Facts speak louder than rhetoric

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor along with national figures like CNN’s Lou Dobbs and Minuteman Jim Gilchrist are on the march to end the scourge of illegal immigration.

They are outraged and they are going to protect us. Good for them. Well, it would be good for them if there was actually a scourge to defend us from.

There is a lot of rhetoric out there, but it seems the louder it gets, the less it’s actually based on facts. People like Dobbs and Gilchrist throw fear around, always an effective tactic, but it doesn’t take too much research to see that the fears are baseless. Apparently, they are banking on people not checking their facts.

Mansoor was able to lead the Costa Mesa City Council to approve a proposal for a precedent-setting law giving power to the police to check for legal status ? an idea even the police don’t support. This is after successfully pushing to close the Job Center. Dobbs and Gilchrist support the idea that something drastic must be done to rid us of illegal immigrants ? the legislation before Congress that would make illegal immigrants felons and make it a crime to give them aid probably isn’t even enough. Gilchrist is leading the push for a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

I hate to even include Gilchrist. Men of his ilk are hardly rational and seem to want nothing to do with reality or facts, for them it seems fear and emotion are fueling their fight.

Dobbs also loves to lob fear around and has taken a bit of liberty with his facts. For example, he has insisted strongly that 3 million illegal immigrants come to America each year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau it’s more like 300,000.

They aren’t the only ones fueling this firestorm. Politicians have found their new gay-marriage issue and are running with it.

Plenty of the anti-immigration rhetoric bouncing around focuses on how immigration is a drain on our economy. Someone is obviously making money off undocumented workers. Politicians don’t push migrant-worker programs out of the kindness of their hearts. Illegal workers are very good for business ? and don’t forget the added bonus that they rarely file grievances about being mistreated.

So, are they a boon or bane to our economy? This is where the water gets extremely murky. The answer depends on who you consider “us” and it depends on a lot of numbers that are hard to nail down. Documenting the spending and costs of undocumented people has proven to be a difficult task.

The federal government tends to profit through Social Security revenue, while local governments are stuck with the bill (great or small) of caring for illegal immigrants.

But this is not the dire financial problem some make it out to be. According to a March 5 article by the nonpartisan Bell Policy Center, uninsured Americans are more of a drain on healthcare in this country than undocumented workers. This conclusion has to do with the cost of Medicare for the many compared to emergency care for the few. Of course that might be an argument to work on reforming Medicare ? now that’s a problem worth focusing on.

The greatest suffering seems to be shouldered by low-wage earners. These are people who would have to be hired if businesses did not have the option of hiring undocumented workers. It’s a similar problem faced due to the outsourcing of jobs to other countries.

Now, illegal immigration may not be the catastrophe preached by the immigrant alarmists, but it is a problem and should be dealt with. Just because it isn’t destroying our country doesn’t mean it’s OK to break the law. Illegal is illegal. But turning undocumented immigrants into felons and criminalizing care for them is not the logical or moral solution.

A long-term solution to the high-influx of immigration from Mexico, along with related problems like the relocation of U.S. businesses to Mexico and artificially low wages in the U.S. for jobs immigrants and low-income Americans vie for, is to work with Mexico on improving its economy, thus bringing up their wage level and perhaps even creating a more even-trade system, all to the benefit of U.S. workers. Quick and easy, no ? nobody has forgotten NAFTA ? but it is a solution that is long term rather than reactionary.

In the meantime it would actually be in our best interest to raise the number of immigrants we allow legally in from Mexico ? shocking I know ? but it is a realistic way to create a fair system that would make it easier to keep track of those entering our country by alleviating some of the desperation that leads to desert crossings.

Now, that’s all political and economic speak, there’s another aspect of this story that proponents of an immigration crackdown don’t seem to want to discuss. It feels a lot like a certain group of people are being targeted here. People are quick to say it’s not about Mexicans, it’s about all immigrants. But they’re not talking about building a wall on the Canadian border.

The real problem for many has to do with change. It’s true that the face of Southern California is changing. Change like that can be disconcerting to those who feel that they will become the outsiders. But fear not, you should keep in mind that the people we are talking about and fearing are typically just as hard working as people born in America. They are just as family oriented and they push their children to succeed.

Holding back the fear is easier said than done, but the alternative is approval of legislation that is illogical, immoral and likely to exacerbate the simmering animosity that already divides our country.