"Those damn immigrants!"

This is what I heard my receiving clerk say to one of our waiting truck drivers.  The trucker was more than happy to agree with him and proceeded to offer his own opinion on how "all immigrants are nothing but welfare cheats, living off our taxes we struggle so hard to pay."

The above scene probably takes places a million times a day in this country at workplaces, pubs, parks, churches, strip malls, and between neighbors.  And this is what I find so frustrating about the current debate on immigration reform in this country.  Not only have provincial minds been made-up long ago but the manner and style of the debate has taken on an entirely wrong-headed assumption from the start.

An "immigrant" by the very definition of the word is always a legal bona fide resident of this country.  Even the phrase "illegal immigrants" is an oxymoron and useless to the debate.  Whereas the phrase "illegal alien" is just what it implies - someone who sneaked into this country against the law in order to receive compensation of some sort. 

During the present debate we in our provincial ways tend to paint every immigrant and illegal alien with the same stroke of the brush.  Not only is this sad but brings down the debate to an us versus them starting point.  From that point onward it just gets uglier and uglier.

This debate takes on a life of its own when people of color are the focus of so-called immigration reform.  Here in Oregon we have just as many, if not more, illegal aliens from Russia, Romania, Canada, Great Britain and Australia.  But you will never hear my receiving clerk and the many truckers talking disdainfully about these particular aliens.  Why?  Could it be that they are from European stock and mostly get illegal work at much higher wages?  If we are to be equal in our disdain of others outside the United Sates, then the whole debate must take a big wide turn and bring these other illegal aliens into the conversation.

Let's re-start the conversation by first of all taking the word "immigrant" out of the debate when we discuss United States policy on illegals in this country.  Secondly, lets spend more time in conversation on why illegal aliens come here to begin with, and some rational counter measures to make sure they stay in their own country, wherever that is.

In my own humble opinion illegal aliens from all over the world come to this country because employers big and small keep breaking the law and hiring them.  Everybody from the President, Senators, Representatives, all the way down to Governors and Mayors, need to grow some backbone and start enforcing the laws we already have on the books.  We don't need borders walls, more military troops or voluntary minute men.  What we all need is national resolve!

If all employers were under extreme and direct threat from the government for hiring illegal aliens the problem as we know it would disappear overnight.  What I mean by extreme and direct threat from the government is this:  A first offense of hiring illegal aliens would be a monetary fine equal to ten percent of the employers profits.  A seconf offense would be a fine that equals twenty-five percent of the employers profits.  A third and final offense would be the forteiture of the company to the government for sanitization and re-sale to the highest qualified bidder.