Immigration Reform, A Question Of Labour Or Identity Crisis?
Judy Ramsook
April 02, 2006
Just like abortion, politics, religion, and the creation versus evolution issues so is the controversial immigration reform issue that is being debated by almost everyone right now. Some are all for it, some are against it.
Since my native country of Trinidad & Tobago is a small twin island nation, the analogy that will be used here will be that of around twelve thousand fictional illegals as opposed to the approximate twelve million real ones the US is facing.
If the government of my country were considering passing a bill that would grant twelve thousand illegal aliens the right to work and later on file for Trinidad citizenship, I might also have a bit of a problem with that.
Not because of the cheap labour/having illegals do the work Trinidad citizens won’t do, but because eventually with twelve thousand illegals who have been given the right to assimilate into Trinidadian life, what will also happen is population growth.
With population growth comes changes. So much change that some individuals might feel as though their country will gradually lose its identity, especially when there are people from less fortunate countries working, assimilating and most of all procreating on your own soil.
Similarly, most Americans who oppose immigration reform do not want their country to lose its European heritage by having it overflowing with people of a minority race.
In order to grant Americans who oppose immigration reform what they want, American employers who need labourers will have to do two important things for its own people who want those types of jobs.
They will have to pay their fellow Americans who want those jobs the wages they want and offer them the medical/benefits package they also desire.
The important question one needs to ask is, how many employers are willing to dole out that kind of money when an easy alternative is not too far; illegals who are willing to do the same work for less pay minus the medical/benefits package?
As the debate continues, people will have their views. Those who are for immigration reform will want their voices heard. Those who are against it will also do the same.
No partriotic person wants to see his or her country lose its identity or heritage, but on a personal note, with a country so large as America, I do not envision it losing its identity or its European heritage, immigration reform or not.
Since my native country of Trinidad & Tobago is a small twin island nation, the analogy that will be used here will be that of around twelve thousand fictional illegals as opposed to the approximate twelve million real ones the US is facing.
If the government of my country were considering passing a bill that would grant twelve thousand illegal aliens the right to work and later on file for Trinidad citizenship, I might also have a bit of a problem with that.
Not because of the cheap labour/having illegals do the work Trinidad citizens won’t do, but because eventually with twelve thousand illegals who have been given the right to assimilate into Trinidadian life, what will also happen is population growth.
With population growth comes changes. So much change that some individuals might feel as though their country will gradually lose its identity, especially when there are people from less fortunate countries working, assimilating and most of all procreating on your own soil.
Similarly, most Americans who oppose immigration reform do not want their country to lose its European heritage by having it overflowing with people of a minority race.
In order to grant Americans who oppose immigration reform what they want, American employers who need labourers will have to do two important things for its own people who want those types of jobs.
They will have to pay their fellow Americans who want those jobs the wages they want and offer them the medical/benefits package they also desire.
The important question one needs to ask is, how many employers are willing to dole out that kind of money when an easy alternative is not too far; illegals who are willing to do the same work for less pay minus the medical/benefits package?
As the debate continues, people will have their views. Those who are for immigration reform will want their voices heard. Those who are against it will also do the same.
No partriotic person wants to see his or her country lose its identity or heritage, but on a personal note, with a country so large as America, I do not envision it losing its identity or its European heritage, immigration reform or not.
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