…..and immigration regulation enforcement is tightening up……..

Now that Wisconsin has gone Republican (election results), a number of conservative plans are being introduced.  This includes the tightening up of immigration regulation enforcement in Wisconsin.  Discussion in public forums has become quite emotional, and unpleasant analogies surface.  A recent forum participant suggested that immigration regulation enforcement was racist and analogous to Nazism.

Scathing sarcasm and emotional analogies will not solve the problem.

A different analogy may be more constructive in summarizing the problem and in bringing Americans together, rather than apart.

America has a limited amount of pie.  Everybody wants a slice, and some want more than a slice.  The law attempts to divide the pie up fairly.  No law can increase the total amount of pie.  Law can only create rules by which we share the pie.

Liberals have good hearts and want to give pie to everyone.  Sometimes they forget that if they give away too much pie to one group, another group will suffer.

Conservatives believe that their share of pie has already been given away to others, and are motivated to reassess the rules for dividing up the pie, to return justice to the pie sharing.

In a bad economy, when less pie becomes available, friction intensifies between the two groups.

Rather than calling each other names and using insulting analogies which polarize America, we need to get together at the table, make everyone realize that we really have less pie these days, and figure out how to share during the pie shortage.

It is not surprising that families in Wisconsin, like UW staff who have already sustained 5% pay cuts and furloughs with more on the horizon, are concerned about their shrinking paychecks and find it hard to watch generous handouts to strangers who may be in Wisconsin illegally, and whose numbers could be swelling rapidly due to our generous policies.

Those who try to use the race card to prevent immigration law enforcement are using faulty logic.  Being asked to show I.D. is not Nazism – in the age of driver’s licenses and airport security for every citizen, immigrants cannot complain about I.D. requests by law enforcement.

When our country was growing and flourishing, we were rich enough and fortunate enough to be extremely generous.  Now that there is less pie, we cannot afford to give the same amount away as before, or there will be none left for our children.

Some do not realize that our handouts have become so large that 47% of America pays no federal taxes at all.  This includes millions of people who are well above poverty level. The burden on the other 53%  who pay all of the bills has become too large.  So people are now beginning to change their minds about government handouts, and conservative has become the new liberal (https://sytereitz.com/2010/08/conservative-is-the-new-liberal/ ).  Wisconsin has gone Republican.

I am in complete sympathy with Latinos who are here illegally and who struggle to support their families.  However, I am also in complete sympathy with Wisconsin families with shrinking paychecks who do not want Wisconsin to become the national illegal immigrant magnet, due to generous policies which were passed in prosperous times.

What we need in Wisconsin and nationally, is not name-calling and polarization, but prayer and cooperation towards finding an equitable solution.

The best solution will incorporate both justice and mercy.  For example:

  • Seal the borders.   America cannot keep her front doors unlocked while looters abound.
  • Identify illegals who already here, and offer them deportation/application for U.S. citizenship.
  • Enforce immigration regulations strictly in the future.