OPEN BORDERS TALKING POINTS

Since the big "Day Without (Illegal) Immigrants," I've been giving some thought to some of the arguments put forth by the open borders crowd.

"We are a nation of immigrants."

Not exactly. For this to be technically accurate, the majority of the country's population would have to have been born somewhere else. In reality (anybody remember reality?), this is not the case. Most of us are descended from immigrants. Hell, all of us really are. Even the ancestors of American Indians came here from somewhere else, probably Asia. The fact of the matter is this: we are a nation of laws. Some of those laws specify the procedures one must go through to come to this country. If you choose to bypass these procedures, then you have broken the law. You are then, by definition, a criminal. An illegal alien, to be more specific. Stop trying to change the subject.

"This country was built by immigrants."

This one probably originated in the same place as the previous quote. Immigrants and their descendants did play a major role in building ths country, but they were legal immigrants.

"It is immigrant labor that drives our economy."

If abundant cheap labor was the driving factor in building a world-class economy, Mexico would be a superpower, rather than a corrupt third world country.

"We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."

As a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the U.S. did wind up with territory that previously belonged to Mexico. So, if you did live in this territory when the treaty was signed, then technically, this statement is true. And you are at least 156 years old. Congratulations on your longevity.

"Part of the southwestern U.S. rightfully belongs to Mexico."

Should we give it back? What difference would that make in the long run. California has a higher standard of living than Mexico because it is in the U.S., not because of its geographic location. Mexico's lower standard of living is due to corrupt and incompetent government. Extending that government to California would not raise up Mexico, it would just serve to lower the standard of living in California. The solution is to clean up your own yard, rather than extending your mess into your neighbor's yard. As to the "rightful owner" of the southwestern U.S., the war ended 156 years ago. We won. Get over it already.

"(Illegal) Immigrants do the jobs that Americans won't do."

And why won't they do them? Because they pay substandard wages, that's why. This whole argument is just politically correct code for "we need these people here so we can exploit them." I can hardly believe that so many members of the "we need to raise the minimum wage" crowd sign on to ths argument. Further proof that leftism=hypocrisy.