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Latino Immigrants Are a Poor Excuse to Push Immigration Reform

Slick as they are, Democrats have backed themselves into a corner over immigration. Their efforts to clean up the image of illegal immigrants so we will accept them as our friends and neighbors have led to insanely exaggerated claims about the benefits of immigration reform. Despite Democratic contempt for the intelligence of the masses, most of us have figured out that the immigrants they are interested in are Latinos.

Earlier this week, Domestic Policy Director Cecilia Munoz spoke of immigrants, startups, and Fortune 500 companies:

In the speech he gave a year ago in El Paso, the President pointed out that a full 25 percent of recent high-tech startups in the U.S. were founded by immigrants. That led to 200,000 jobs here in the United States. Forty percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.¹

Sounds promising, but the El Paso speech was not about Fortune 500 CEOs. It was about granting legal status to illegal immigrants. The venue for the president’s policy statement told us all we needed to know about what he is after.

The Department of Education has decided that immigrants not quite ready to start their own corporate empires can do their part for America by going to college. DREAM Act advocate Arne Duncan painted an impressive and utterly false picture of the role Latinos will play in raising our college graduation rate:

“We know that Latinos will play an integral part in helping America reach President Obama’s goal of having the highest college graduation rate in the world by 2020,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.²

This would be so much easier if Democrats would just knock off the flimsy excuses and admit what they want (see: Just Admit It. Illegals From Mexico are the Prize). Our next generation of Einsteins is not going to come from Latin America. They will not be Latino. Just the opposite. Illegal Latino immigrants will drag us down because of their low educational attainment and minimal job skills. Those who are here legally already present extreme challenges for our school system. Despite all the Washington hype about America’s future being tied to Latinos (see: Obama Gives His Chosen a Slogan), the only reason we are joined at the hip is that the majority of illegal immigrants come from Latin America, and Democrats are slavering over thoughts of their support. The problem for taxpayers is that if we turn these illegal immigrants into legal residents it would take a heroic effort to bring their education and skills to a level where they are not a liability.

The Labor Department has fessed up to a problem that mocks Arne Duncan’s statement about Latino college graduates:

Employed Latinos are much less likely to have a college degree than are either Whites or African Americans. Approximately one in six employed Latinos aged 25 and over have completed a bachelor’s degree, less than half the proportion among employed Whites.³

The White House treatise on Latinos and Winning the Future also disagrees with Duncan’s prediction, pointing out that nearly 50% of our Hispanic students do not even graduate high school.4

Hispanics have realized two achievements on the education front. Their educational attainment is the lowest in the U.S. and 12.4 million Hispanic students have put them at the top of the list of minorities in our public schools.5 These are big problems for America, Democrats, and the president. Latinos cannot start Fortune 500 companies if they are in the midst of an education crisis, but the administration needs to stump for undereducated Latinos to help justify spending on schools and teachers. Latinos also need to live up to the Democratic fantasy of the highly-skilled immigrant to rationalize opening America’s doors wide and granting legal status. Like it or not, America has no use for legalized illegal immigrants who have no education or job skills.

Fortunately for immigrant rights supporters, there are congressmen like Luis Gutierrez who know the score, understand that the numbers are against us, and resort to the common sense argument that we are stuck with what we have and might as well get it over with:

Mitt Romney can either support a policy based on pure fantasy to drive 10 to 12 million undocumented immigrants and their families out of our communities or he can be for getting them in the system, on-the-books, and incorporated into American society.6 

Or we could change nothing, focus on education for Latinos and other immigrants who are here legally, and deal with the rest as current law dictates. If we spot any Einsteins on the plane ride back to Mexico, perhaps we can make an exception.

List of References

Posted 18 May 2012 † Civil Bob § Immigration ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Arne Duncan, illegal immigrants

Competitiveness Means Making a Buck Off of Foreign Students

How does it feel to know that your government is betting on foreign students to rescue America from decline? Homeland Security is helping to make sure that your college-bound children compete with foreign students judged to be the “best and brightest.” Why do we protect American goods from foreign competition, but actively raise the stakes against our young people when it comes to education and jobs?

Last year Homeland Security brought us Study in the States to encourage foreign students to come to the U.S. to shore up American competitiveness (see: Study in the States Disregards America’s Potential). The Obama administration has been pushing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines for its own purposes with an aggressive plan that includes training 100,000 new STEM teachers.

Homeland Security has announced that it is adding to the list of STEM degree programs entitling foreign students to stay in the country for up to 29 months after graduation. DHS’s inability to keep track of visa overstays has already given us 4-5.5 million illegal immigrants.¹ The federal contribution to illegal immigration aside, are Janet Napolitano and the president unable to grasp the connection between American competitiveness and protecting our intellectual property? The president talks about leveling the playing field for American businesses so they can compete in overseas markets. How about leveling the field for American students instead of looking for talent elsewhere?

The White House policy on foreign students is a haphazard, contradictory mess.  On one hand, Americans are warned that our students will be unable to compete because they are falling behind in STEM fields:

Students need to be able to solve problems, apply appropriate technologies, and design solutions – skills honed by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. We have seen other nations eclipse ours in preparing their children in these critical fields.²

Then we are told that the solution is to import the same top foreign students who are outpacing us so they can learn from our best schools, stick around for on-the-job training, then go home. Since it makes no sense to educate foreign students, train them, then send then away with our secrets, is this part of the push for immigration reform, perhaps another angle to resurrect the DREAM Act? A Homeland Security press release sounds suspicious:

As a part of comprehensive immigration reform, the President supports legislative measures that would attract and retain immigrants who create jobs and boost competitiveness here in the U.S., including creating a “Startup Visa,” strengthening the H-1B program, and “stapling” green cards to the diplomas of certain foreign-born graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.³

How long will it take for “certain foreign-born graduates” to become “certain illegal immigrants looking for a better life”?

Here is an idea for our bright bulbs in Washington. Instead of telling us that American students are not measuring up, bringing in foreign students to compete with them, and eventually excusing illegal immigrant students and visa overstays who are already here, how about making a few bucks from the foreign students we are so eager to train? Other countries zealously ensure their competitiveness by protecting their job markets. We should impose a value added tax on the tuition and earnings of foreign students who come to the U.S., or impose a tariff on talent, depending on the STEM field and its value to our economy. We could even charge a deposit on students paid by their country of origin, nonrefundable in the event they fail to go through the proper immigration channels or decide to return home with our intellectual property. Is our immigration system too slow and cumbersome to process applications from these gifted foreigners? Fix it. Administrative reform and amnesty are two different things.

If STEM disciplines are so important, why are we making it easy for foreign citizens to compete with Americans, and to take our STEM secrets? Our government is smart enough to protect American manufacturers from foreign imports. We already know that jobs are hard to come by. If American students really are falling behind and endangering American competitiveness – and coming from the White House, this is a big if – then we need to protect our greatest asset, not exploit it because of political agenda.

List of References

Posted 17 May 2012 † Civil Bob § Education ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Homeland Security, jobs

Occupy Depends on Wall Street for Rights, Justice, and Jobs

Occupy Chicago is looking for a few good floors. The Occupy Wall Street spinoff has been waiting for the angry masses to arrive for the upcoming NATO Summit and needs places for protesters to camp. Windy City airwaves have been carrying sound bites of Occupy organizers asking for donations of space in church basements, warehouses, and back yards. They have assured the charitable that those demanding rights, equality, and justice without the funds for a hotel room will behave themselves.

Occupy Wall Street preaches that 1% of the population feeds off of the other 99%. Acolytes are not going to find jobs to place them in the upper tiers of the 99%, much less the 1% while they travel by bus to camp in backyards and warehouses owned by those who hold jobs and run businesses to support themselves and others (see: Democrats Will Ensure Deceived Protesters Remain Jobless). Working is important. Even after the revolution most of us will want to be able to afford to sleep out of the rain.

Occupy’s vision for economic equality is an America where banks and businesses no longer dominate. Who will have the money to pay for charity, and who will make sure we can afford to run a country that provides rights, equality, justice, and jobs? Occupy adopted the Tea Party’s Take Back America slogan to considerably less point and purpose. It also adopted Obama administration propaganda about banks and corporations being the downfall of our society, endorsing the president’s anti-capitalism in a semi-coherent petition to the White House:

These men and women are trying to send a message to their fellow Americans and to the world- the big banks and the super-rich, who is “buying out congress”, are the primary drivers of the ongoing recession.¹

The fact that both political parties are continually looking for deep pockets to fund election wars does not dissuade eager to please politicians from taking up Occupy Wall Street’s cause. Is economic justice by anarchy founded on mindless sloganeering something members of Congress believe they should endorse? New Jersey Democratic Congressman Rush Holt linked Occupy Wall Street to the American Dream:

You have often heard me say that the American Dream belongs to all of us. Occupy Wall Street has, over the past month, gained the support of hundreds of thousands of Americans who seem to be saying the same thing.²

Senator Bernie Sanders also took up the call:

Protesters marched on Wall Street again on Friday. Sen. Bernie Sanders praised the protests now in their fourth week. In Vermont, demonstrations are planned in four cities this weekend. ”The situation has reached a boiling point because the economy is in such bad shape,” Sanders said.³

Massachusetts Congressman John Tierney implied that Occupy Wall Street’s agenda is consistent with government spending and American democracy:

They are demonstrating in opposition to corporate greed and tax loopholes; they are demanding that government support education, infrastructure, and jobs; and they are unifying behind efforts to strengthen our democracy.4

Deflecting anger by blaming others is easy. The president has done more than his fair share of fanning the flames, repeatedly telling Americans that fairness has gone by the wayside and that a fair shot for the middle class is a thing of the past. Like Occupy agitators, Democrats in Congress disavow responsibility for the state of the economy. They denigrate the sources of wealth that ensure Americans enjoy the rights, justice, and equality we take for granted. No connection is drawn between American wealth and the billions we spend ensuring basic human rights for citizens of other countries, something we can do only because our economy has viable business and financial sectors.

Americans have never been much for giving away something of value for nothing. The only thing that hurts more is being ridiculed for doing it. The Occupy movement demands social and economic justice, equality, rights, fairness, and jobs without the slightest nod to where these things come from. Americans are right to be offended at politicians and Occupy movement agitators who insist that we redistribute the fruits of our society to those who would happily tear it apart. An already destitute Chicago will be spending tax money to ensure that protesters can exercise their right to demand we do exactly that.

List of References 

Posted 13 May 2012 † Civil Bob § Occupy Movement ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: Democrats