Immigration Bill Roundup; Colorado Going To Hell In Fruitbasket

At least that is what the fearmongering, "recession" is imminent, media coverage would have you believe.

Putting the pinch on Colorado farmers:

Colorado farmers and others squeezed by a labor shortage will be pinched even more by the death of President George W. Bush's immigration proposal in the Senate, business leaders said Thursday.

"Our labor supply is going to continue to diminish," said Mike Gilsdorf, leader of Colorado Employers for Immigration Reform, or COEIR. "I can see a lot of overtime expenses."
. . .
"Immigrant workers benefit all of us by keeping the economy growing and healthy," she said.

Adams said by not fixing the current immigration system, the United States is inviting major labor shortages and an even worse recession than the one she is predicting now.

Fewer immigrant workers could mean less production and money circulating in the economy, plus other ripple effects, Adams said.

"We get many things cheaper because they were made in other countries or because of immigrant labor. That gives us additional money to spend on other things that create new jobs," she said.

For one thing, the likelihood that current laws will be enforced with any greater consistency is extremely low; secondly, the illegal immigrants living "in the shadows" (they are quite visible while living in those shadows) are not likely to leave en masse. Finally, the immigrant workers the farmers' advocates refer to are mostly illegal--and by law, they shouldn't be hired anyway. That is one of the thrusts of enforcement--businesses should be punished for hiring illegal immigrants, and creating the draw the lures more and more here illegally.

In addition, the argument that illegal immigrants benefit the economy due to the cheapness of their labor sounds suspiciously similar to what old Southern slaveholders argued would happen to their plantations should slavery be abolished--we need our cheap labor, or we'll die!

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar puts the blame on "poison" from some members of the Senate--and likely the vaunted but "evil" talk-radio/blogosphere--for defeating the messy, pointless, unenforceable slop that was Bush/Kennedy's comprehensive immigration reform:

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar expressed disappointment this morning at the demise of the immigration reform bill, blaming "poison stemming from some members of the Senate" and predicting continuing crisis for the country's "broken" immigration system.

"I think we can expect chaos, confusion, porous borders, victimization and tremendous economic insecurity among farmers and ranchers and others who want us to fix the system," said Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, during a telephone news conference after the vote.

A fix worse than the problem it is designed to correct is not desirable in any context. At least Sen. Wayne Allard recognized this much in his vote against the bill:

"Porous borders and lax enforcement present major security risks to our country," Allard said. "Instead of enacting so-called 'comprehensive immigration reform,' we need to find common sense solutions to the labor concerns we face in the agriculture industry and start doing what we all know needs to be done: secure the border and enforce our existing laws."

Hear, hear. Amnesty is not the solution. Nor is punishing the millions of legal immigrants that have plowed their way through the labyrinthine paperwork and excessive fees to acquire the "documents" that would have been given willy-nilly to any and all here illegally. Fairness? I think not.

The left is worried about the people "living in the shadows". The last two May 1 immigration rallies don't put too much credence into that notion:


Beware Democrats who voted against this bill, or dare call illegal immigrants illegal--you'll be "drummed out" of the party.