McDonald's was their kind of place...

...a place for illegal immigrants, that is.
But today the company's been fined $1 million by the government for knowingly employing them.
That's good, for the obvious reasons--and for this:

"...the fact that it's McDonald's is especially important. McDonald's is believed to be the company with the largest number of no-matches — that is, W-2s filed by the employer that have fake or mismatched Social Security numbers."

I didn't realize McDonald's hired so many illegals, though I guess I'm not surprised at it.
It's good that the Bush administration is cracking down on such employers.
And it's good that the administration obviously has heard conservatives on this issue.

Crackdown paying dividends?

The government's increasingly-tough policies on illegal immigrants may be paying off:

"According to Mexican consulate officials in Dallas, some 400 immigrant families have told them so far this year that they're going back to Mexico and asked for transfer documents to enroll their children in Mexican schools....In 2005, the consulate issued 162 such documents; in 2006 it was 199; and last year it was 270. At the current rate, more than twice as many people will leave this year as last, he said....And it isn't happening only in Dallas. At the Mexican consulates in Chicago and Phoenix, too, the number of Mexican families applying for transfer documents for their children has increased. So far in 2008, more people (752) have visited the Mexican consulate in Phoenix to apply for transfer documents than the total for 2006 (248) and 2007 (330) combined, according to officials there."

On illegal immigration: worrying that this is true...

...worrying, that is, that what Tony Blankley wrote recently is true:

"I am not by nature a believer in large political conspiracies, noting that usually events can be explained by merely a conspiracy of idiots against the forces of reason. And so perhaps in this case, too. The Bush administration and the leaders of the Democratic Party both want (for different reasons) no obstruction to the full flood of illegal workers (for the Republicans) and voters (for the Democrats) into the United States, thus their adamantine opposition to a physical obstruction to such passage."

Read the whole thing. And let's face it, both Republicans and Democrats talk about border security; some in both parties talk about building physical fences; others in both parties talk about virtual fences. But little gets done.

Why immigration is a hot issue dept

Just look at these numbers: "Half of the nearly 3.5 million immigrants living in Texas are in the country illegally, the Center for Immigration Studies says in a report being released today.
Based on the latest Census Bureau data, the report said Texas has one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations of any state. It said that 50 percent of the state's foreign-born population — slightly more than 1.7 million people — are illegal immigrants. Only Arizona at 65 percent, North Carolina at 58 percent and Georgia at 53 percent had a higher proportion of illegal immigrants in their immigrant populations."

Speaking of the possibility of driver's licenses for illegals...

...so what does the nation of Mexico do? If one is not a Mexican citizen and doesn't have a valid visa, can one get a driver's license there? Answer--nope: "All of Mexico's 31 states require foreign residents to hold a valid visa if they want a Mexican license, according to a survey published Thursday in The Arizona Republic...."When it comes to foreigners, we're a little more strict here," Alejandro Ruíz, director of education at the Mexican Automobile Association, told the newspaper."

And yet Mexico's become angry, and denounce the United States, when our government attempts to be a little "strict" with illegal immigrants. The next time they talk, President Bush might just remind Mexico's president of this.

And so you would suggest...?

Some border-town Texas mayors don't want the 700 mile fence being built on our border with Mexico. Quote: "Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said he had received hate e-mails from Americans outside Texas who accuse him of being soft on security. But the mayors argue there are better ways to stop illegal immigrants and drug traffickers.
"The perception in some parts of the United States is that you build a fence and then migration stops. The reality is that it will slow down migrants by three to four minutes," he said."

The mayors do claim to have solutions: "Mayors advocate deepening and widening the Rio Grande to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking, as well as increasing the number of Border Patrol agents and cutting back the Carrizo cane reeds growing on the river banks that allow people to hide in the river banks."

Doing all that, but not adding a fence as well, makes no sense, however. You have to put up roadblocks on the easy access routes, as well as the hard ones.

This is no accident

1300 illegal immigrants in southern California are rounded up by the feds.
The Bush administration has heard the calls for a crackdown.
The question is: will the administration sustain this, or is it just for show?

"There has to be a better way to do this"--but there isn't

Federal agents raid a bunch of McDonald's restaurants in Nevada and arrest perhaps close to 100 illegal immigrants.

There's the usual outrage from the radicals on this issue: "We don't approve of the Gestapo methods ICE is using," said Gilbert Cortez, a Latino leader who urged Hispanic workers to stay home from work in protest Friday." Yes, right, arresting those who broke the law automatically is "Gestapo" behavior. Such nonsense.

A local mayor in Nevada whose town was one of the targets of the raids wasn't happy, either: "He said that he opposes illegal immigration, as well as immunity for illegal immigrants, but that "there has to be a better way to do this." "Think of some of the people who were arrested and picked up; they have children. They don't know where their mama or their daddy is. That's not right." Hey, Mr. Mayor, I think many of us are all for punishing employers who are either negligent in vetting their employees, or who knowingly hire illegals. Great.

But picking up illegal immigrants is also going to have to be a part of this. There has to be a penalty for engaging in illegal immigration in the first place, not just for hiring them.