[Dialogue] The Immigration Con Artists

Mon Nov 26 15:05:25 EST 2007

AlterNet

The Immigration Con Artists

By David Sirota, Creators Syndicate
Posted on November 24, 2007, Printed on November 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/68729/

I once got suckered by con artists. As I was walking by, they baited me into
betting that I could guess which shell a little ball was under. Moving the
shells at lightning speed, they diverted my attention and tricked me into
taking my eye off the ball. When I lost the bet, I felt bamboozled, just
like we all should feel today watching the illegal immigration debate. After
all, we're witnessing the same kind of con.

As our paychecks stagnate, our personal debt climbs and our health care
premiums skyrocket, We the People are ticked off. Unfortunately for those in
Congress, polls show that America is specifically angry at the big business
interests that write big campaign checks.

So now comes the con -- the dishonest argument over illegal immigration
trying to divert our ire away from the corporate profiteers, outsourcers,
wage cutters and foreclosers that buy influence -- and protection -- in
Washington.

Republicans like Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) are demanding the government cut
off public services for undocumented workers, build a barrier at the Mexican
border and force employers to verify employees' immigration status.
Democrats like Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) are urging their allies to either
embrace a punitive message aimed at illegal immigrants, or avoid the
immigration issue altogether. And nobody asks the taboo question: What is
illegal immigration actually about?

The answer is exploitation. Employers looking to maximize profits want an
economically desperate, politically disenfranchised population that will
accept ever worse pay and working conditions. Illegal immigrants perfectly
fit the bill.

Politicians know exploitation fuels illegal immigration. But they refuse to
confront it because doing so would mean challenging their financiers.

Instead we get lawmakers chest-thumping about immigration enforcement while
avoiding a discussion about strengthening wage and workplace safety
enforcement -- proposals that address the real problem.

Equally deplorable, these same lawmakers keep supporting trade policies that
make things worse. Just last week, both Emanuel and Tancredo voted to expand
NAFTA into the Southern Hemisphere. This is the same trade model that not
only decimated American jobs and wages, but also increased illegal
immigration by driving millions of Mexican farmers off their land, into
poverty and ultimately over our southern border in search of subsistence
work.

The con artists' behavior is stunning for its depravity.

First they gut domestic wage and workplace safety enforcement. Then they
pass lobbyist-crafted trade pacts that push millions of foreigners into
poverty. And presto! When these policies result in a flood of desperate
undocumented workers employed at companies skirting domestic labor laws, the
con artists follow a deceptive three-step program: 1) Propose building walls
that would do nothing but create a market for Mexican ladders 2) Make
factually questionable claims about immigrants unduly burdening taxpayers
and 3) Scapegoat undocumented workers while sustaining an immoral situation
that keeps these workers hiding in the shadows.

The formula allows opportunists in Congress to both deflect heat away from
the corporations underwriting their campaigns and preserve an exploitable
pool of cheap labor for those same corporations. Additionally, these
opportunists get to divide working-class constituencies along racial lines
and vilify destitute illegal immigrant populations that don't make campaign
donations and therefore have no political voice whatsoever.

Of course, diversionary scapegoating is nothing new. As Ronald Reagan pushed
his reverse Robin Hood agenda, he attributed America's economic stagnation
to "welfare queens." Similarly, Bill Clinton championed NAFTA while telling
displaced workers their enemy was "the era of Big Government." This
bogeyman, Clinton said, would be vanquished by ending "welfare as we know
it."

Undoubtedly, the media will keep claiming illegal immigration is complicated
for both parties. But Republicans or Democrats could begin solving the
issue, if they simply stopped letting corporate lawyers write trade pacts
and started punishing employers who violate wage and workplace laws.

Sadly, even those modest steps probably won't be taken. In a political
system that makes it difficult to tell the difference between a lobbyist and
a lawmaker, both parties employ the art of distraction to perpetuate the
crises that enrich their campaign contributors. Indeed, whether their target
is undocumented workers or indigent recipients of public assistance, the
political con artists attack the exploited to avoid cracking down on the
exploiters -- and with immigration, they are hoping America once again gets
duped. 

David Sirota is the author of Hostile Takeover: How
<http://alternet.bookswelike.net/isbn/0307237346>  Big Money and Corruption
Conquered Our Government--and How We Take It Back (Crown, 2006). 

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