Why are Kansans being forced by their legislators to provide benefits to people who have violated our national borders and remain in our state in defiance of national and international law? What is it that makes our senators and representatives believe that they have the right to use our tax money to entice these people to come here – often much to their own detriment – as well as to that of the taxpaying public?
Unscrupulous employers, scam artists, and others take advantage of their illegal status and their easy exploitation. As in any illegal and exploitative activity there are many victims. The illegal aliens who have no right to be here are the primary victims. They are given lower wages and often are cheated of wages that they have earned. They have little or no recourse when exploitive employers, landlords, loan sharks, etc. take advantage. Their children are ripe for gang involvement as they are already outside the law. And yet we are told by compassionate types and church leaders that we must continue to lure them here with benefits and do nothing to enact or enforce laws that would return them to their rightful countries or discourage their unlawful presence.
Instead, we offer their children in-state tuition which is a clear case of entrapment. The minor child of an illegal alien cannot be charged for being here illegally. However, when that child reaches maturity he or she is chargeable for willful violation of federal law and can be punished and deported and they not be allowed a visa for a period of ten years. We are paying to help people violate the law and contributing to their eventual deportation with an education that will not help the economy of Kansas in the least. Even if not deported, these students will find that, unlike the cash construction trades and landscaping jobs, positions requiring degrees are very hard to get without proof of citizenship. This whole thing makes no sense except that it provides cheap labor for the greedy at the expense of the law abiding taxpayer.
The Chamber of Commerce argues that the burden of stemming the flow of illegal aliens should not be placed on the businesses of Kansas; a reasonable position, especially when the initial bill threatened to permanently close firms found guilty of three instances of hiring illegal aliens. But, the burden of the illegal aliens is already on the backs of the taxpayers of Kansas and the beneficiary of the situation is not the consumer and not the Kansas worker, it is the employer that knowingly and illegally exploits the illegal alien. The proof is clear: homes built with legal tradesmen cost no more than those built by illegal aliens – yet the labor costs are significantly different. Who gets the difference? Food processing plants that do not have illegal employees – are their products higher priced? No, the prices are the same – so who gets the difference? Business groups should help make sure that legal businesses are not unfairly burdened or put at risk – but, they must be careful not to shield blatantly unlawful activity or encourage the looting of the taxpayer at the expense of hardworking Kansans who must compete for jobs while paying for benefits to illegal aliens.
Can the unions still spell R A T? Illegal aliens are worse – holding down the wages of American labor by breaking the law. Kansas workers and taxpayers are being sold out for the economic and political advantage of the power hungry and exploitive few. Unions should help legal workers, hurt by illegal, cheap labor that has no right in the country, much less on the job site. Unions protest the shipping of American jobs overseas – what about protesting the illegal entry of foreign workers to take American jobs literally out of the hands of American workers?
This is a near thing to prostitution or slavery yet it is tolerated and even supported by the pillars of the community; it is a scandal and a disgrace. That the illegal aliens are being exploited is a given – so are prostitutes and so are slaves; it is no excuse for continuing the conditions of that exploitation.
Kansas desperately needs leaders who will stand up for what is right. Anyone – businessman, legislator, social or church leader, or media commentator who defends the current exploitation should be ashamed. Instead, they tell us to shut-up and get over it while we are being invaded by those who have no right in the country. They wax unctuous with sob stories, social justice riffs, and such lies as “taking jobs that Americans won’t do” – there are no such jobs, only starvation wages and off-the-books deals that the illegal aliens must accept but Kansas workers will not. These opinion leaders will one day be demanding “reparations” for the same illegal aliens whose exploitation they piously defend today.
We need better leaders and better laws to stop the influx of illegal aliens into Kansas and to encourage the self-deportation of those already here. Neither state nor federal programs brought them here. It was the result of terribly poor leadership, lax laws, and poor enforcement coupled with the avarice of those ready to exploit the immigrant, the consumer, and the taxpayer. Better laws and programs like free bus tickets to the border (paid by the employer who hired them), better law enforcement, and a repudiation of exploitive criminals will make Kansas less attractive and cause the illegal aliens to return to their countries of origin and seek lawful entry – along with the millions who are waiting patiently on lines throughout the world. We should also be mindful of these unseen and deserving victims of this travesty: the would-be legal immigrants who obey the law and respect our borders.
Will we enforce our laws, defend our borders, and make room for the much needed, law abiding people who want to take the high road to the American Dream? Or will we continue to abet those who have no respect for us or our laws and the criminals that exploit them?
The Kansas legislature has done very little besides giving political cover for spineless legislators. The problem is still here – no illegal aliens will be leaving and more are on the way from abroad and from neighboring states where more serious legislatures have taken more serious actions – and the Kansas taxpayer continues to pay the mounting bills while Kansas workers, small businesses, and communities suffer needlessly.
