Follow Up to Yesterday's Post

Reason Magazine has a post about the Arizona Minutemen shooting I blogged about yesterday:

The murdered father thought the woman and man who invaded were cops at the door; other accounts say that the woman identified herself as such and claimed the family was harboring a fugitive. During the murders, the surviving mother was able to shoot back at one of the killers. According to the Mail: "Forde was arrested shortly after the shooting. She had Mrs. Gonzalez's wedding ring and other jewelry, according to police.....Forde's lawyer Eric Larsen told the court that she was not at the house and that much of the evidence was circumstantial"

and:

A history of Forde's shady past from her old hometown of Everett, Washington, including being a suspect in the shooting of her ex-husband and perhaps a faked beating and rape claim on herself. A Forde friend booted from the courtroom for showing up in disguise; the judge doesn't want her there until she's called as a witness.

The story is getting more disgusting by the day.

This Week's Objectivist Roundup

Better late than never!  It's over at 3 Ring Binder.  Go check it out!

9 Year-Old Shot and Killed by Minutemen

This particularly hateful and disgusting story out of Arizona further illustrates the hateful nature of the anti-immigration movement in the US:

A nine-year-old girl begged for her life before being shot dead along with her father by an anti-immigrant vigilante group, a court heard.

Brisenia Flores was gunned down at point-blank range in her own home in Flores, Arizona, as her terrified mother Gina Gonzalez, who had also been hit, played dead on the floor.

The prosecution alleges that the child and her father Raul Flores Jr were murdered in May 30, 2009 by a group of vigilantes set up to tackle Mexican immigrants.

The shootings took place 200 miles from Tucson, the scene of the gun massacre earlier this month in which another nine-year-old girl died.

Shawna Forde, the head of the Minutemen American Defence group, is on trial accused of two charges of first degree murder.

She is allegedly orchestrated the attack on the Flores family with two male accomplices, due to face face court in.March.

Police claim that Forde believed Mr Flores was a drug trafficker and would have cash and goods in the house which they could use to fund their patrols.

She reportedly led the raid and gave instructions to the male accomplices.

Granted, most Americans are not willing to go this far with their hatred of immigration, but with racist groups like The Pioneer Fund, Numbers USA, Center for Immigration Studies and FAIR leading the charge, is it any wonder that such hateful acts are occurring?

Vacation

Posting note:  As we embark on a lengthy road trip to Texas, posting may be light over the next few weeks.

We are very much looking forward to our upcoming road trip to Texas.  We plan to visit with our friends and family, and enjoy the economic and cultural benefits of years and years of immigration. 

Texas has a rich history, a vibrant diverse culture and a low cost of living thanks to its industrious people, many of which came here not that long ago on boats through Galveston or across the border form Mexico.  I embrace those pioneering souls and appreciate the value they've added to my life with their inventions, their entrepreneurial spirit and their wonderful cooking!

More Strange Bedfellows

Once again, I'm amazed at how terrible an idea has to be in order for sheriffs, the ACLU, lefty activists, Republican Governor Rick Perry and business organizations to work together to defeat it.

"I just don't understand what all the brouhaha is about," Riddle said in an interview. "I'm doing what I think my constituents and the vast majority of the people of Texas are wanting. They are wanting their border secure."

But Bill Hammond, executive director of the Texas Association of Business, said at the news conference that progress on immigration reform should come from Washington - not Austin.

It's not every day that Hammond, whose organization is often aligned with Republicans, stands at a news conference alongside the ACLU.

"Most Republicans are favoring this type of legislation, and they're our traditional friends - that's not a secret," Hammond said after the event. "It's our hope they will … slow down, take a hard look at the long-term impact on Texas before they enact this legislation."

He's concerned that convention business and investments in the state would dry up if Texas passes Arizona-style legislation.

"If this legislation were to become law, perhaps someone should file a bill to change the state's motto as well," said Hammond.

Texas' motto is "friendship."

How hard is it to immigrate legally?

A conservative argument against illegal immigration is that such immigrants should respect the rule of law and "get in line" for immigration into the United States.  Let's take a look at the line.

The following is a picture roughly illustrating the process it takes to get a green card and eventually become a citizen. 

Would you have any desire to follow the rule of law if you could only apply for the kinds of jobs the US government felt were "in highest demand"?

Would you have any desire to follow the rule of law if your employer had to pay $10,000 in legal fees simply to bring you aboard?

Would you have any desire to follow the rule of law if when you're qualified, skilled and with an employer happy to take on the enormous expense of hiring you, you were told that "work permits for the year have run out" and to try again next year?

In the name of "Americans first," these types of laws have been put into place. Not only do strict immigration laws hurt the US economy, but if such requirements were placed on US citizens, there would be rioting in the streets!  Yet hard-line anti-immigration politicians and their supporters simply ignore that these laws and requirements are both economically unsound and unbelievably unjust.

When I talk about immigration reform, it is this sort of statist nonsense that I am fighting against. The GOP would scream about tyranny and government takeovers if similar laws were applied to any other area of the economy, but are they really concerned with massive government power or do they simply disagree with the Democrats as to where it should be exercised?

This Week's Objectivist Roundup

It's over at Amy Mossoff's The Little Things.  Go check it out!

Bad Economics; Bad Immigration

By Santiago J. Valenzuela

There is a link between bad thinking on economics and bad thinking on immigration.  The idea is presented most clearly in this article:

As I always say...For every illegal alien with a job, there is an American without one.

The economic ignorance is astounding, especially since it almost exclusively comes from conservatives, the so-called champions of the free market. Capitalism has proven time and time again that more people does not mean more poverty or fewer jobs. Government intrusion into the economy creates shortages, poverty and fewer jobs.  The US Government needs to get out of the US economy!

Let the economy recover instead of "helping" it with evil immigration enforcement measures. Let these people stay as guest workers and contribute to the recovery instead of deporting them at a cost of $6,000 per head!

Broken Immigration System Keeps the Productive Out

By Santiago J. Valenzuela

Republicans wish to focus on "illegal immigrants" as a talking point for a very good reason; if the conversation ever switches to actual US immigration policy, they would quickly lose their argument.

Utah seems to be a center for good thoughts on immigration, and this story about how long it takes to immigrate here legally is a good example:

So we started doing some checking," said Jones, a naturalized U.S. citizen. "We found out that Filipinos who were then getting those visas had first applied in 1987" or 22 years earlier. Because of tight quotas on visas, Jones discovered that legal immigration for Guerra might require another 16 years or so of waiting.

This story repeats itself many times, in various nationalities. If you are Mexican and are a low-skilled laborer, you have virtually no chance to immigrate legally. Even if you are a skilled laborer, the wait is tremendous:

Legal versus illegal immigration » An out-of-work Mexican could come illegally and arrive immediately - or do it legally, and wait. And wait. And wait. Some Mexicans arriving legally now first applied 18 years ago, according to the State Department.

The idea that someone should simply wait in line - for almost 20 years - is ridiculous. To fix illegal immigration, what is required is not "strict enforcement" of bad laws, but the instatement of a guest worker program allowing for eventual paths to legal residency and then citizenship for those who wish to stay.

Big Government Immigration

An interesting fact gleaned from this article: immigration cases this year have constituted half of the cases heard in federal court.

On average, each deportation cost taxpayers more than $6,000 in 2010, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget numbers...

...Almost half the cases prosecuted in federal courts during the first 11 months of 2010 were immigration-related, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, which gathers and analyzes data from public agencies.

It would seem like an easy way to cut government spending substantially if these people were simply given work permits and allowed to be residents in the US, rather than spend upwards of $6,000 a piece deporting people who have no violent history. At a time when "balanced budgets" are all the rage, that would seem to be a step in the right direction.

Haitian Immigrants Deported

By Santiago J. Valenzuela

350 Haitian immigrants have been deported:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities said the agency had rounded up more than 350 Haitians to be deported in January, a Press TV correspondent reported.

At least 100,000 Haitian immigrants have no legal papers, and could also face deportation.

The US government, however, said it is limiting deportations to people with criminal convictions, which can range from felony offenses to the most minor violations.

It is not made clear if these 350 are violent criminals or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It should be noted, however, that the reason there are 100,000 Haitians here illegally is because, even without the recent natural disasters, Haiti is a fairly bad place to live. The reason? A lack of freedom. Heritage ranks Haiti very low on its index of economic freedom. You will find that the vast majority of immigrants come here from countries with a lower score than the US. There is a very good reason for that.