edit: YES A DECK KNIGHT POST
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Illegal aliens garner no sympathy from me. Whatever befalls their children is their own fault, since they knowingly came to this country and dropped anchor for the sole purpose of gaining from America's general generosity and a peculiarity in our laws regarding citizenship.
I think calling jus soli citizenship a "peculiarity" is rather odd, considering that at this point the vast majority of Americans claim their citizenship from the principle.
They use their own flesh and blood as a tool to extract sympathy and treasure. It may not be their child's fault, but if the entire nation adopted Alabama's policy, eventually decency will win out
We have very different definitions of decency, my friend. I don't think authority figures asking anyone who looks non-caucasian for their papers is decent. I don't think forcing parents to choose between the education of their children and their freedom is decent. I don't think perpetuating a culture of fear and prejudice against American citizens of Mexican descent in our schools is decent. I don't think implementing policies that drive out people who have probably contributed more to society than the people who want them driven out is decent.
Alabama's laws are anything but decent.
Oh and if that weren't enough, if the rest of the country followed Alabama's example, we'd probably face the same economic and social consequences their citizens are facing
We are a nation of laws because we must be a nation of laws in order to survive as a nation. You may embrace your heritage, you may practice your national, cultural, and ethnic customs freely, but you must follow our laws.
Kohlberg's theory of moral development suggests that the most evolved moral sense, post-conventional morality, is predicated on what he called "internalized universal principles"; that is, according to Kohlberg, there are laws that a moral person would accept, some he would question, and some he would reject. A society full of people with a post-conventional moral view is better than a society full of people who heed laws regardless of context.
And let's talk about context. There are rampant drug wars in Mexican bordertowns, fueled largely by American drug laws. The people who live there have a choice: they can either continue to live and work in an environment where their lives are worth less than the bullet it takes to end it, or they can emigrate to America. Of course, in order to emigrate legally, they would need several years and several thousand pesos in bribes. So they come here illegally, in order to guarantee that their children can grow up in a society where their only choices are not "join a gang or die in squalor".
Is it against the law? Yes. But recall back to what I mentioned about post-conventional moral development. I refuse to believe that anyone who understands the plight of many Mexican immigrants would state that they are at fault and deserve harsh punishment. I think, and I hope, that ignorance and self-interest are at work here. Because if someone can legitimately understand why illegal immigration occurs, and still find it in themselves to condemn the immigrants themselves...that says more about their moral fibre than I had cared to know.
That doesn't change the fact illegal immigration by its very nature causes a massive amount of identity theft and identity fraud, motor hazards and violations by persons with no inclination to learn the native language, general criminal activity over the border from drug cartels to US junkies, and a whole slew of other undesirable behaviors and illegal activities.
I'm not sure why you are assuming that illegal immigrants "by [their] very nature" engage in identity theft and drug trade. Or why you assume that they have no interest in learning our language or participating in our culture. That seems like a rather broad brush.
But even if all these things were true...wouldn't they be solved merely by making them legal citizens? Or to put it another way, to make legal immigration much easier than it is currently?
Illegal aliens have no rights to be in the country, just as I have no right to trespass on FlareBlitz's property with my lawn chair and start ordering copious amounts of Godfather's pizza, the emptied boxes for which I then dump on his property, all while putting up a Herman Cain 2012 sign on his lawn.
Deck, if you were facing the constant threat of murder and poverty in your house, I would be very understanding if I happened to find you trespassing on my lawn. I would even let you stay in my apartment, since you seem willing to do my dishes, which is an activity I loath.
The economic downturn is probably a larger driving force than this particular immigration law, it's a bump in the road as the employers exploiting this illegal labor for bottom-barrel under the table wages slowly realize they can't screw American citizens as hard as they can Mexicans, Brazilians, or whoever else they cow into effective slave labor. Either they will raise the wage to what the legal labor market demands or they will go out of business - and all the better, because it gives these sleazy, exploitative weasels the chance to experience the unemployed life the people looking for jobs have to deal with.
I'd agree, actually. One of my least favorite things about illegal immigration is the working conditions they find themselves in, and unethical employers who use illegal immigrants in lieu of paying an actual wage and following work safety regulations.
Unfortunately for you, this is yet another problem that can be solved very easily by allowing them to document their work without deporting them. Cracking down on it harder, on the other hand, will just push immigrants further into the shadow economy, where employers are much more shady and violent.
