The Statue Of Liberty No Longer A Symbol

[rsmith6621]

FROM Ken Schram of KOMOTV SEATTLE

SEATTLE - The Statue of Liberty is no longer a symbol.These days, it's just another tourist destination.And the words: "Give me your tired, your poor..." no longer embody the spirit of America.They've slipped to being just a pithy, pseudo-patriotic phrase that has lost its true meaning.

http://komotv.com/stories/42863.htm


Ken says it like it is.............

[KurtNYC]

1. If Ken would look just south of that statue he would see Ellis Island

First, this isn't really a national debate about immigration -- it is a debate about employment. Certain employers in the US believe that they need an exploitable class of labor, eg. undocumented labor. The jobs they offer are not open to documented (non-exploitable) people.

Secondly, assuming we address the employment side of this issue (which is a big assumption), then it is in the interest of all concerned that we sort through potential immigrants in an open and orderly way. Ellis Island is where thousands of Americans entered this country in a legal way. Legal immigration allows us to ensure that refugees can be accomodated when need be and also that serial criminals can be excluded.

There is no easy fix for this. If we legalized everyone tomorrow, then certain employers would be desperate for a new supply of undocumented people to exploit as they see fit.

[genie_weenie]

2. You know technically

The sonnet by Emma Lazarus is not the policy of the United States. And her The New Colossus poem wasn't put onto the Statue of Liberty until 1903.