Dueling Duties

My opinions are not relevant to what I do. -- Veteran reporter Pug Mahoney

  Skilled workers able to speak English and worth top wages will be welcome to America, according to an immigration reform plan outlined by the government in Washington.
  As for the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free and take low wage, low skill jobs that native Americans don't want and won't take, bringing up that subject sparked a barrage of insult against Jim Acosta, the CNN reporter who posed the question.
   "Insulting, ignorant, foolish and biased," are some of the terms hurled by White House advisor Stephen Miller at the journalist. For good measure, Miller accused the reporter of "advocating" a specific policy, rather than being neutral and objective.
   Miller denied that the poem, "The New Colossus," by Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty was a basis for the proposed new immigration policy.
   And rather than answer questions put to him by reporters in the White House briefing room, Miller turned many of them into an interrogation of the reporter's own beliefs and opinions.
   Miller's tirade prompted a Fox News anchor to offer a suggestion to the White House: "Don't put that guy in front of the cameras again."
   Miller should know by now that a reporter's job is to ask questions, not to answer them. A press briefing room is not a courtroom. It is not a forum for debate and argumentation to determine who wins, and officials tread a dangerous path when they insult reporters.
   Most journalists shrug off such beratings, and continue to ask probing questions. And the more abuse, personal insult and vituperation someone throws at reporters, the more these unwarranted comments are noted, printed and broadcast, to show the public the attitudes held by those in public positions.
      
   The immigration reform plan as outlined by Miller is designed to attract highly skilled workers who are already able to support themselves and their families for living expenses and health care. At the same time, it would cut the number of legal immigrants in half.
   It is not meant to create more jobs for Americans without the skills and education needed for high paying jobs. But nothing was said during Miller's briefing about programs to help educate and train Americans for these good jobs. Nor is the proposal an effort to resolve the issue of illegal immigration.
   Meanwhile, there is an increasing trend worldwide for many people to take dual citizenship, especially those with substantial financial resources, high skills and education.
   A big reason is financial. By adding a second nationality or citizenship, they can sharply reduce their tax burden, or ease their ability to travel from one country to others without the need for visas.
   Separately, the bias against Mexicans coming to America has enabled many with technical skills to stay home and take a job with a growing computer technology industry centered in Guadalajara.

   So rather than help Americans improve their education and skills to take high paying jobs here, the government's policy will leave them as they are -- in the words of Thomas Hobbes, living lives that are"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."