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March 11, 2010
Glenn Garvin: Conspiracy theories, why people believe them and how they spread
JWisdom.com For Yourself, Not By Yourself with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Turn leftovers into tasty New England hash
Paul Richter: Biden promises 'viable Palestine' is in the offing
March 10, 2010
Paul Greenberg: Death Checks In
JWisdom.com How To Get A (Real) Life with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( EXTENDED EPISODE)
Paul Richter: Israel exerts soverign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded
Richard A. Serrano: 'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S.
March 9, 2010
Wesley Pruden: Joe's Israeli adventure
JWisdom.com Free To Be (Responsibly) You and Me! with Rabbi Naftali Brawer ( 8 MINUTES)
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral
March 8, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Make a fuss about those who cuss?
JWisdom.com Finding or Losing Yourself? Here's How! with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Steven Emerson: America must learn from the UK about the future of Islamist subversion
March 5, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied
JWisdom.com The Limits of Eternity with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Biden's lost cause
March 4, 2010
Alan M. Dershowitz: How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?
JWisdom.com Using Things, Loving People with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff ( 7 MINUTES)
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative
March 3, 2010
JWisdom.com Grasping The Name of Your Life Game with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( 8 MINUTES)
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : A cowboy's recipes for really good grub
March 2, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Someone's there
Diane Toroian Keaggy : Have we misunderstood Michelangelo?
March 1, 2010
JWisdom.com Whole in One with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Michael Muskal: Hillary meets with Israeli official, discusses gefilte fish dispute
Feb. 26, 2010
Rabbi Francis Nataf: The Megilla of Spring
JWisdom.com A Biblical Secret for a More Powerful You with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: When rhetoric rules the roost
Feb. 25, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: When walking away from your mortgage is both economically sound and makes ethical sense
JWisdom.com The Second Most Important Question in Your Life with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh ( 5 MINUTES)
Seema Mehta : U.S.-Israel relations raised in California's Senate race --- by conservatives
Feb. 24, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The gift of the ‘prayer bomber’
Steven Emerson: Why Religious Freedom Commission is under attack
Feb. 23, 2010
Dennis Prager: Government, Yes! The Divine and Parents, No!
JWisdom.com The Last Laugh of Enlightenment with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair ( 5 MINUTES)
Anne Applebaum: Prepare for war with Iran --- in case Israel strikes
Feb. 22, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Is it not refreshing Tiger Woods' career has crashed and burned so dramatically?
JWisdom.com Esther and the third Truth with Rabbi David Aaron ( 9 MINUTES)
Kelly Brewington: Going smoke-free may raise diabetes risk
Feb. 19, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Is the Divine beyond us or within us?
JWisdom.com Olympic Faith with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Israel and the West are perpetrators of a myth that endangers the Jewish State
Feb. 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
JWisdom.com A Wedding Disaster to Remember with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein ( 3 MINUTES)
Feb. 17, 2010
JWisdom.com Think your life is messed up? with Rabbi David Aaron ( 11 MINUTES)
Greg Logan: 'Greatest Jewish sporting event of all time since David versus Goliath' may be postponed because of bar mitzvah
Feb. 16, 2010
Anya Martin : Boy's 'cerebral palsy' fixed with diet
JWisdom.com Feet On The Street Spirituality with Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 8 MINUTES)
Marty Peretz: Let Europe Mind Its Own Business. It Brings Nothing To The Table Save For Mischief
Feb. 15, 2010
Herb Geduld: Lincoln and the Jews
JWisdom.com Are Our Children Really Ours? with Rabbi Mordechai Becher ( 5 MINUTES)
Susan King: 'Wolf Man' reflected writer's wartime Jewish experience

Jewish World Review August 26, 2005 / 21 Av, 5765

If Bush doesn't take care of immigration issue properly, the Dems might do it for him

By Froma Harrop


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | President Bush should know he's not doing us any favors by offering to enforce the nation's immigration laws. It's already his job. Yet that's the deal in his new guest-worker proposal: Keep the cheap labor flowing to business, and maybe I'll start going after employers who hire illegal aliens.

This mindset is making Americans crazy, and Democrats have taken notice. The public sees illegal immigration as its No. 1 international worry, according to a recent survey. Long afraid of the issue, Democrats are beginning to tackle it in a serious and politically potent way.

Two Democratic governors, Arizona's Janet Napolitano and Bill Richardson of New Mexico, have declared states of emergency along their borders with Mexico. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is not only calling for better border controls, but for enforcing laws that punish people who employ illegal immigrants.

That last item is key. Bush's immigration game has been to divert public attention with a big military-style show at the border. But once illegal entrants get past the border, and millions do, they are free to undercut the wages and benefits of natives and legal immigrants. Bush has failed to do what would really halt illegal immigration — apply the employer penalties long on the books. The neat thing for Bush is that he gets to please business interests. Meanwhile, the costs of providing social services for the illegal population fall on state and local government budgets, not his.

Until the cheap-labor crowd took over the party, Republicans were the stalwarts in defending the borders. Democrats shied away from this issue and its sometimes racist overtones. They also saw immigrant families as their future constituents. But the consequences of uncontrolled illegal immigration have so flooded other issues, it can no longer be ignored.

Some conservative Republicans are yelling at Bush to address the rising public anger. They see trouble ahead for the 2006 congressional elections. Their best hope is that most Democrats remain frozen in old thinking. So when Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean opines that using this issue in 2006 would turn immigrants into "scapegoats," Republican strategists must sigh with relief.

The good doctor from Park Avenue should take an educational trip to some carpentry shops on Long Island. There, he'll find legal immigrants being put out of business by illegal aliens working at competing shops down the street. The story repeats itself across the nation. The conflict isn't just between immigrants and natives. It's between illegal immigrants and legal immigrants.

The class-war aspects of uncontrolled immigration have begun to register with other Democrats. Consider the weird argument that illegal immigration is good because it keeps down the cost of lettuce, hotel rooms and restaurant meals. Of course, it does. It's odd that everyone expects to pay the going American rate for the services of lawyers and doctors. In this view, only the sweating classes are supposed to keep prices low.

Congress does enforce immigration laws for some better-off workers. For example, the H-1B visa program brings in foreigners with specialized and technical skills. The annual limit of 65,000 H-1B visas was quickly reached this year, but Congress refused to raise it. By contrast, the people who mop floors or paint houses compete in a labor free-for-all, and Congress just sits back.

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The border patrol is picking up increasing numbers of non-Mexicans, many from the Mideast countries we worry about. Polls show that homeland security remains a weak spot for Democrats, so a plan to stop the chaos at the border could help them. Here's the plan: Enforce employer sanctions. That would curb the market for illegal labor. Fewer economic migrants would come here illegally. The border police could then concentrate their resources on terrorists and criminals.

Democrats can make these points without demonizing illegal aliens. Most are good, hardworking people. And while some observers condemn them as lawbreakers, the fact remains that the Bush administration has virtually given them a green light to come here. Illegal immigrants should be forgiven for not seeing much of a law to break.

But sympathy for individuals should not trump national defense and protecting the economic security of working Americans. Republicans own Washington, and have failed in both regards. Democrats should offer to do better.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


Froma Harrop is a columnist for The Providence Journal. Comment by clicking here.

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