Andrew Clem home
Andrew Clem banner

Blog post


Monthly archives
(all categories)


March 30, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Oh, that immigration problem

Given the bleak state of the economy, with rising joblessness, it is telling that hardly anyone is talking about illegal immigration any more. Does that mean it's no longer a problem? Have all the Mexicans and Salvadoreños gone home? Not quite. I've heard anecdotal reports of voluntary repatriation that reflects the dwindling demand for labor, but that's only part of the story. As the Washington Post reports, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered a slowdown in the pace of immigration raids, signalling a return to the lax law enforcement policy of the early Bush years (2001-2006). Supposedly, this is part of a switch in emphasis toward the businesses as opposed to the workers themselves. That's fine with me. It was pretty clear all along that one of the main reasons for Bush's reluctance to deal with the problem was pressure from business lobbyists.

Interestingly, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) is pushing to stop enforcement against employers that hire illegal workers. His ethnic feelings are a prime motivation, of course, but it's also interesting that a Democrat would work on behalf of business interests, at a time when Americans are in desperate search of decent, well-paying jobs. See americanworker.org; I saw a TV ad promoting that group a couple days ago.

Historical milestone

By randomly checking the Year Ago Today blog page, I realized that yesterday was the anniversary of the tense (but ultimately peaceful) Staunton Republican mass meeting. Finally: the "decent interval" has passed!

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 31 Mar 2009, 12: 06 AM

(unformatted URL)
      .



This post is over a week old, so comments are closed.


© Andrew G. Clem. All rights reserved. Your use of this material signifies your acceptance of the Terms of use.


Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007:

Category archives:
(all years)



This (or that) year's
blog highlights

Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
  2. War
  3. Science & Technology
  4. Politics
  5. Latin America
  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)