'Mr. President, Tear Down Build Up That Wall!'

Wow, this whole immigration debate sure is a hot topic. It's all the kids talk about these days.

Digby has a great post up on the debate, particularly how it's being spun by the punditocracy. I particularly wanted to highlight the following part where he looks at the larger issues looming over this debate-

[A]ccording to the latest Democracy Corps poll, the single most important foreign policy issue is globalization and outsourcing. It's more important than terrorism and Iraq. I found that surprising. It explains why there is so much anxiety over immigration right now. The threat of cheap foreign labor is very real to people, they feel powerless to stop it, and the most immediate face of it is low wage Latino migration to the US.

The forces shaping this are massive and it cannot be finessed by crude nativist rhetoric no matter how much people want to run populist campaigns and are tempted to pull out that well-worn playbook. The sharp feelings about immigration right now are a symptom of something much bigger and dislocating than latino day laborers --- and it seems that on some level, the public knows it. It's possible that politicians can cynically divert voters' angst over globalization by stoking anti-immigrant fervor, but it appears to me that it would be a short term solution at best. Deporting every illegal immigrant and putting up a 25 foot wall won't solve this problem. Globalization will continue apace, people will still want to buy massive quantities of cheap disposable stuff and working people are going to be squeezed.

I think this nails it. The global economy built on the backs of cheap, disposable labor that these politicians worship is what fuels the demand from within our borders of illegal immigrant workers. Until these politicians make efforts to address that issue, they are just paying lip issue to the problem while feeding it behind their backs.

It is their fault, and not the immigrants, that Americans are losing more and more jobs.

The blame lies with the politicians and corporations for that. They're the ones who love to close down plants and outsource American jobs to Asian countries because it helps their bottom line. They're the ones who don't want to pay American workers a living wage, so they bring in immigrants who will do the work cheap, often off-the-books for less than minimum wage and in unhealthy working environments. They're the ones who cave to the interests of big-box retailers like Walmart who push small businesses out of business (and are also a big abuser of undocumented foreign workers). They're the ones who are quite happy to have illegals raise their kids and mow their lawns, but who are condemning them in public. And they're the ones who have been screwing over actual Republican working and middle classes year after year under the knowledge that they can use hot-button issues like this to distract come election time.

While enforcing the laws and borders is important, we shouldn't focus the debate on demonizing the people who just want to provide for their families and become a part of our country. Unless your great great grandfather was in the Nez Perce tribe, we all are here because of that desire. As I said in my last post on this issue, if the politicians want to see the root of this problem, all they need to do is look in the mirror and look who finances their campaigns.

Meanwhile, the President tries to play the figure of compromise on the issue...

...while his xenophobic base feels betrayed.

And slowly but surely, they all drive away the immigrant community from the Republican party.