Lucia

de Vernai

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October 6, 2008

In a Post-Bailout World, Charity for Illegal Immigrants Can’t Make the Cut

Now that we officially have $700 billion of bad debt thanks to sundry advantages of deregulation, the state governments are looking for their due recognition among mismanaged giants. The Golden State, currently under the enlightened leadership of the Governator, is asking the federal government for $7 billion.

The Los Angeles Times has obtained a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warning that the state may need emergency funds in that amount within the next few weeks. Locked out of the bond market, the state doesn’t have the money necessary to fund schools. The $3 billion due to over 1,000 school districts before the end of this month is predicted to be worse than the financial meltdown that cost Gray Davis his office in 2003.

Now it seems that no matter what premium the state is willing to pay, there won’t be a bank that can loan that amount of money. Maybe it’s time for California to cash in on the goodwill – and billions of dollars it contributes annually to educating mostly Mexican illegal immigrants – and hit up the Mexican government for a one time, no-obligations contribution. Not a loan, more like alimony: If the Mexican government (among other nations) doesn’t continue its commitment with the constituents that cross the border illegally, that’s fine, but American taxpayers are used to a certain lifestyle and the least they can do is help us maintain it.  

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and since the federal government may not be able to bail out state governments, it’s time to stop pretending that in a time when we cannot protect the education, health and safety rights of our own people, we can do it for everyone else.

As increasingly nervous Americans watch their state governments and private sector plunge the country into an unprecedented economic crisis, the backlash against illegal immigrants is inevitable. Although it seemed melodramatic mere months ago, the question, “When the economic situation in our country leaves us unemployed, with no health care and homeless, where do we go?” routinely passes through the minds of millions of Americans.

The pride Americans take in helping immigrants – who come from countries that do not afford them necessary education, health and safety provisions – must now define the approach to domestic politics. We cannot continue giving what we do not have ourselves. Pretending that we can aid immigrants while our leaders have no idea how to aid us is a case of mistaken priority that will prove costly, literally and proverbially.

Massachusetts and New Mexico share California’s predicament, and other states are bound to experience unpredicted deficits as the consequences of the bailout spread across the nation. The most difficult part of absorbing the shock of the economic impact will be learning to repeatedly say “no”. Americans like to be generous, with others as well as ourselves. If we want to retain generosity as an embedded cultural trait, we have no choice but to start making frugal political and personal decisions.

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