"Journalists and Candidates Suffered From Tunnel Vision at Iowa Republican Presidential Debate"

Hi Gang:
I wrote a commentary for the CAPS website that I want to share with you.  As you will see the focus of this commentary is the Republican Presidential debate that was conducted in Iowa this past week.
The economy took center stage.  This is understandable- but yet it was amazing that when immigration was brought up it was treated as a separate issue.  What still appears to elude our politicians and the journalists is that immigration is not an isolated and relatively minor issue, but is, in reality a major factor in every challenge that confronts our nation. The lunacy is that for the most part, politicians fail to acknowledge just how important immigration is to all of the challenges that confront our nation today and will continue to be the focus of the next administration and, in fact, for every administration for the foreseeable future!
What many Americans, including apparently our nation’s leaders don’t realize is that prior to the Second World War, the enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws was the responsibility of the United States Department of Labor.  The concern was that if large numbers of foreign workers entered our country, American workers would likely suffer a reduction in pay and a worsening of working conditions or even ultimately lose their jobs to those foreign workers.  Labor is a commodity and under the principle of “supply and demand,” dumping large numbers of foreign workers onto the job market would ultimately cause the value of labor in those jobs and careers affected by that sudden increase in supply, to plummet.
Before you think that it would be good to not have to pay so much for labor to decrease the costs of goods and services, you must realize that while many people, especially the Immigration Anarchists” love to repeat the mantra that “America was built by immigrants” you must realize that many countries experience large influxes of foreign nationals (aliens).  What has made America the shining example of success that was the envy of the world was not just the influx of aliens but the rapid growth of the Middle Class.  Our Middle Class was the way that anyone who worked hard and developed skills or acquired a good education could succeed!
Today the Middle Class belongs on the “Endangered Species List!”  If we kill off our Middle Class, we will have succeeded in destroying the engine for success that distinguised the United States from the rest of the world!
Consider what the requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act are concerning the issuance of nonimmigrant visas for aliens who are admitted for a temporary period of time in order that they perform a specific job in the United States.  Check out this link about the requirements that relate to the issuance of temporary work visas for non-agriculatural workers:
If you review the material to be found at that link you will find the following Excerpt:
:

H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers

The H-2B
non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring
foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary
nonagricultural jobs. A U.S. employer must file a Form I-129, Petition
for Nonimmigrant Worker, on a prospective worker’s behalf.

To qualify for H-2B nonimmigrant classification:

  • The
    employer must establish that its need for the prospective worker’s
    services or labor is temporary, regardless of whether the underlying job
    can be described as permanent or temporary. The employer’s need is
    considered temporary if it is a one-time occurrence, a seasonal need, a
    peak-load need, or an intermittent need
  • The employer must
    demonstrate that there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able,
    willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary work
  • The
    employer must show that the employment of H-2B workers will not
    adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed
    U.S. workers
  • Generally, a single, valid temporary labor
    certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), or, in the case
    where the workers will be employed on Guam, from the Governor of Guam,
    must be submitted with the H-2B petition. (Exception: an employer is not
    required to submit a temporary labor certification with its petition if
    it is requesting H-2B employment in a position for which the DOL does
    not require the filing of a temporary labor certification
Please consider these two requirements I have copied from that brief passage above:

The
employer must demonstrate that there are not sufficient U.S. workers
who are able, willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary
work

The
employer must show that the employment of H-2B workers will not
adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly
employed U.S. workers

This is the concept behind one of the primary concerns about immigration- that by admitting foreign workers into our country that American workers will not be adversely impacted!
Yet the administration has made it seem as though the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws is unfair to illegal aliens- the reality is that illegal immigration is unfair to American workers!
This is a point that is never, ever discussed when politicians are asked about illegal immigration.  The time has come for this issue to become one of the central issues that need to be considered when the issue of immigration is raised!
What is also ignored is the fundamental we are less than one month from the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
How in blazes can we hope to protect our nation and our citizens from terrorists who desire to come to our country to kill still more innocent victims when our nation’s borders are
not secure and tens of millions of illegal aliens from virtually every country on the face of this planet live in communities across this vast nation and the true identities, backgrounds and potential criminal or terrorist affiliations of these millions of aliens are unknown and unknowable and no record even exists as to their presence in our country?
Yet there are politicians, including several who took to the stage a few days ago in Iowa, who seem to want to provide these millions of illegal aliens with a pathway to United States citizenship!

Until and unless our nation’s leaders come to accept the pivotal nature of border security and the effective enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws, our nation and our citizens will pay a steep price!
I fear that the price will be paid in green (money) and red (blood)!
Please take the time to read my commentary that I have posted below.
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!

I

our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!

We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.  

I hope you are planning to watch these various debates and interview- they are the equivalent of a job interview and you must remember that 

We the People 

will decide who we should hire to be our next President!  We must take this responsibility extremely seriously!

My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.
The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same.  We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”

The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.

The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!


The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.  I implore you to get involved!
I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world.  However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!

If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! 

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

-michael cutler- 


Please check out my website:

Additionally- this summer, on Friday afternoons from 4:00 PM until 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time, I will be filling in for Tom Garcia as the host on The USA Talk Radio Network’s excellent radio show, “The American Hour.”


I hope you will be joining me on Fridays this summer!

Here is the link for this program:

Journalists and Candidates Suffered From Tunnel Vision at Iowa Republican Presidential Debate

The
Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa was held on August 11, 2011. 
There was no surprise–only disappointment—that  immigration was treated
as a separate issue and not as a component of the other issues that were
debated and discussed.

The economy took center stage.  Certainly our nation’s economic
crisis has a huge impact on our nation and our citizens.  However, how
can there be a meaningful discussion about unemployment and the economy
when millions of illegal aliens are working in this country in violation
of law, sending well over one hundred billion dollars in ill-gotten
earnings back to their home countries?  This is money that is not earned
by United States citizens or lawful immigrants.  This is money that is
not spent in America or invested in America.  Furthermore, the Americans
who are displaced by foreign workers are to be found in minimum wage
and low income jobs as well as in high tech industries because of
rampant fraud in the so-called temporary work visas such as the H-1b
visa program.

Yet former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney repeated the all too
often assertion that foreign students should be given a Green Card when
they receive their Ph.D.!

If our nation is to dig itself out of the deep hole it is now in,
many more opportunities must be provided for American students of all
races, religions and ethnicities who have the intellect and the desire
to excel but lack the economic wherewithal to attend college.  Every
American child who has the ability and the motivation to succeed and is
prevented from getting that education will continue to be a link in the
poverty chain that fails our citizens and our country.  When our kids
succeed they become more successful and America becomes more
successful.  The idea of importing foreign students and foreign high
tech workers prevents Americans from seizing their thin slice of the
American dream and it is this vicious cycle that needs desperately to be
addressed.

The solution is not to staple a Green Card onto an advanced degree
but instead to advance the future of American students and then provide
them with good careers when they graduate with those advanced degrees.

National security was another issue in the forefront of the debate.
However, how can you discuss national security and ignore the fact that
there are tens of millions of illegal aliens in our country whose true
identities are unknown and unknowable with absolutely no record of their
entry into our country?

How can supposedly intelligent candidates for the most important job
in the world not understand that immigration is about far more than our
nation’s southern border?  Of course our southern border acts as little
more than a “speed bump” to millions of illegal aliens and the
criminals, gang members and terrorists among them, but it must also be
understood that nearly half of the illegal aliens in our country did not
run our nation’s borders but actually were admitted via the inspections
process and then either overstayed the period of time for which they
were admitted or otherwise violated the terms of their admission. 
Therefore the term “border state” does not only apply to the four states
that are located on our nation’s southern border but also must include
the northernmost states of our country and any state that has a seaport
or an international airport.

Every state is seriously impacted by the decades old failures of our
nation to not only secure its borders against the entry of illegal
aliens but to effectively deal with the millions of illegal aliens who
are visa violators.  There needs to be real integrity where the
immigration benefits program is concerned, yet Governor Huntsman made it
clear that he would do whatever was needed to secure the border or,
more likely, create the illusion that the southern border was secure and
then he would move on to providing millions of illegal aliens with a
way of gaining lawful status in our country.  It is this sort of
wrongheaded “thinking” that got our nation into the mess it is in today.

Governor Huntsman was not alone, however, former Speaker of the House
of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, advocated that government employees
be made to take a “loyalty oath” as a defense against government
employees who would do harm to our country; recognizing that bad guys
might lie, but then advocated for providing a form of amnesty to
millions of illegal aliens based on the length of time they have been in
the United States.

There would be no way to know when, where or how they entered our
country either.  Remember, these illegal aliens surreptitiously entered
our country, creating no record of their arrival?  Further complicating
this issue is the fact that often, illegal aliens use many false
identities.  When I was an INS special agent I arrested many illegal
aliens and often found that these aliens had numerous Social Security
cards and other identity documents in a number of different names.

The 19 terrorists who wrought such destruction on our nation 9 years
and 11 months ago all were admitted into the United States by gaming the
visa process and managed to obtain lawful immigration status in our
country.  In order to embed themselves they used, in the aggregate, as
many as 300 plus false names and variations of false names.

Newt Gingrich was the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a college professor–certainly he knows better!

It was interesting that Herman Cain seemed to grasp the immigration
issue better than those who were asked about it–he made four points.  He
called for the securing of our borders, enforcing the immigration laws
to prevent the hiring of illegal aliens and accept the fact that the
states have the right to enforce the immigration laws.  His fourth point
was spot on–he said that there is already a pathway to citizenship–the
lawful immigration process!

Of course, I was taken aback when he said that we need to build tall
fences and that after we secure the borders we need to leave the doors
wide open.  Between the Visa Waiver Program and utter lack integrity to
the process by which visas are issued and immigration benefits are
conferred, the doors, in my judgment, are already far too wide open!

While I recognize that these debates don’t provide opportunities for
in depth discussions on any issue–the fundamental lack of integrity of
the lawful immigration process needs to be a major factor in these
debates. Our nation has been attacked by terrorists and our national
security has been compromised for foreign spies who all easily gamed the
immigration benefits program as well as the visa process.

In point of fact, a number of the participants in yesterday’s debate
were never even given an opportunity to address the immigration issue at
all. What is really needed is a debate that focuses on the many aspects
of the immigration crisis.

Such a debate would actually provide insight into the way that
candidates for the Presidency would attack nearly every threat and
challenge our nation faces today.  Immigration, after all, is not a
single issue but a major factor–often the
major factor–in everything from national security, criminal justice and
community safety to the economy, the environment, healthcare and
education.

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