Clearing the Air By The Numbers

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Clearing the Air
By The Numbers
It’s census time again, and this time around there is a big push for illegal immigrants to fill out their census forms so they can be counted. Across the country, you can find television and newspaper ads in Spanish that assure the confidentiality of the census. Local community leaders, especially those in areas of high illegal immigrant population, are generally supportive of the idea.
The arguments I have seen rest on two main points: 1) states with more illegal immigrants should have Congressional representation that reflects their actual population, and 2) more residents means more money for communities struggling to pay for public services, like schools and health clinics.
The first point just doesn’t hold water. Illegal immigrants, by definition, are not supposed to be here. They don’t pay taxes, can’t vote and, therefore, should not be represented in Congress.
Proponents of counting illegal immigrants will cite here part of the 14th Amendment: “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.”
The language here seems pretty clear, “the whole number of persons in each State,” they argue, would include illegal immigrants. But here we have to wonder why Indians are excluded – is it because they’re Indians, or because they’re not taxed?
Here, those in favor of counting illegal immigrants would say that Indians were considered “savages” and not really “people.” But then why do we need this additional clause? If Indians just, as a matter of fact, weren’t considered to be “persons” then it doesn’t make sense to add this additional clause to exclude them.
What makes more sense is to simply say this excludes those Indians who are not taxed, and I firmly believe this is what the constitution’s framers had in mind. From this point, the parallel from Indians to immigrants is an easy one to make – if you don’t pay taxes, you don’t get represented.
What’s interesting about the 14th Amendment argument is those who use it seem to forget its purpose: to broadly define what it is to be a U.S. citizen. The first line of the Amendment clearly states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
In this context, illegal immigrants clearly aren’t citizens, so the 14th Amendment isn’t even applicable here.
As for the point that communities need money for public services, I have this to say: What kind of a message are we trying to send? If the United States is so hell-bent against illegal immigration, why would we facilitate this practice with financial support? Besides, this is taxpayer money that is going, at least in part, to people earning an income and not paying taxes.
Maybe I’m just being too cold here; without additional moneys, the quality and availability of public services within a community would surely suffer. The issue, then, comes down to whether we want to have an immigration policy that is compassionate or is consistent.
Ultimately, I don’t care that much about the immigration debate. If an immigrant wants to take a job cleaning toilets for three bucks an hour, then go for it. But if the U.S. wants to have a consistent position on illegal immigration, then it should stop using taxpayer money to aid those who are here illegally.
http://www.usavanguard.com/clearing-the-air-1.1305258