Friday, June 08, 2007

More Immigration

Ezra writes:
The lefties I talk to on this are pretty universal in blaming the worst elements on the restrictionists, not business.


He took issue with my suggestion yesterday:

The real thing to take away," he writes, "is that much of the "bad" is bad that Michelle, Lou, and I can all agree on. It isn't in there because it appeals to Republican/conservative voters, it's there because it appeals to elite business interests.


So, let me be more clear and more specific. The only reason there's any potential Republican support for the bill is because of their support from elite business interests. The Republican base is anti-immigrant, anti-immigration, however you want to describe it. There was plenty of bad stuff in the bill which was in there to try to get a couple of Republican politicians on board - the various punitive measures and hurdles - but none of that stuff is convincing to the base. They may like that stuff more than I do but it isn't anything close to being enough to make them happy.

So the bad stuff I was referring to which Lou, Michelle, and I can all agree is bad is the fact that the bill would do nothing to stop illegal immigration and would, through the guest worker program, create an additional path for people to enter legally and then remain here by overstaying their visas. While business interests have protested too loudly about some aspects of the bill, basically anything which gives them a large supply of an unprotected underclass makes them happy. They'd be thrilled for it to be a completely legal guest worker program, but they're not too troubled by the alternative.