January 05, 2005

Yet another angry comic book reader

From the Long Beach Press-Telegram editorial "Education and immigration":

Failed policy results in failing grades for California schools.

A Rand Corp. study showing how far California schools have slipped down the national ladder in recent years was reported Monday, about the same time as the news that Mexican authorities are distributing more than a million copies of a booklet showing illegal migrants how to safely cross the border ("Illegal Immigration and Remittances For Dummies").

Is there a connection? Of course there is.

The Mexican government, which seems far more interested in protecting the corrupt and powerful than making life better for Mexico's working poor, clearly views the border as a pressure release valve. This how-to book makes it obvious. The poor are far less likely to revolt against an ineffectual and corrupt government when salvation, ostensibly, lies just to the not-so-distant north.

Then there are California's agriculture businesses, restaurants, and numerous other employers who are happy to look the other way on illegal immigration in exchange for cheap labor.

The relationship might work, at least on the California side, if the federal government started being honest about it, creating an above-board economy that recognizes migrant workers and collects taxes, through some sort of guest worker program...

Compare this with the largely similar editorials by the Dallas Morning News and the Arizona Republic.

Posted to Immigration2005a at January 5, 2005 06:11 PM

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