PLo drops the G-bomb

I believe that George W Bush is doing something right for a change with his immigration reform proposal. Anyone from a border state can tell you two things: the borders are very easy to cross; and Mexican immigrants do a lot of hard, beneficial work for which few people in this country given them credit (agricultural work being just one example).

Bush may not be the brightest guy in the bunch, but he knows a lot more about planning immigration reform than a lot of his peers. His proposal to better document "undocumented" workers leads me to believe this.

I present for you an example:
A few years ago one of the areas on the top floor of my building was being gutted to make way for new construction. The area had been unoccupied for a few months. The labor working there was not skilled because it was demo work. I was riding the elevator with a worker who was clearly a Mexican national, and he dressed like he was right out of a Mexican border town.

I told the guy in Spanish I was from South Texas, from the Valley. He replied, "Ah, yo paso en Del Rio", translated, "I crossed in Del Rio." Del Rio is a small border town in Texas surrounded by scorched desert for 150 miles in every direction. I asked him how many days ago he passed. DEAR READERS, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ONE: He told me he crossed five days ago.

Standing before me was a Mexican national who I'm sure couldn't speak a word of English, was probably undocumented, and who just five days ago crossed the border near Del Rio. Five days later this gentlemen had a construction gig in on the forth floor of an office building in Davis Square.

What's my point? My point is that he was smuggled, and that Big Business smuggled him.

In general, one doesn't cross the border in Del Rio (think tumbleweeds) and end up working in Davis Square five days later unless a higher power is planning your route. That just doesn't happen. I didn't ask more questions because people in his position are trying to fly under-the-radar and his employer would like it to remain that way.

People like this guy toil away behind the scenes while ignoramuses sit around and talk about "immigration reform" and how we need to "shoot-to-kill" anyone crossing the border. I'm not shitting you: I was in the office next door with my coworkers just a day later and they were talking about the need to tighten up the borders and kick out undocumented workers. I made the point that we as a society, as an economy, benefit from undocumented workers and therefore there's a strong underlying motivation to not kick them out - and why couldn't people face this fact?

In any case, GWB has hit the nail on the head on this one: To secure the borders you've got to acknowledge that undocumented works are a clear and present benefit. This concept pisses off conservatives because they like to think that America doesn't depend on undocumented workers at any level. It's a no-no to say that big business relies on them, because acknowledging that fact means companies will have to document them, and that in turn lessens the inherent benefits of them being "undocumented".

Praise to Allah and George W Bush!

(And I should note that Bush's proposal gets NO TALK in Boston at all... because people here would probably tend to agree with Bush on this one, and agreeing with, or giving credit to, GWB is tantamount to breaking the necks of children around here.)

[I have edited out the last line of Paul's post on the fear that it might be misinterpreted so as to squelch debate regarding the post. I have cleared this with Paul who has always thought of me as being an asshole anyhow. He suggested that I insert this note and I think that's a good idea. -JJ]