Why Amnesty would Destroy America - Immigration and Occam's Razor

While most folks understand that immigration is an important issue, all too many, including our politicians fail to grasp just how important immigration is. America’s immigration laws were enacted to protect innocent lives and the jobs of American workers by preventing the entry of aliens whose presence would pose a threat to national security, community safety, public health and other such vital areas of concern, or provide unfair competition for America workers.

When aliens either evade the inspections process that is supposed to control who enters the United States or when they are admitted into the United States via the inspections process and then violate the terms of their admission into the United States thereby rendering them subject to removal (deportation) ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is supposed to attempt to locate those aliens and seek their removal from the United States.

Advocates for massive amnesty programs for unknown millions of illegal aliens are quick to make all sorts of absurd assertions but, in making those same points repeatedly in every venue possible, those assertions start to develop a level of credibility that they should not have. This tactic was used by the Nazi war machine during the Second World War and was referred to as the “Big Lie!” Tell a lie often enough and sooner or later many people will begin to believe that lie.

Advertising companies also use the repetition of simple slogans to create an ad campaign that convinces people to buy products that are detrimental to their health and well-being.

 

On December 31, 2011, CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) posted my commentary that bore the title: What is the Flavor of Your Kool-Aid?

Here is an excerpt from my commentary:

Many successful advertising campaigns have been based on this concept. Think of how, decades ago, the simple slogan “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” convinced so many people to get hooked on smoking. Back then I remember one of my high school English teachers being more concerned with a grammatical error in that seven word phrase than she was with the dangers to be associated with smoking cigarettes! (She was adamant that the sentence should have been, “Winston tastes good as a cigarette should!”)

Then there was the “Marlboro Man” a rugged looking actor dressed up as a cowboy who would light up a cigarette while the sound track from “The Magnificent Seven”played in the background. Listen to that impressive piece of music and ask yourself what that powerful music had to do with cigarettes? If that commercial had been honest, the actor smoking that cigarette should have been coughing and wheezing so loudly that it would have drowned out any music playing in the background.

But the point was that the advertising executives, who were paid megabucks to produce those commercials, did not care how many consumers would succumb to emphysema or lung cancer, but how much money they could earn by seducing lots of smokers- many of them young, impressionable teenagers.

Today cigarette companies cannot air commercials on television, and the Marlboro Man is gone, literally and figuratively. Wayne McLaren, one of those who participated in those commercials and a veteran of the rodeo, died of lung cancer at age 51 on July 22, 1992.

Similar slogans now flourish where immigration is concerned. We have all heard them-

“We cannot deport millions of people and we must do something with them so let’s put them to work!”

“These immigrants are doing the work Americans won’t do!”

“America is a nation of immigrants and those who would deport them are not compassionate or worse!”

Finally, “The immigration system is broken!”

Here are my responses-

No one is suggesting that our government should attempt to deport 11 million illegal aliens (actually there are likely more then 30 million illegal aliens present in the United States.) We couldn’t do it if we wanted! The NYPD has about 35,000 police officers. This is a relatively low number when you consider that just a few years ago there were more than 40,000 police officers working for the NYPD just to protect the City of New York.

ICE has about 7,000 agents for the entire United States of America and more than half of those agents are working on cases not relating to the enforcement and administration of the immigration laws.

Add the extreme lack of resources to the instructions being given the agents by this administration that has taken to suspending agents who dare attempt to enforce the immigration laws! Every time Obama and “leaders” such as Schumer and his other 7 “gang members” talk about providing millions of illegal aliens with lawful status and a pathway to citizenship they are providing encouragement and are inducing aspiring illegal aliens from all over the world to head for the United States. In effect, they are firing a starter’s pistol and for these illegal alien “marathoners,” the finish line is the border of the United States!

 

On February 18, 2013 AIM (Accuracy In Media) posted my commentary about the “Gang of Eight” and their proposal for “Comprehensive Immigration Reform.” The title for my commentary was: The “Gang of Eight” and Immigration Reform: “Bordering on a National Security Nightmare”.

Think of how often you exceed the speed limit and how often other motorists fly by at an even higher rate of speed! When was the last time you got pulled over for speeding or saw someone else get pulled over? Motor vehicle laws are less enforceable than immigration laws- have you ever heard anyone propose that we eliminate speed laws in the United States? The concept of law enforcement is to create deterrence through as effective a law enforcement effort as can be reasonably mounted. In Queens, New York a major thoroughfare, Queens Blvd., experienced a large number of fatal accidents when motorists drove much to quickly on an extremely wide boulevard that had many lanes of traffic moving in each direction. Pedestrians, especially the elderly were unable to cross this super-wide roadway before the traffic light changed to red, often stranding these hapless pedestrians in the middle of zooming cars. The solution was highly visible amped of enforcement of speed laws. Police units with radar detectors and mobile illuminated signs that posted the speed of approaching vehicles that were promptly pulled over by an ample supply of Highway Patrol officers who issued summonses to anyone who exceeded the speed limit quickly brought the speed of the cars down and the carnage that had been commonplace stopped!

Illegal aliens and aliens on work visas are doing jobs that Americans cannot afford to do! This is about the exploitation of foreign workers to drive down wages. Even high tech workers are subject to unfair competition because of a failure of ICE and the Labor Department to make certain that lawyers who file petitions for foreign workers in the computer and other high tech industries are abiding by the letter of the law as well as the spirit of the law.

 

On October 20, 2012 CAPS posted my commentary: Leveling the Playing Field for American Workers.

Here is an excerpt from that article:

On April 30, 2009 the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Immigration, conducted a hearing on the topic: “Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?” Among the witnesses called to testify before that hearing was Alan Greenspan, arguably one of the key architects of the economic crisis, who stated:

…The second bonus (in accelerating the influx of skilled immigrant workers) would address the increasing concentration of income in this country. Greatly expanding our quotas for the highly skilled would lower wage premiums of skilled over lesser skilled. Skill shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. Quotas have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process, we have created a privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at non-competitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.”

Clearly Greenspan demonstrated unmitigated chutzpah, referring to skilled Americans as the “privileged elite!” His infuriating goal of reducing skill-based income inequality is nothing short of anti-American in both ways of interpreting that statement. It flies in the face of the American dream and would serve to pull the floor out from under American middle class workers and their families!

On May 15, 2007 an infuriating video was aired on Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN. The video runs about four and a half minutes and features an immigration lawyers' conference in which lawyers were being coached to "not find qualified U.S. workers!" The lecturer who is instructing the attorneys is a guy by the name of Lawrence M. Lebowitz, the Vice President of Marketing for the firm of Cohen & Grigsby. This video was posted on You Tube by the Programmer Guild, an organization that is comprised of computer programmers.

This video was, I believe, made clandestinely. This is the link to that video: Fake Job Ads defraud Americans to secure green cards.

As for the assertions that those of us who want the borders of the United States to be secured and our immigration laws enforced lack compassion, let me tell you that I often felt really bad for illegal aliens I used to arrest during factory raids and other such field operations that targeted places of employment that hired illegal aliens. HOWEVER- today it is estimated that one in four American children live below the poverty level and one in six American families are receiving food stamps as record numbers of homes are lost to foreclosure because the Americans who had bought those houses have lost them when they lost their jobs!

Is not often said that “Charity begins at home?"

Why is it not compassionate to be concerned about the plight of American and lawful immigrant workers and their families? (American minority communities are, in fact, suffering the highest jumps in unemployment, underemployment and poverty!)

What is not recognized is that each month roughly 150,000 foreign workers and potential workers are admitted into the United States. This is without including unknown numbers of illegal aliens!

I agree the immigration system is, indeed, broken. Read my commentary that I posted below and see how I would remedy the situation.

Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today!

Our armed forces are charged with securing America’s borders externally while the DHS is supposed to secure those same borders from within. The failures of the DHS to live up to its half of the equation are undermining the efforts, valor and incredible sacrifices of Americas men and women who serve in our military!The immigration laws are supposed to achieve two primary goals - to protect American lives and protect Americans’ jobs.

Our nation is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world. However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda or other terrorist organizations!

It is also vital that American workers never be made to compete with foreign workers for their jobs! (This requirement is a component of the Immigration Laws that are not being enforced today!)

If our government's failures to secure our nation's borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws that are intended to protect our nation and our citizens concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional "Representative. This is not only your right - it is your obligation!...

We the People must make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue - simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!


Reprinted by permission. Originally published as Immigration and Occam's Razor on Michael Cutler's website on February 21, 2013.

Michael W. Cutler is a retired Senior Special Agent with the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). He appears regularly on numerous radio and television programs, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. He hosts his own Internet radio program,”Bordering on Insanity.” Mr. Cutler has testified as an expert witness at more than a dozen Congressional hearings.