I recently received a forwarded email that purportedly was from a government school teacher from California lamenting the massive waste in the government run school system. I had no issue with the accuracy of the waste report, but the teacher then launch into an attack on illegal immigrants as one of the causes of this problem. He also said that an entitlement mentality had created a juvenile delinquency problem within the schools. This was again blamed on the immigrant children. And then finally he/she dismissed a guest worker program as a solution to illegal immigration.
I know there are billions of dollars wasted in our government schools, especially in the Los Angeles area where the average cost per student per year, when all costs are taken into account, is $25,000+. The government run school system must be abolished if we have any long term hope of having a decently educated public. Our founders knew that a well-educated populace was required to sustain our Republic.
However, whoever this unidentified teacher is, he or she is dead wrong about the guest worker program.
I would point out it is NOT the fault of immigrants, illegal or not, that there is free food, free or subsidized housing, free medical care, etc., etc., etc.
That’s being done by Congress and our state legislatures.
It wasn’t the immigrants that forced hospitals to treat everyone regardless of the ability to pay. That was Congress.
It wasn’t the immigrants that created the welfare state. That was Congress & and state Legislatures.
It wasn’t the immigrants that force their kids to attend "free" government schools. That was Congress.
And it wasn’t the immigrants that created the free breakfast and free lunch programs in those government schools. That was Congress.
That doesn’t absolve immigrant children of their bad behavior, but who created the entitlement atmosphere? It wasn’t the immigrants. Again, that was Congress and various state welfare programs.
For those who don’t know, we had a guest work program here in United States years ago (1942 to 1964). It was called the Brocero program. And before the government "closed" the borders, it worked reasonably well.
And from what I understand, it was mostly males who worked the harvest season, leaving the wife and kids back home in Mexico. As such, there was little or no burden on the educational system. There was little or no welfare problem. No free or subsidized government housing. Housing was provided by the farm owners. No or little burden on the hospitals, etc., etc., etc.
And according to Wikipedia, 10% of the farm worker’s pay was withheld until they returned to Mexico. They thus had an economic incentive to return home to their families.
So, at the end of the harvest season, most of them went back home. And they did so, because they knew next year they could come back and work again.
But, then we "closed" the borders, but did nothing about the demand for their labor. Mexico did nothing to create jobs for them. So, now they sneak across the border, sometimes dying in the desert, to find jobs. And since it’s dangerous and or expensive to go back and forth, they just stay here. And if they are married, they’ll want to smuggle their families over the border. And now they’re a burden on society, whereas before they were a net plus to the U.S. economy.
This was all done by the Congress and the various state legislatures.
And people blame the immigrants instead.
They had almost nothing to do with any of it…..except they wanted to come here and work.
And for that, we call the illegal aliens or worse.
What’s the world coming to that we punish people for working hard and reward them for taking advantage of their "entitlements"!!!
Instead of blaming the victims, let’s blame those who created this mess, i.e. Congress under the control of the Republicans and Democrats. They created the welfare mentality and much of the illegal immigration problem. Only Libertarians offer real, workable, solutions.
Yours in liberty and for open borders……………..Mark Hinkle, LNC Chair
