I've said this before - the laws against illegal immigration are nt design to keep people out. They are designed to keep them terrorizes so they don't dare to protest the miserable living conditions and terrible pay.
Ain't that the truth?
And to have a handy 'other' for a scapegoat.
That would explain then why CO had its pants in a knot the first time I showed up at the DMV to turn in my WA license and didn't have any proof of citizenship or immigration status with me.
So I went home, got my passport, and sat in line. Again.
I wish California did that. Let's deal with the real world for a change. These people should not be here, yes, but they are. And they are driving. And they can't buy insurance because they don't have driver's license. So, if one hits me, I am SOL and have to pay $500 deductible on my "uninsured motorist" coverage.
But no, we can't give them driver licenses because they shouldn't be there.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
I think we probably should make it a lot easier for people to come here legally, but we're not going to have a completely open border...and we shouldn't.
Why, exactly? What's wrong with a completely open market in the most completely capitalist society in the world?
I think most countries control their borders and regulate immigration. It makes sense in this day and age, with increasing populations and decreasing resources and space. Can anyone who wants to just go and settle in Ireland?
I don't think immigration laws are set up to terrorize people who come illegally. Anyone who comes illegally is putting themselves in a position of living in continual fear, because they are breaking the law. And then people take advantage of that.
Avatar photo by Richard Lykes, used with permission.
Well my point was that America prides itself on Capitalism. Surely it makes sense for Capitalists to have access to cheap labour?
In Ireland we have no real problem with illegal immigrants, despite having a completely open border. Firstly, anyone in the EU can live and work here. Initially that led to a flood of Eastern Europeans, mostly Polish, coming to work here for less than the Irish were willing to work for. In the boom years just past, nobody wanted to work for minimum wage and they were quite happy to let the Poles do the work they didn't want to. Now that recession has hit, people are less picky.
With or without a passport and/or visa? I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just trying to make sure I understand exactly what you are saying.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
I'm not making this clear am I? No, of course if you want to be here legally you need a VISA and Passport. I mean the even though you could grab a motorboat and land in Wexford without ever meeting an immigrations officer, we still don't seem to have a problem with illegal immigrants.
When my son arrived at Shannon Airport there was nobody at Customs. Everybody on his plane just walked past. Of course he had an appointment with immigration a couple of days later anyway, where all that was gone through.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Alatar wrote:I'm not making this clear am I? No, of course if you want to be here legally you need a VISA and Passport. I mean the even though you could grab a motorboat and land in Wexford without ever meeting an immigrations officer, we still don't seem to have a problem with illegal immigrants.
Ireland does not have a land border with a heavily-populated part of the developing world, though.
Whenever I've gone into Ireland, my American passport has been carefully examined and stamped, while friends with EU passports just walk right through. Coming back to the UK, there is usually only a cursory check, if any.
The last time I went to Dublin, there was a woman and her two grown daughters (seemed to be from some African nation) who were being thoroughly grilled. The line was long, but when I left about 30 minutes later they were still being detained. There was also an Asian woman with (I think) a Chinese passport who had to wait for clearance.
"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame
If illegal immigrants were believed to be causing the problems in Ireland that they are believed to be causing in the US, then I doubt that the Irish would be reacting much differently than Americans. Particularly now, when Ireland is in such deep financial doodoo.
This really doesn't answer my original question. If your religion is Capitalism, surely cheap labour is a bonus? Its not the case here. We're just not very capitalist in nature.
"Capitalism loves cheap labour" is perhaps true if you view Capitalism solely from the false perspective that it's only about making rich people richer.
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists
