The post about immigration generated a lot of discussion, and it went in a lot of directions. I find it interesting that Dave saw that what really is at issue here is not immigration, but criminal behavior (and the legalization of drugs debate). I find it interesting because in a side-debate between Shawn and I over instant messenger, it seemed to me that what we really should be talking about is education.

Dave saw that when it gets down to it, one of the reasons we don’t want immigrants in this country is because we believe that they are more likely to be criminals. But who are the criminals?

In most cases, I think immigration makes us concerned not about white-collar crime, but about more physically-imposing crimes, the ones that come with smuggled guns (connecting back up to white collar crime, but that’s another debate). When we think of illegal aliens, that word illegal enters into our consciousness and we imagine drug dealers, gang-bangers, thieves, etc.

But the thing is, the criminals we fear are not the immigrants; they are the unemployed. And the unemployment rate for immigrants is less than that of U.S. citizens. They come here, and they go to work. They don’t have time to be committing any crimes.

So while the immigration issue always dissolves into a debate about crime, crime always dissolves into a debate of employment.

(which can always dissolve into a debate about capitalism, but we don’t need to go there again)

Employment brings us back to the immigrants. Because the other fear we have about immigrants is that they are taking our jobs. With one in three high-school kids dropping out of school, and with most new jobs requiring at least a college diploma, there’s a real concern about who will be able to be employed in this country.

But if we realize that most new jobs require a college diploma, should we really spend our money on trying to protect our low-wage jobs for our children or on trying to educate them toward a high-salary job?

Because it is all a question of resources. We only have so much money, as a country, and we can’t have everything we want. With a trillion-dollar debt, it’s going to be our generation, the next generation, and at least the one following who are going to be paying it off. The decisions made today affect us, our children, and our children’s children.

If we want to focus on the future for our children, we don’t concern ourselves with the immigrants who are already here today. They are what make this country run. Let’s welcome them into the fold, give them a voice in our system, and allow them to contribute to something better than what they are used to. Let them become Americans.

But what about Americans? is always the answer. What happens to Americans? But you know what: They are Americans. When they’re unemployed, Americans are unemployed. You are thinking of this in terms of them and us, when there is no real them and us. There’s only just people trying to get by.

Don’t want them to be able to work for lower wages than you? Well, when they’re Americans, and not afraid to speak out, they’ll join unions, and you’ll all be in it together, and you’ll have the power to change it.

When we embrace them as fellow Americans, they have all the rights of Americans.

For those who are not currently here but want to get into this country, the debate is not even about immigration. It’s about national security.

Which is a whole other debate.