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#4
11-08-2010, 09:49 PM
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From Illinois/Florida
Joined in Jul 2009
2,219 posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by BimmerFan View Post
Drawing a positive correlation between the DREAM Act and the economy is going to be a tough sell regardless of how solid someone can present that argument. The issue of illegal immigration is a very tough and polarizing one, which is why it keeps being pushed back on the agenda year after year. In reality, there is no one good solution that wouldn't piss off or alienate a particular group. From having this conversation with people, I have found that most citizens/permanent residents feel that the undocumented have put a strain on local resources and are very defensive towards having to contribute any tax dollars towards the education and healthcare of the undocumented population. Also, most people I have talked to are worried about the crime and poverty they have seen come into their mostly white upper-middle class suburban neighborhoods as more illegals (using their own words) have settled in the outskirts of those neighborhoods.

The fact is, no matter how pretty of a package you present your average US taxpayer with when trying to sell the DREAM Act, their number one response will always be something to the effect of "I'm sorry for their situation (if that), but I don't want to see any more of my tax dollars go to educating "those people" while I am trying to put my own kids through college, have a mortgage hanging over my head and my business is not doing as well as it was due to the bad economy."

The average person is clearly more concerned about having to foot the immediate bill and not about the long-term savings that would come with educating and legalizing the potential beneficiaries of this bill, who would in turn be able to create jobs (as buckminster said) or begin paying taxes once employed to help cover those initial costs.

Honestly, it's going to be really difficult to overcome that argument and change people's perspectives on this issue. Unfortunately, most of their perspective comes from what they see, which in truth, is a population of uneducated workers who pose a threat and cause problems in their neighborhoods by congregating in slums and forming gangs. (Don't mean to offend but I am simply relaying what I have heard). That is not to say that everyone shares this view or that it happens in all neighborhoods, but the precedent is there and it is something a good number of people feel very strongly about. Hope I am wrong on this.
Sometimes its harder to sell the truth then a lie.

We know what the facts are, we know that tax payers would not be paying for our education, that they are currently paying about 23k per deportation whereas legalization is a astronomically cheaper option, that dreamers most likely do speak english and would not be gangsters, however, the opposition has been able to sell a very extreme view of immigrants that citizens have responded to and that is the problem.

They have been able to make illegal immigration appear as a federal offense or criminal offense rather then what it is, a civil offense.
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