government now seems happy to pick up. The government picks up this corporate welfare while eliminating the more-needed welfare for those unable to work or working for wages that keep them in poverty. Perhaps a re-balancing of the financial structure both in the corporations and in the country in general is in order. Is this socialism? No. Not at all. It's simply the way capitalism should work. A fair day's pay for an American working a fair day's work.

It's not what we have now. We currently have an oligarchy. Is there a reason we should subsidize millions and billions of riches to CEO's and shareholders at the expense of reasonable wages for an American worker? Is there a reason that we should instead allow "guest workers" to displace qualified American workers at a lesser cost? More importantly, a living wage should be paid to all that work - guest or native workers.

If the government and industry STILL want a guest worker program after wages are equalized, then more power to them. I somehow doubt that the guest worker program will be so popular with Bush and the Fortune 500 CEO's.

And lastly, what shall we do with the illegal immigrants who are here? Pay them a living wage, too. If a company can not function on paying living wages to its workers, then it is up to the government to address THESE issues. Right now, it is the American worker that suffers on all counts. And many of our illegal immigrants who have been here for a long time and whose children are born here, are not going anywhere. Let's treat them and all Americans equally and with proper respect and pay for a day's work.