Friday, October 27, 2006
Speaking at the signing of the "Secure Fence" act on October 26 (yet another GOP oxymoron!), George W. Bush alleged, not for the first time, that illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans don't want to do. This is nonsense. Americans DO want those jobs; they just don't want to work for slave wages. Illegal immigrants, lacking the necessary documentation, almost invariably have no other choice.
The Republican Congress has demonstrated repeatedly over the last 12 years that it believes American workers can attain the American dream for $5.15 per hour. A forty-hour work week at minimum wage would pay the worker $206 — before taxes. That's probably less than a typical Republican congressman's lunch costs his lobbyist. And it's almost certainly far more than an illegal immigrant could ever hope to earn.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" . . . and I'll supply enough money to build 300 miles of a 700-mile fence to protect a 1,300-mile border against this dire threat to another tax cut for the wealthy. And I'll call myself a patriot while doing so. That's the GOP's message, less than two weeks before election day. Is anyone paying attention?
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