Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

The Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus has been advocating changes in the way illegals are dealt with, and modifying the way our government handles entry to the US. Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado is a leader in this caucus.

Today President Bush proposed a new “guest worker program.” I’ll be interested to see what Tancredo has to say about it. I believe he understands the situation better than anyone in Washington, and hope the President listens closely to what he has to say on this topic.

The link I haven’t heard, yet, is the “shipping jobs overseas.” If we allow people to come into this country to, in Bush’s words, “fill jobs Americans won’t do,” I have to evaluate jobs in this country. In the past, I remember Americans doing many menial tasks, and some that weren’t very pleasant. That market has been taken over by immigrants, legal or illegal, because employers weren’t willing to pay what Americans were willing to take for those jobs. It isn’t work Americans won’t do, but pay Americans won’t accept.

Today, companies send much work overseas where labor rates are lower. Those jobs may now return, but they’ll return with new immigrants doing them. I’m an engineer, and get paid well. If I start looking for a new job, and companies are offering only $5 per hour for an experienced engineer, the only person who would fill it is someone from a third-world country.

Now, I don’t believe that will happen in my area of expertise any time soon, but it isn’t beyond the realm of expectation. What about factory jobs, and all the service sector employment? If the only requirement for someone to enter the US is a job waiting for them, will we limit the numbers? How do we control the influx of possible terrorists from such countries as Indonesia or Pakistan? I want Congress looking closely at this, and not just as an election year issue. Tom Tancredo is my point man.