Navarrette’s broken record

In his latest Pajamas Media article entitled “Getting Illegal Immigrants to Self-Deport,” columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. once again offers up his worn out arguement against enforcement of our immigration laws.

Navarrette alledges that our immigration law enforcement is simply Americans jumping “at pain-free solutions.”

And then there is this one: Worried that U.S. authorities can’t round up and deport 12 million illegal immigrants, especially since the border is a revolving door when most of those deported come back within weeks? The answer, some say, is to create an environment so hostile and so unwelcoming — by doing things like cracking down on employers — that illegal immigrants pack up and leave on their own.

Imagine that. Twelve million illegal immigrants would simply self-deport. If we get this right, imagine the cost savings. No more caravans of buses, mountains of paperwork, or overtime for Border Patrol agents to process deportation orders. Why, next, we could disband the IRS, put all U.S. taxpayers on their honor to pay their fair share of taxes on April 15th — or face the possibility of a self-audit.

Still, the idea, while laughably impractical, is just simple and pain-free enough to appeal to many Americans.

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This is truely an old arguement of Navarrette’s—to the point that I had to recheck the posted date of the article. On January 2, 2008, Navarrette made a similar claim in a CNN.com article entitled “Fantasy Christmas gift: Self-deporting immigrants,” where he states:

It’s wishful thinking to think that the solution to our immigration woes is to simply expect the condemned to carry out their own executions. It’s more complicated.

Ironically, that statement was intended to refute the claim that Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrant employers was causing illegal immigrants to leave the state.
Something that his recent article now recognizes as fact.

Those people point to what seems to be occurring in Arizona, where a state-led crackdown on employers — admittedly, a nice change where authorities pick on someone their own size — seems to be one reason that many illegal immigrants are fleeing the state. Another major factor is the stagnant economy, including a slowdown in the Arizona construction field popular with illegal immigrants.

You may recognize that line about authorities picking “on someone their own size,” since he used that back in January, as well.

For the record, I’m glad that Arizona is bearing down on employers. It’s nice to see government pick on someone its own size for a change. Besides, I can’t wait to see what happens when Arizonans realize that the same folks who built all those resorts, restaurants, and houses are no longer around to maintain them.

In the Pajamas Media article, Navarrette asks:

But here’s the key: To where are these illegal immigrants fleeing? Proponents of self-deportation like to assume that those who leave are going home to Mexico. But what exactly is waiting for these people in Mexico — a job that pays $6 per day, assuming there is even one to be had there? If illegal immigrants think they have other options, you had better believe they’re going to exercise them.

No Ruben—here’s the key. The state of Arizona doesn’t care where the illegal immigrants are fleeing to, nor is it the state’s responsiblity to do so. It’s responsibilities are to its legal residents, nobody else.

Navarrette even uses the same anecdotal evidence from back in January to support his current claim. At Pajamas Media he writes:

The last time I was in Phoenix, just a few months ago, I spoke to a couple of illegal immigrants who said that not everyone is leaving the state, and that especially those individuals with families are sticking around and taking their chances. Others are going to other states, they said, mentioning Texas, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, and Iowa.

And in January he wrote:

On a recent trip to Phoenix, Arizona, I spoke to a couple of illegal immigrants who told me that, indeed, some of their friends were leaving the state but others were staying. If you’re young and single, you might try your luck elsewhere, they said. But those who have families and roots would stay put no matter what, they said. Besides, what do they have to go home to — earning $6 a day in some Mexican town, assuming there is even a job to be had there?

That’s top-notch research, right there. His 7-month arguement is based on what “a couple of illegal immigrants” told him one day in Phoenix. You just can’t dispute facts like that. And he even has the same “$6 a day” sob story as in his recent piece. Talk about a Stir of Echoes….

Navarrette ends his Pajamas Media piece with an attempt at an I-told-you-so “footnote,” and in doing so makes the same mistake as every other open-borders advocate who claims Americans are against immigration.

As a footnote to this story, no sooner had Arizonans succeeded in purging at least some illegal immigrants from their midst than they began to worry about who was going to do the jobs that these immigrants used to do –- you know, the jobs that, according to fable spinners like CNN’s Lou Dobbs, Americans would gladly do if only wages were higher. So now the Arizona legislature is considering another proposal — one to create a state-run guest worker program that would import a whole new crop of Mexican immigrants. Just think. They might even wind up recruiting some of the same people they just scared off.

That’s a perfect example of the schizophrenia that many Americans suffer with when it comes to immigration, illegal and otherwise. They raise their voices, pound their chests, and declare they’ve had enough of Mexican immigrants –- along with changes to the culture, language, etc. — only to soften their hard-line when they find themselves craving another helping.

However, Ruben’s gotcha moment, nor the link to support it, mention anything about wages being offered by employers allegedly experiencing a labor shortage. They could, in fact, be the exact type of employers the Arizona laws were intended to target—those who would like to save money on labor by hiring illegal immigrants.

The footnote also misses a fundamental point, which is typical of Ruben Navarrette’s stance on the issue of immigration. Guest-workers are legal residents, illegal immigrants are not.

It seems that even Ruben Navarrette is not above jumping to “simple and pain-free solutions” when he is “confronted with difficult problems.” Instead, he is doing nothing but regurgitating old articles and spewing them at a public he believes is not paying attention. Yet, unlike most of our elected officials, many of us are paying attention, Ruben. Your arguement doesn’t wash any better today than it did in January.

I hope Pajamas Media doesn’t pay him too much.