An Elected Arizona Republican that is talking about enforcement of laws against illegals, Or is it JUST talk?

Enforcement is first, and best, policy on immigration
J.D. Hayworth
My Turn
Oct. 7, 2005
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1007hayworth,jd.html
The Arizona Republic says we need "a dose of realism" to stop illegal immigration and then serves up a dose of journalistic LSD ("Wrong dosage," Editorial, Wednesday).

In denouncing Enforcement First as "unrealistic," The Republic buys into every canard pushed by the open-borders crowd, beginning with the demonstrably false assertion that enforcement hasn't worked in stopping illegal immigration.

In fact, enforcement has worked almost every time it has been tried (for instance, Operation Southern Denial, Operation Vanguard, Operation Tarmac and the Special Registration program to name but a few). Ironically, every time it points out that beefed-up border security in California and Texas has funneled illegals into Arizona, The Republic unwittingly acknowledges the effectiveness of border enforcement.

The problem is that enforcement has never been applied consistently because of political pressure from business interests and identity-group grievance mongers.

And when you consider there are only 2,000 interior enforcement agents to deal with 9 million illegal aliens and millions of businesses, you see what a joke our current enforcement posture is. My bill would change that.

The Republic somehow feels the need to reassure us that it has "long been - and remains - opposed to illegal immigration." Sure. It then proceeds to tout a guest-worker/amnesty plan that would . . . increase illegal immigration!

Don't take my word for it. Even former Republic columnist Ricardo Pimentel, the proud son of illegal immigrants and a vocal supporter of illegal immigration, says that a guest-worker program wouldn't "significantly halt either the demand or the influx of undocumented labor."

The Republic recklessly ignores the fact that America's experience with temporary-worker programs of all kinds has been uniformly negative, which is why we don't have one now.

Presidential and congressional commissions from the Truman presidency forward have studied and rejected such programs because they reduce wages for native workers, cannot be administered and attract more illegal immigration. There is no reason to believe it would be different this time around.

Here's the crux: I propose a solution with a track record of success; The Republic proposes one with a track record of failure. Just who is being unrealistic?

The guest-worker advocates' mantra of "matching willing workers with willing employers" is not a policy; it is a buzz phrase that really means,
"We can't stop illegal immigration so we might as well legalize it."

It is a way for the government to sweep its dereliction under the rug; a way for the government to grant itself amnesty for decades of looking the other way while the rule of law was ground underfoot by a human stampede.

The Republic says I ignore the "importance of (illegal) workers to the economy." But the consensus among economists is that illegal workers are a net cost to the economy.

Bear Stearns estimates that illegal immigration costs us $35 billion a year in forgone taxes and another $30 billion in social costs. ASU history Professor Brian Gatton says, "Only two groups profit (from illegal immigration): the immigrants themselves and their employers."

Further, under any kind of guest-worker plan an employer would be crazy to offer a job at anything above the minimum wage, knowing that if no American wants it at that price there will be plenty of desperate foreigners clamoring to take it.

The result will be a permanent and growing underclass of minimum-wage workers. For lower-income Americans the competition with cheap imported labor makes the American Dream almost unattainable - a tragedy ignored by the Republic.

There is only one way to stop illegal immigration: Enact tougher laws and then enforce those laws vigorously.

Enforcement First is the only approach that will stop illegal immigration, which is one of the reasons that in less than a week it has already garnered more co-sponsors than any of the guest-worker programs introduced months ago.

The writer, a Republican, represents Arizona's 5th Congressional District.

Give 'em hell, J.D.!



Those asshats at the Arizona Repugnant are.... asshats. Leftist asshats. And that O. Ricardo Pimento jagoff...  

it's not just talk, JDs the real deal a pol that has heard what his constituents are saying.

Quoted: it's not just talk, JDs the real deal a pol that has heard what his constituents are saying.

They have ALL heard their constituents complaining about illegals, even in California
The difference is that most of the others are still pretending that it is not a problem