Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.

The hard line on Immigration wants the public to believe that undocumented immigrants deserve a response that is provacatively disproportionate. Mass deportation and banishment are the tools chosen by a mindset that believes that its very existence is threatened.

We are not running out of white people. The jobs being filled by undocumented workers would lie fallow in places like Dallas, New York and Atlanta. An authoritarian response to an unjust law depresses wages for all workers entering an industry, and Government intrusion that reduces the pool of potential employees will lead to reduced productivity.

If one thinks whites are endangered, go to Fargo or Missoula. This myth is expressed behind closed doors. Lack of assimilation is used as a code to express that many undocumented aliens are from non-English-speaking places.

When there is a level of mistrust that a social service such as English lessons may be used in such a way as to destroy one's livelihood, the impetus for assimilation is emasculated. If an environment permits openness, assimilation becomes a high priority.

The necessity for undocumented workers to hover in the shadows of US society depresses the wages in industries where this population predominates. In this fashion, those who deliberately employ the undocumented skirt federal safety and labor laws. By creating an underclass, these costs are lowered at the price of US born workers.

If employers in Mexico were required to compete with US employers for workers, wages would rise across the border. There are not a lot of Canadians sneaking into the United States. A system that identifies Latin American workers puts US security at the forefront on two levels. Primarily, persons of desire to function productively are identified quickly and easily. The structure as it is lumps a large population of diligent and self-disciplined workers unjustly with a small criminal element.

On this week of remembrance for the tragedy of 9/11, we must recall that Mohammed Atta and his merry band of Jihadist Kamikazes entered the United States legally, with full sanction of the departments of State and Justice.

The law and system as they exist are broken. Regrettably, the sanctions of the Tancredo Republicans are tantamount to putting a 5-speed transmission behind an engine that does not run with regard to what security improvements could be attained. They are a knee-jerk response to a perceived problem that will not be remedied through punitive legislation.

A step by step solution could ensure that United States security and sovereignty interests are protected.

1. We need to identify that we have a common interest with our next door neighbor, Mexico. If terrorists are sneaking into the US as has been alleged, should they fail to enter the United States, then they become a security risk for Mexico. The latest information reveals that Mexico is a predominately Catholic/Christian country. It wouldn't take but one terrorist to turn on Mexico as an equal "infidel" to devastate the Mexican tourism industry.

2. Guest workers and amnesty are the fastest method for ending the inequitable mechanisms in Mexico. At the point where Mexican industry is required to compete with wages in the United States, more Mexicans will stay home. Normalized Mexicans in the United States would quickly embrace a call for improved working conditions and parity with US workers. Wages would go up instead of down, as alleged by the Tancredo/Sensenbrenner right.

3. The right's sacrifice on amnesty and guest workers enables a system that allows our security interests to be protected with the smallest amount of resources and the greatest effectiveness.
Ronald Reagan spoke of smaller government, right? Bloating agencies on the public dime is always a bad idea. This does nothing but give opportunities for corruption and malfeasance, putting Americans at a disadvantage.

In too many developing countries children learn to function under corrupt systems. The US is not as good at graft, and we should not learn how.

4. Industrialization+prosperity= an educable population. An educated population is the greatest insulator against tyranny and dictatorship rooting on Texas' doorstep. The more who know of our nature as a giving and hospitable people, the less likely we are to see an Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro pop up 100' from Laredo. A wall and mass deportation fuels the rhetoric of a politician like Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. We have enough problems without giving the Sheehan left another Palestine.

The world is watching how we deal with this problem. Undocumented latin american laborers are not blowing up pizza places.

They're eating in them, and that does not justify a wall like blowing one up.