Alabama immigration crackdown costs state up to $11 bln: studyAgain, in the name of... well, I'm not sure what... "Patriotism", maybe? - Alabama joined a bunch of other states - led by Arizona - in a frenzy of mass-hysteria xenophobia.
By Verna Gates | Reuters
1 Feb 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants, widely seen as the toughest in the United States, has cost the state's economy up to $10.8 billion, according to a new study.
The result: a human and economic disaster.
Will this outcome change anything?
No - the GOP are immune to reality.
(Recall: "Reality has a liberal bias.")
On the bright side: waves of anti-immigrant fervor have washed across America since its inception. The earliest manifestation thereof? The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.
Martin Scorsese made a really good movie about anti-Irish sentiment in 1860s New York (Gangs of New York).
The railroads imported Chinese labor in the 1860s & 70s... spurring a host of anti-immigration - and anti-Chinese - legislation.
... early 20th century? Italians were the bad guys... then Eastern Europeans (anarchists all!)...
... We put Japanese-Americans in camps in WWII!!!
Currrent wave of xenophobia isn't a new phenomenon.
We'll recover... eventually...
BUT: at what cost in the meantime?
... and how come we can't learn from mistakes of the past?
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