It seems that DC has decided that fixing our terribly broken immigration system is either beyond their capabilities or serves better as fodder for political dueling in their environment of tit for tat reasoning. As I’ve written before, anyone searching for real conservative thoughts better be ready for a long wait.
True conservative values would include a reasonable, practical approach to complex and vexing issues. Yes. Immigration is both complex and vexing. We have apparently gone from fully open borders, letting everyone in who walks across, to locking up people who have lived and worked here for 70 years, as was recently done to a Polish immigrant in Florida.
Speaking of Florida, which should be a bastion of conservative thought, it has gone from embracing and passing DREAM policies to reversing the DREAM concept which is based on granting temporary, highly conditional residency, with the right to attend school or work, for illegal minors who were brought to the United States as children. Keep in mind that the Dream Act was strongly supported by conservative Republicans prior to 2015.
And so we now find ourselves in a policy mess. Oh what a tangled web gets weaved when politicians use politics to conceive! When did you last hear anyone in DC calling for an overhaul of our legal immigration system? Repeal H1B? How about fixing it so our economy can benefit from needed talent and from those who will fill necessary jobs.
Some might counter with “oh, but they are taking jobs Americans should fill!”. Analyze the demographics and then study how difficult it is to fill the positions needed in our economy in so many sectors.
My view is part of the reason we have the debacle of California trucker licenses just might be the high demand for drivers and the lack of applicants. Bad policies fill voids just like good policy can. Why do we keep choosing the bad?
I fear I’ll be perpetually awaiting some sensibilities in our approaches to immigration. The story from Central Florida where a 79 year old refugee from a post WWII Polish camp is now being held by ICE, reveals just how stupidly we are dealing with highly complex variables. His family legally brought him here when he was 5 in 1952.
Come on DC! We are better than this! How about an honest, earnest effort at finding a needed comprehensive fix. Our economy needs it.
