Thursday, November 29, 2007

Immigration Notes
I typed point #3 a little too quickly. Want to elaborate on it with some quick notes, my favorite format.

(1) There are a % of people who are violently against illegal immigrats because of racial reasons. Sadly this % is bigger than people care to admit.

(2) There are a lot of really smart people who see problems with our immigration system and want to fix it. These people wouldn't care if the illegal immigrants were from Mexico or Canada

(3) I think the people in group #2 have to be careful not to let group #1 tarnish the debate with extreme and emotionally-laden measures designed to punish people who are just seeking a better life for their family and have no other options; in a way, the US was founded by illegal immigrants

(4) I'm personally more concerned about legal immigration than illegal immigration. I think we should make legal immigration MUCH easier.

(5) Legal immigration in the US is a MESS and it's become much worse due to often silly 9/11 measures. If the US wants to stay ahead in the world, they should encourage the smartest people in all countries to come here. If you go to any University in the country, most of the professors are immigrants. Not a coincidence.

(6) It certainly would suck to lose your job to an illegal immigrant, but just because that happened doesn't mean that illegal immigration took your job. Jobs are a function of the local and national economy. And economies are mightily complex. Perhaps there are policies that have been limiting economic growth, forcing companies to hire lesser-qualified workers. Wouldn't it be more effective to fix those policies? Perhaps the specific industry you worked in has been shrinking over the years and another one you can jump into with a little more training is taking off.
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