Slaying The Beast

Well, the Republicans killed the immigration bill dead. I fail to see how it helps them strategically, but their brown-hating base was whipped up in a fervor so there was little they could do. Meanwhile, I wasn't particularly fond of a lot of aspects of the bill, and am not particularly sad to see it go. In 2009, there will be a better opportunity with more and better Democrats to get a better bill. If I were running the Democratic Party I would put forward a bill demanding stronger workplace enforcement, including felony jail time for businessmen who knowingly hire and exploit undocumented workers. If we cannot bring these hardworking people out of the shadows, we should at a minimum protect them from this kind of exploitation. And I believe populist Republicans can agree to that; we've seen "enforce the laws on the books" in their rhetoric. The other effect this will have is to further widen the rift between the corporate Cons who want cheap labor and the anti-immigrant base.

Ultimately, doing nothing is irresponsible, and "sealing the border" is a stupid bumper sticker that is irrelevant to the problem (a majority of "illegal aliens" overstay tourist visas). So if you are really committed to this issue, you will jail anyone who hires someone in the country illegally. That includes the guy mowing your lawn and putting up your drywall. Somehow, I think we'll find a lot of brown-hating hypocrites that way. Let's play hardball.