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Kate Steinle is dead and the man who killed her, Jose Garcia Zarate, was not punished for the crime. In case you are unfamiliar with what happened, Garcia Zarate killed Steinle on a ricochet shot with a gun that had been reported stolen (Garcia Zarate claims to have found it).
At the time of the shooting, he had committed multiple felonies and been deported five times. Federal immigration authorities wanted San Francisco police to hold him, but due to sanctuary city laws in that city, that did not happen.
If it had, Kate Steinle would still be alive. The verdict and the way the city of San Francisco handled the entire situaion was disgraceful all the way around.
That said, right off the bat, let me say that this does not mean that all immigrants here illegally are likely to commit crimes.
But it does mean that when one such immigrant has done so repeatedly, local authorities should be willing to work with the feds to ensure that he is removed as quickly as possible and punished harshly if he tries to return.
The problem in America right now, though, is that we cannot even suggest this as a possibility without somebody hollering “racist!” or “bigot!” I do not see the desire to enforce our immigration laws as racist.
As somebody who came to this country many years ago as an immigrant from Pakistan, I know better than anybody the incredible opportunities America can offer. I came here with nothing and I was able to become a very successful doctor and live an amazing life.
But I came here legally and did everything the right way.
And while I sympathize with those who are undocumented - whether they snuck in unlawfully or just overstayed their visas - there is a reason why countries need to have at least some control of their borders.
As much as I want to see as many people as possible come here from other countries and do well, when somebody comes here illegally, there are people who suffer as a result, and not only in the way Kate Steinle did. For starters, there are those who wait in line for legal citizenship only to be bypassed and essentially punished for following the law.
But there are also negative consequences for some American workers, especially those who are most in need. As both Senator Bernie Sanders and President Trump pointed out during the 2016 campaign, there are millions of Americans who are suffering.
Unskilled laborers haven’t had a significant raise in wages in many years and quite a few of them struggle to find or keep steady employment. When an undocumented immigrant enters the labor force, this drives down wages for those aforementioned unskilled laborers, because employers would prefer to pay those immigrants the artificially low wages that are far below what an American citizen may accept under the minimum wage laws.
Furthermore, the market becomes flooded with a much greater supply of this cheap, unskilled labor, and fewer jobs exist for working class Americans.
Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT blaming these immigrants. It is still better for them to make the low wages in this country than it would be to have stayed in their home countries and worked. They are doing what they feel is best for them.
But it comes at a cost to many working-class American citizens.
Perhaps the answer is to truly reform our immigration system and find ways to let more people in than we currently do. Maybe we can more effectively screen people so that we can try our best to avoid these problems.
However, we do need safeguards and we do need to address the issue.
And we cannot continue to act as if anybody who even dares to speak about it is some unconscionable monster.
President Trump was elected in part because he showed a desire to tackle the immigration issue, something both parties in Washington have talked about, but failed to do for decades.
Kate Steinle’s death is the worst case scenario. But everybody needs to stop ignoring the larger, more common problems.
Complete inaction is no longer good enough. For the good of the nation, I hope we can all come together and try to really fix this problem.