Alan's move of this thread has lost the previous comments. Whatever... I still had something to say!

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Dody,

The problem with the driver's licenses et al for illegal immigrants is that it effectively localizes the "illegality" to the border crossing; after that, you are effectively legal. Given the laws that have recently passed or are under consideration, you can legally drive a car, have a bank account, pay social security tax, collect social security, have your kids educated, get medical care... and the cops are instructed not to look for you and not to turn you into INS when they find you. So, why bother with legal immigration?

These measures raise the existing hypocrisy around immigration (it exists because employers hire these people and turn a blind eye) to the level of complete absurdity. It would be funny if it didn't raise two (at least) very serious moral hazards: 1) legal immigrants who apply for and wait for visas are played for fools and 2) by creating an even bigger honeypot across the border (i.e. de facto legal status) while clamping down on the border itself, the country is setting up a perverse incentive for people to risk their lives in the crossing. There is much to object to here.

I too would like to see the illegals brought in from the cold - but with a system like the H1B visas. Asian programmers tend not to like stowing away in container ships, so their prospective employers lobbied the government for a set of appropriate documents for them*. The farm workers et al should get the same. Then they can be documented and checked, have proper ID, etc... then we can crack down on those who are well and truly illegal. This would be better from a social policy as well as security perspective.


*Snarkiness intended, of a vague cynical social critique nature. No offense intended, if I was out of place I'm sorry... it just sounded so good...

Original comments for this thread seem to still be available here:

http://www.command-post.org/2_archives/009389.html

That thing about Hillary and the Rose Law firm billing records is hilarious - nice analogy for looking for WMD.

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