Oh, the Poor Dears!

There was a big raid on various meat-packing plants last Tuesday, including one here in Utah.

This, of course, has set off a round of hand-wringing in the usual quarters. Those Big Meanies at ICE, how could they!? There are some in this country whose disdain for American culture and laws is so strong they automatically take the side any person who is guilty of serious crimes.

Look, I'm no fan of our current immigration system. I've had a glimpse of the legal immigration process, and I can understand why many people would throw their hands up in the air and just get a job anyway. And indeed, most of these people are here because they want to work and make a better life for themselves and their families. I tend to be quite forgiving of those illegal workers who are "illegal" simply because they didn't properly dot the "i" or cross the "t" on their Form ICE#32249-2003B.

But I have NO sympathy for identity thieves. Each of those fraudulently-obtained social security numbers represent someone's tattered credit rating. If my SSN, or more likely, one of my children's SSN had been used by an illegal immigrant, I'd be pretty damn mad. I'm not willing to risk ruining my credit rating and my good name in order to cut some impatient immigrant some slack.

This gives me an idea: How about we set up a national registry, kind of like the Do Not Call list, that lists the social security numbers of those bleeding-hearts who see nothing wrong with immigrants using fraudulent identification to get a job? It would be a type of consent form, stating that the person is cool with the idea of some Poor Oppressed Prole using his SSN to live the American Dream. Everyone would benefit: The immigrants could legally get their jobs, the companies could get their workers, and the Bleeding Hearts could get their smug sense of moral superiority. Yeah, they'd have to eventually clear up their credit rating, but hey, it's all for a good cause, right?