The econmic impact of illegal immigration or today's Civil War

Jay at Wizbang makes an interesting argument comparing the arguments made today by those saying our economy needs illegal aliens to the slavery debate before the US Civil War 150 years ago. Back then it was argued a cheap labor supply was needed also.

I agree with much of what Jay writes. For the sake of our national security we need to clamp down on our borders. But on the other hand, this country does need a signifigant population influx. Why? Because of declining birthrates in the USA. Industrialization has improved society but at the same time led to decreasing birthrates. To maintain our way of life we'll need more workers, ie- more immigrants. Thomas Barnett covered some of this in his book 'The Pentagon's New Map'. We need immigrants but maintaining two societies and one illegal is asking for trouble. Not just on a national security basis but on a social one. A large group of have nots or exploited leaves the danger of unrest. Look at France.

Why isn't anything being done about illegals now? Many big industries are exploiting this labor force and they are paying off the politician via the way of campaign contributions. Our politicians therefore pay lip service to immigration reform or worse. Make it tougher on legal immigration or propose unconstitutional measures like ending birthright citizenship. This is a bad idea, the 14th ammendment grants citizenship to those born in the US. If we allow this ammendment to circumvented by law we are creating the danger of its misuse to punish certain groups who are out of political favor.

And don't give me the BS reason that those who wrote the 14th ammendment didn't mean birthright citizenship to go to illegals. They didn't want Indians, Chinese and other cultures allowed to be citizens either. You want to follow that example?

Plus the simple fact that some making this 14th ammendment argument are those same in uproar over Kelo. You want one part of the constitution read literally and another interperted. Who's being consistent here? I've read bloggers who think it should be applied even to legal immigrants.

Oh and by the way. How do you plan on enforcing this? A social security card isn't proof of citizenship. Passports to be shown? Birth certificates? How? Who will the burden of proof be on the parents or the state? John and Paula Smith don't have bc or passports, so you're going to make them pay the $400(or so. The ammount goes goes up on a regular basis) to get citizenship for their child? If you don't think this can be seriously screwed up, I consider you read this. This is a bureaucratic jungle you're going to create besides it being unconstitutional at the moment.

The only way to change birthright is by ammending the 14th ammendment.

What I'm probably saying is we probably need to legalize who is here now(I can be persuaded otherwise on this subject if someone can show me how we can realistically get rid of the illegals we have) , clamp down on our borders and not punish those who want to come here legally. Rather make it easier. Knowing how Washington works, don't blame me for being pessimistic. We're more likely to see simple but dangerous changes like abolition of birthright citizenship first. The politicians see its simple appeal but not its inherent dangers.

Update- I just want to clarify that present law in regards to illegal aliens needs to be enforced. We need less episodes like this. If the police arrest them, deport them. What will be done long term is another matter.

Also read Mike's long and excellent piece in this post's comments section.

Open Post- Point Five, Right Wing Nation, TMH's Bacon Bits, Is it just me?, Uncooperative Blogger, Stop the ACLU, One Big Dog, Samantha Burns,