New York City and immigration

A Republican-led House committee started its field hearings on immigration this week. The first hearing was held in San Diego on Wednesday and the second hearing was held in Laredo (TX) on Friday. The House is holding its hearings to gather information about immigration and border security and, in part, to expose the disgraceful Senate bill that was passed by the Senate in May.

Not to be outdone, Arlen Specter, one of the chief proponents of the Senate bill, is holding hearings of his own. His first hearing was in Philadelphia on Wednesday. He is trying to build support for the Senate bill by having pro-business puppets harp on how desperately dependent we are on illegal immigrants.

One of Specter's star witnesses was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

The economy of the country's largest city and the entire nation would collapse if illegal immigrants were deported en masse, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.

New York City is home to more than 3 million immigrants, and a half-million of them came to this country illegally, Bloomberg testified.

"Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders ... our city's economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported," he said. "The same holds true for the nation."

First off, if Bloomberg is telling the truth, how did our country ever survive twenty or thirty years ago before we were inundated with illegals? Did grass not get cut then? Did Big Mac's not get served? Did leaves not get raked? Did pizzas not get cooked (or delivered)? Based on Bloomey's logic, our economy was that of a third-world nation just a couple of decades ago.

Also, Bloomberg admits that his city is awash in illegals and he has no interest in enforcing our nation's immigration laws -- even in a post-9/11 world. Are you kidding me? And he has the unmitigated gall to whine about cuts in Homeland Security grants? How are we supposed to trust this man and this city with tens of millions of tax dollars if he openly encourages a melting pot free-for-all where illegals are welcomed?

Perhaps we should seriously consider relocating our nation's financial center to a city that is not so helplessly dependent on illegal residents and an illegal workforce.

Finally, the numbers he's talking about here are staggering. New York City has more than 3 million immigrants? And more than 500,000 of them are illegal? Are you kidding me? Does it even qualify as an American city anymore?

New York is referred to as "the city that never sleeps". Now I can see why. It can't sleep because of the constant patter of feet as immigrants sneak in the front door, crawl through the windows, and shimmy down the chimney. It's time to stop being an international hostel. Lock your doors, close your windows, and get some sleep already, NYC. The noise from your house is keeping the whole neighborhood awake.