News

Licenses for illegal immigrants is perilous step

The Register Guard
Op-ed

The guest viewpoint by Phil Carrasco in the Dec. 7 Register Guard, “Driver’s licenses for immigrants is human rights issue,” carries a seriously misleading title and continues to mislead readers throughout.

The “immigrants” discussed are illegal immigrants. There is a significant difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants. To ignore the difference is to ignore our immigration laws and those who abide by them. To ignore the difference is to disrespect our national boundaries and dissolve our national sovereignty.

It is not a “human right” to immigrate to the United States without reference to the laws of this country. Nor is it a “human right” to work or drive here.

Immigration laws exist in all advanced countries, and for good reason. Their purpose is to protect and benefit first and foremost all the citizens of that country.

Millions of people around the world would like to live in the United States and would move here if they could. The population increases resulting from open borders would overwhelm this country, with disastrous consequences.

Oregon does not need to depend on illegal labor. There are more than enough citizens to do the work, but they rightly expect fair wages and decent working conditions. Employers profit from illegal immigration because they can pay substandard wages and pass on to the public the costs of providing subsidized housing, medical care, schooling and other services that would be unnecessary if adequate wages were paid and working conditions were fair. The cost of illegal immigration to Oregon taxpayers has been conservatively estimated at $1 billion annually.

Oregon’s agricultural economy is said to depend on immigrant labor, but rarely mentioned is the fact that farmers may be having difficulty finding workers because even illegal aliens don’t want to do “that kind of work.” Other developed nations are moving more quickly than we are toward mechanization in agricultural industries. But as long as an illegal workforce is available, there is no motivation to do so.

Carrasco cites a study from the Immigration Policy Center claiming that illegal aliens spend $8.4 billion of their own income in this state every year. If U.S. citizens held the jobs that illegal aliens now hold and received fair wages, these citizens would no doubt spend even more than the $8.4 billion cited. Many of them would be off unemployment and food stamps, and they wouldn’t be likely to send money out of the country in the form of remittances.

It is an injustice to force citizens to compete with illegal aliens for jobs — yet that’s a common problem today in agriculture, construction, hotels, restaurants, landscaping, maintenance and more. Greedy employers abusing U.S. visa systems bring in foreign workers to replace citizens in professional occupations, particularly the so-called high-tech industry. A culture of corruption has arisen with the skirting of fair labor standards.

Most citizens would rather pay a bit more for their food and other goods and know these don’t come from illegal or exploited labor. Most citizens understand that fair wages, good working conditions and respect for law are necessary to maintain our democratic form of government.

Our lawmakers, instead of working to discourage illegal immigration into Oregon, passed Senate Bill 833 last year on the pretext of “road safety.” The bill accommodates illegal aliens (and their employers) by allowing them to obtain state-issued identification in the form of driver privilege cards.

But “road safety” is a red herring to hide the real issue, which is the hiring and employment of illegal aliens — a practice that undermines the rule of law, depresses wages, inflates the population, stresses our already-endangered natural environment, and causes a declining quality of life for all.

Public-spirited volunteers organized a referendum campaign on SB 833, and succeeded with broad support among Oregon voters. It’s highly unusual for a referendum to qualify on the first test of signatures, and this petition did.

In fact, it set the record for the number of individual signature sheets received by the secretary of state’s office.

Citizens concerned about the rule of law and the continued viability of our nation should vote no on Referendum petition 301 in November, and retire SB 833 permanently to the archives of bad legislation.

Cynthia Kendoll is president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform and active in Protect Oregon Driver Licenses, the organization that referred SB 833 to the ballot.