Is Illlegal Immigration Akin To Speeding?
Illegal immigration is a highly emotional issue, so emotional that some House Republicans want to make it a felony to help an illegal immigrant/alien/undocumented worker (use your favorite phrase according to your political preference).
So what does new White House Press Secretary Tony Snow do? He likens illegal immigration to a speeding ticket — proving once and for all that the swap meet isn’t the only place you can find figures with tin ears:
The White House on Friday said a Senate bill that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants is analogous to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a fine and continue driving.“If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you’re not forever a speeder, are you?” White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in response to questions from The Examiner.
“So the fact is, you have paid your debt to society,” he added. “And we have come up with a way to make sure that the debt to society gets paid. Then you move forward.”
It is a great sound bite — and there were some Republicans who felt the analogy bit:
The “traffic ticket” analogy raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, where many House Republicans regard illegal immigration as a grave crime.“I don’t know if Tony meant to trivialize it or not,” said Will Adams, spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. “But it’s certainly misleading.”
“The penalty for a speeding ticket is a fine,” he added. “The penalty for being here illegally is being removed from this country. But the president doesn’t want illegal aliens to go home.”
Oops, Tony, poor analogy.
In fairness to Snow, however, he was trying to calm some of the near-hysteria over illegal immigration on the far right. And he was trying to find a way to say that adjusting residential status (with whatever formula they eventually come up with) can be done in a way so that it is paying a debt to society for being here illegally.
But in doing so he minimized it to an extent where it’s likely to irk House members who don’t feel the administration is taking the need for strict border enforcement and possible deportations seriously.
Good intent, Tony; clumsy execution. But you probably have made a lot of conservative talk show hosts looking for material smile.
4 Responses to “Is Illlegal Immigration Akin To Speeding?”
In fairness to Snow, however, he was trying to calm some of the near-hysteria over illegal immigration on the far right…
Yet, you provide no links that actually illustrate this “near-hysteria”?
Is this blogger ‘hyperbole’ completely unsupported by the facts… or just blogger ‘laziness’?
And he was trying to find a way to say that adjusting residential status (with whatever formula they eventually come up with) can be done in a way so that it is paying a debt to society for being here illegally.
“Assume” your ‘average’ illegal-
Been here since ’97…
Worked ‘under the table’ for the first three years(made $40K altogether- paid a total of $0.00 in Income tax, Socialist InSecurity taxes, MediScare taxes, Worker’s comp taxes, etc.) and because his employer did not cover the other half, Federal law considers this the responsibility of the employee- for “citizens”(see: self-employment taxes).
Amount owed in just ‘payroll taxes’= 15.3% of all earnings($6120)– plus all those income taxes, unemployment taxes, “Worker’s comp” taxes, etc.) also, the gov’t charges us ‘citizens’ 7% interest, compounded quarterly(we’ll ‘waive’ the extra ‘penalties’ that us ‘citizens’ are also forced to pay…)
He got a “fake” Socialist InSecurity number in 2000…
This is fraud. Have you seen the penalties assessed upon citizens convicted of ‘defrauding the Gov’t'?- Yet, he gets a ‘pass’…
But still, while he cannot prove he has been contributing under this “fake” number- the Senate still wants to give him the exact same Socialist InSecurity/MediScare benefits I’ve been “legally” paying for since I turned 16 in 1980.
Which is another reason why my “retirement planning” assumes a ‘total loss’ on the over $90,000.00 that has been taken from me so far…
How does the government collect these ‘back taxes’ owed? Any illegal who has been working here for more than five years owes the gov’t at least $15,000.00—
I’m sure each and every one of them will all line up tomorrow, and just ‘write the check’…
Or, they can just wait for the next amnesty… which will probably be cheaper!
If we can locate, adjudicate, ‘penalize’, ‘regularize’, and continue to track all 12 million current illegals–plus another 2-3 million “guest workers” annually–all while also expanding ‘legal’ immigration(according to the Senate plan), why can’t we just “locate” and deport that same 12 million illegals? Even if it’s only “ones and twos at a time” over the next five or ten years(after securing the borders)…
I think the speeding analogy was a pretty good one. Both illegal immigration and speeding provide benefits, and neither is intrinsically bad like robbing a bank or murder. Making a felony out of something which provides some benefit to society is crazy.
Our unemployment rate is less than 5%. That’s full employment by historical standards. It just doesn’t get lower than this. So, where are the Americans going to come from to fill those millions of jobs which aren’t getting done after we deport all the illegals? These people are providing a net benefit to this country right now.
Brian- I don’t think its that simple. Haven’t American workers lost out trying to compete with the illegals? Construction workers, electricians, meat packers, brick layers, etc, have been undermined by the huge flow of illegal workers from Mexico.
They are happy to come up here work for $9 per hour with no benefits, and send the money back to an even happier Vicente Fox. Twenty billion$ a year goes back to Mexico. Since most coming over are poor, it strains social services in the border states, and hurts our school system. Some coming here have diseases that are no longer a threat in this country, but which could be reintroduced.
When we pay $3.50 a gallon for gas, it is due to market forces. Market forces do not operate fairly for the labor market if we allow mass immigration.
“Our unemployment rate is less than 5%. That’s full employment by historical standards. It just doesn’t get lower than this. So, where are the Americans going to come from to fill those millions of jobs which aren’t getting done after we deport all the illegals? These people are providing a net benefit to this country right now.”
Actually it’s over 5% right now. Full employment by who’s standards? It is a false reading at best that doesn’t take into account people who have run out of unemployment benefits, are under employed (part time work at best), or people working multiple jobs to get by now does it? Those wouldn’t be good numbers and the current government wouldn’t publish those tho since honesty isn’t a strong su9it of theirs.
Where are the americans going to come from to fill those jobs you say? Well once upon a time that was what NAFTA was for, remember that idea? If we had more work than we could do it logically would be outsourced, but instead work we were doing got outsourced instead. Thank the corporate scum for that awsome idea. You are going to sit there and say no americans were laying bricks, working landscaping, meat packing, or construction? If you say no americans were doing those jobs you are a liar. That is pure spin you are parroting, and manure of the highest order.
If you enjoy them so much, why are you in the super minority on this subject in your home state.
Ah, you must be making money off illegal labour then, because only someone either trained by talk radio pitches the line so well, or is making profit off of it without concern for his fellow countrymen.
PING:
TITLE: In The Tin Ear Department – Revisited
BLOG NAME: Blue Crab Boulevard
You know, I had pretty high hopes for Tony Snow as Press Secretary. I think he is pretty much a straight shooter and comes across as quite genuine.
But.
This was a particularly bad way to try to put across a point, I think. I see what he'…