Driving down the 605 freeway the other day by golf ‘n stuff, a billboard on the side of the highway advertised a new Infiniti brand car. The text of the add was entirely in Spanish.

This post is not to knock the Spanish language, or people that speak that language. This is not to attack illegal immigrants, or anyone that comes to this country and speaks another language. My question is purely one of marketing interest. I don’t have the capability of doing the research, but here is my question.

How many people with the economic buying power required for an Infiniti only speak Spanish?

As widespread as Spanish has become in Southern California, the number of people that ONLY speak Spanish can’t be very high. I constantly hear people ordering their “queso blanco” which drives me nuts, but the percentage of people that speak ZERO English has got to be in the single digit percentile. And of that group of people, how many can afford an expensive luxury car?

Any decent job in this country that pays wages high enough for someone to afford a luxury car will be conducted in English, not Spanish. Speaking Spanish will help you get a job at McDonald’s, but it won’t help you get a job at a law firm. The only exception I can think of is a wealthy person that moves from a Spanish speaking country to the United States, or a Spanish speaking person that builds a successful business here in the states while only using their native language.

Why would a business spend money to target 1% of the population? Even for the significant portion of the population that speaks both English and Spanish, are they only reachable in a Spanish language ad?

The politicians are swearing up and down that it’s not amnesty. “Look, there are a bunch of hoops to jump through. It’s not like 1986 at all!”

The entire thought process behind the recent Senate bill is backwards. A discussion about what to do with the illegals already here shouldn’t even begin until our borders are secure. Employers need to be held accountable for hiring illegal workers. The double fence needs to be built along the border (it’s not a wall, it’s a fence). Illegals that commit crimes should be immediately deported. Anchor babies shouldn’t become automatic citizens.

Once the above happens, then we can talk about what to do with the illegal aliens here. You don’t hand out Z-Visas that automatically make illegal immigrants legal (not citizens, but legal). You don’t create enforcement “triggers” to be met at a later date. Prove to me that enforcement is working now, not later. A majority of illegal aliens don’t even care about becoming citizens, they care about the jobs. Politicians are kidding themselves if people are going to pay thousand dollar fines and return to their home country to become citizens.

If a Republican presidential candidate backs this bill, they will lose my vote. So far Romney has the right response, McCain (not surprisingly) doesn’t.

Looks like we have something to celebrate. Illegal immigrants are being deported at an increasing rate, which is very good news. In case you don’t read the article, this is my favorite line. An illegal alien mother is talking about her anchor baby son.

“He needs to be educated in American schools, to speak English. He needs this country.”

My response: This country doesn’t need him. Am I cold hearted? Is that unchristian? Should anyone be able to come here, regardless of the laws they break? I’m sure you know my answers, but I would love to hear yours.

The Governor last night in the State of the State address made a reference to people that have health insurance coverage and end up paying for the uninsured:

I’m lucky enough to have health insurance? My six years of schooling and hardwork was luck? The Governor is out of his mind. People that save their money and buy private health insurance are not lucky. They work hard and make decisions about how they spend their money. Illegal immigrants that walk into our emergency rooms without health insurance are not unlucky. Gang bangers that get shot up and incur thousands of dollars in ER bills only to be patched up and put back on the street are not unlucky.

Liberal ideals are the single greatest cause of declining personal responsibility in our country.

"Please don’t build a fence. Guatemala doesn’t want uneducated criminals!"

Apparently Mexico doesn’t want the fence, and because they don’t want the fence, it has reinforced my beliefs that a fence would be good.

"Mexico pleaded with President Bush on Monday to veto a Senate proposal to build a fence to keep illegal immigrants out, saying it could backfire by making the border less secure." Less secure? How on earth could it be less secure? Unless Mexican citizens take up arms and storm the border by force, I really don’t see how this could make things less secure.

"This decision hurts bilateral relations, goes against the spirit of cooperation needed to guarantee security on the common border, creates a climate of tension in border communities." I would love to see a list of all the measures Mexico takes to prevent it’s citizens from illegally crossing into our country. As far as I know they’re too busy helping people cross the border.

"Hundreds of Latin Americans, mostly Mexicans, die each year crossing perilous rivers and deserts separating the two countries, and tougher control has increased fatalities." Maybe they should stop crossing then?

Border Wall Volleyball

On Thursday the California State Senate decided to support a walkout by illegal aliens. If you read the article there are a few quotes, which basically show that Democrats are supporting the walkout. It’s pandering for votes at its finest. So much for schools that have been preparing for May 1st and warning students not to skip school. Apparently the state government thinks it’s ok!

If all the toilet cleaners want to stay home that is fine with me. I clean my own toilet.

UPDATE

Another article from Drudge about May 1st. There was a specific part I found very humorous:

"Conservatives want the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants returned to Mexico and a fence built along the border.

Others, including President George W. Bush, want a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship."

Haha, there are conservatives, and then there is President Bush. How true!

I decided that lumping my thoughts into the last post would be far too confusing, so I will start a new one. Look for new updates as I get the energy and facts to back up my points. If you make any comments while this post is in progress, you may want to indicate the "section" of this that you are replying to.

1) Understanding Terminology Used in the Illegal Immigration Debate

Before I start babbling about crime and the economy, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the terms used in the debate (especially when the media loves to spin them to death).

An illegal immigrant is someone who either entered this country without permission, or has overstayed a temporary permit (a visa)¹. Any person who is in this country, in violation of the laws of this country, is an illegal immigrant. There are different terms used to refer to people here illegally. Illegal aliens is my favorite. Liberals enjoy using "undocumented workers."

Whatever your term for people who are in the country illegally, the word "immigrant" is not sufficient. The rally over the weekend was not about "immigrants" rights, it was about "illegal immigrants" rights. The laws being debated in congress in no way affect legal immigrants. This is the primary error that so many of the protestors and students walking out of class fail to realize.

It’s not about Mexicans, Chinese people, and it’s not about legal immigrants. This debate is about illegal immigrants.

Citations: ¹Wikipedia – Illegal Immigration

2) A Foreword on Immigration

Before I get into the nitty gritty, here are some of my personal views on immigration, just so you know what my "biases" are. I believe that the United States is a great country, and something that makes it great is that we are governed by laws. As a nation we have rules and the right to enforce those rules. The United States allows immigration into our country, and people have been coming to live here for hundreds of years. I have no beef with immigrants, as my great-great-grandfather was an immigrant (I think). Many immigrants come here because they want a better life and an opportunity to have the American dream.

The debate before us now is that there are certain individuals who do not believe in the rule of law. It is within the power of the United States to create and enforce the laws. It is illegal to overstay a visa or cross the border without permission. I don’t care who the person is and no matter their circumstance, no one has a right to be in this country besides the citizens of this country. That’s correct, the USA is an exclusive club, and if you want in, you need permission. If you decide to break the laws of our country, you are a criminal.

I’m sure this will sound "mean" to people that think with their emotions. It is not racist nor predjudiced for a country to control it’s own destiny, and who we let in plays a major part in that. A quick look at France and the recent Muslim protests is an example². Just as we have decided to not let terrorists into our country, we reserve the right to say no to extremists, the uneducated, and illegal immigrants. If a person has the desire to come and enjoy the freedom of this country and the economic opportunities, I believe they should also be willing to adopt the values and language of this country. If a person is unwilling to do that, then they should not be here.

Citations: ²France – The Cost of Multicultralism

3) It’s Friday and I’m Tired.

I’m tired and don’t feel like devoting several hours of my life creating a pseudo scholarly post, so I will now be succinct.

4) The Economy and Illegals: We Don’t Need Them

All the nonsense about illegals working jobs that no one else will is total horse doo-doo. Americans will clean bathrooms, pick lettuce, and build houses, but when employers have cheap labor to exploit of course they’ll pay the lower wages. We have thousands if not millions of uneducated people that would be great at scrubbing toilets. Just go to myspace and look up all the people that graduated with you and still have no life. Illegal immigrants also love to send money back to Mexico instead of investing it back into our economy.

5) Welfare: If You Hand It Out, They Will Take It

When an illegal comes over the border they get so much handed to them. Public education, emergency medicine, roads and highways, medicare, social security, and welfare. An illegal immigrant does not deserve any of that, because they’ve done basically nothing to pay for any of it. Illegal immigrants are having babies by the thousands at our hospitals and not contributing a dime to pay for it. ONE BILLION DOLLARS. I think I’m turning into a Libertarian when it comes to economics. The solution to all of this is to make people pay for everything. Charge people $4000 to send their kid to public school, pay per miles used on the highways. In turn the goverment could get rid of property taxes or income taxes. Ultimately there should not be anything handed to illegal immigrants by the goverment reaching into the pockets of law-abiding and tax-paying citizens.

6) Illegal Immigrants Commit a lot of Crime

Crime 1: 29% of criminals filling jails are illegals, costing 1.6 billion dollars a year (they only make up around 3% of the entire population).

Crime 2: 60% of the 20,000 strong 18th street gang are illegals.

Crime 3: 95% of outstanding homicide warrants in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

Crime 4: A whole lot of document forgery going on!

There are tons of illegal immigrants and crime links, just search google.

7) Conclusion

That’s all the energy I have. Doesn’t seem like the politicians in Washington D.C. have the guts to really do anything, so I don’t see this problem being solved anytime soon.

Today I’m having a flashback of my own days back in Junior High. I think it was my 8th grade year that proposition 187 was being voted on. I remember students being upset and wanting to walk out. Today is very similar to that day 12 years ago. Some students want to walk out just because it would be fun. Others are upset and their heads are filled with erroneous beliefs about what is going on. I’ve heard everything from "They said that they don’t want Mexicans here" to "They said we can’t go to school." Sadly these Junior Highers are about as informed as the people protesting in the streets.

The L.A. Times is wrong, and you heard it here first. A headline at their site reads Students Walk Out for Immigrants. Wrong. It has NOTHING to do with immigrants. From the L.A. Times article:

 "’If this law passes, what will happen? There would be no more Los Angeles High School. Nearly all of us are immigrants,’ said Yadira Pech, a 16-year-old junior from Los Angeles High."

Dimwit, the law doesn’t say anything about immigrants, it’s about illegal immigrants. I’ll post later about the issue of illegal/legal immigration, but I just had to get off my chest that there is actually a difference between following the law (however difficult or long that process is) versus thinking you can just show up and demand the same things every true US Citizen enjoys.

Good article by Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.