Observations of an Irishman: The Side of Immigration Nobody Is Talking About

The American people are once again being told they need amnesty, DACA and comprehensive immigration reform. Politicians, pundits and the mainstream media have joined together to show Americans only ONE side of this issue.

They show the side of the illegal immigrant, highlighting their “plight,” making it seem as if these immigrants only went to America because some evil person put a gun to their head and forced them to. They share a narrative about how every illegal immigrant is hard-working, honest, humble and only acts with the very best intentions. They seek to destroy any American who dares say some immigrants may be lazy or have bad intentions or even be guilty of committing horrific crimes (such as this, this and this).

They share videos of families who are crying and distraught when one of them is being deported. In this charade, the immigrants even have a special name and label --- they are called "dreamers," and only a monster would be against the dreamers or seek to deny their dream, right?

In this column, I am going to break down the narratives Americans hear every day, share the facts and highlight the human cost of amnesty.

International Law

Democrats tend to love the United Nations and are frequently heard quoting international law. Well, guess what one of the oldest international laws and norms is? It's state sovereignty, which is a nation's ability to control its own borders and what happens inside them. Legally, this means America can control who has the right to enter and stay within its borders.

America Is a Compassionate Nation, so We Should Show Compassion to Illegals

This is a line I hear from people on the left and right alike.

No one can deny the fact America is a compassionate, loving nation. Year after year, America is at the top of the list in terms of donating time and money. Look around the world and notice the millions today who have some version of freedom because of America --- look at those who were enslaved behind the iron curtain or how many Europeans (like me) would be speaking German if it was not for America. Look at the advancements in our everyday lives because of the ability of the American people to innovate and keep the fruits of their labor. Research any aspect of life and how they advanced and improved from the time of Christ to around 1800 and from 1800 until today.

Why has the world advanced more in 218 years than the prior 1800 years? The IDEA of America played a huge part in those advancements and the rest of the world has greatly benefited from them.

The question is not whether or not America should show compassion. The question is who should be the beneficiaries of that compassion.

Factually, America is a compassionate nation and God willing always will be. The question is not whether or not America should show compassion. The question is who should be the beneficiaries of that compassion --- those who broke the law or those who seek to do things the right way?

Illegal Immigrants Act Out of Love

This is easily one of the most infuriating lines. Those who are illegal in America at some point in time either did not care about America's laws, ignored the laws or simply did not think the honor and privilege of living in America was worth the time and effort involved. Perhaps they felt they were somehow more entitled than others to be in America. If this attitude is acting out of love, then how are those who are currently waiting in line to do things the right way acting? Maybe they are acting like fools because the American politicians and media completely ignored them.

America Needs Immigration Reform

I don’t say this lightly, but this is nothing but a flat-out LIE. America does not need immigration reform. America has every law it needs in law right now. America has laws of how immigrants can enter the country legally on many different levels, ranging from a guest, student, family, work and special talent visas. The laws are also very clear if you violate your visa terms, you can be deported and not allowed to enter America for up to ten years.

The Only Reform Needed Is the Political Will to Enforce the Laws on the Books

Sadly, America currently has a two-party system and both sides benefit politically from illegal immigration and amnesty --- the Democrats want new voters and the Republicans want cheap labor.

When you take a step back from the emotion of amnesty, you will understand the absurdity of what politicians are actually saying. They are saying we have all these laws on the books which we ignore and don’t enforce and the solution to this is for us to write new laws which we promise to enforce. What is stopping future politicians from ignoring laws they don’t like down the road?

Illegals Do Jobs Americans Won’t Do

Former President Bush last week said illegals do jobs Americans won’t, and that y'all should just say thank you and welcome. If there is one president who should get the importance of having legal immigration, a secure border and no illegal immigration, logic would dictate it would be the man who was President during the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.

Sadly, even President Bush does not seem to understand the difference between legal and illegal immigration. While there is merit to his claim of Americans not doing certain jobs, why not write new visa laws that make it quicker, easier and cheaper for workers to gain legal entry into America to do these jobs? America has a right to know exactly who is in its country and for how long.

Human Story

My Democrat friends love to talk about fairness and compassion and tug on your heart-strings. I want to share a short story with you to highlight the side of immigration very few will ever focus on.

I was extremely blessed as a young boy to travel from Ireland to America and visit extended family in early 90s. I was impressionable and I immediately fell in love with America, with the beautiful women, amazing accents, warm weather, different culture, food and different sports. From the first person I met, I have loved Americans and have wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. As I grew up into a man, I only had one dream and that was to have the honor, privilege and the legal ability to say I was an American.

The most likely way for someone like me to get stateside was through the visa lottery for which I have always applied. However, I always felt like a lottery was a weak way to gain entry and I wanted to earn my way stateside. So I started doing a lot of volunteer work. I have written for numerous publications, worked behind the scenes and I am currently blessed to have my own show on TheBlaze Radio. I have done speaking tours stateside during my vacations. I have done all of these for free, because I am desperate to serve this amazing nation, but also with the hope that maybe one day an employer would see me and my work and give me an opportunity.

Last February, my dream came true. An employer saw something in me and offered me a job. That employer was Glenn Beck. He offered me a job to work for him directly. I was going to live in the country I loved, live in the greatest state of the union --- Texas --- and work with one of my heroes. It was an amazing feeling. Sadly, it did not last.

After Glenn offered me a job, we met with lawyers and after answering questions, we found out I do not meet the visa requirement on both educational (do not have a college degree) or work experience grounds (I did not have any paid work experience doing the job Glenn offered).

Going Forward

Here are my choices:

1. I can admit my dream is dead, be forced to stay in a country I have nothing in common with, have no career prospects and struggle every day to put food on the table.

2. I can go against every principle I stand for and say America owes me (it does not) and go illegally and be called a “dreamer.”

3. I could go against what my faith teaches and marry someone just for a green card.

I refuse to abandon principles just because they hurt me personally.

I will admit I am struggling to accept my dream is dead and to accept my life in Ireland, but I refuse to abandon principles just because they hurt me personally. This is the choice I make, but there are millions in line who want to do things the right way --- do you think all of them will make that choice?

Most Important Question

The most important question around Amnesty and legal immigration has nothing to do with legal or illegal immigrants. It has to do with the American people, what type of country Americans want to live and what country they want to hand over to the next generation.

America is exceptional and different from every other nation in the world. I always believed that America was the country where if you did the right thing, followed the laws and worked hard you could have a bright future. Do Americans still believe that? Do they want to continue on that path? Do they want to hand that ideal over to their grandkids?

The case for amnesty will always be compelling, but it all boils down to one question --- does America reward those who broke the law regardless of their circumstances and intentions, or does it seek to show compassion and support to those who seek to follow America's laws and do the right thing?

The choice is yours.

Jonathon Dunne is an Irishman with a lifelong dream of becoming an American citizen. After waiting for over 13 years, Dunne received a job offer from Glenn Beck so he could achieve his dream, but unfortunately, he did not meet the requirements to apply for a visa. Unless laws change or Dunne decides to break the law (he won't), his American dream is dead. Despite this setback, he still loves America and seeks to be a positive influence on society by promoting the idea of America and God-given freedoms. While on a recent vacation, Dunne delivered sixteen presentations (for free) in eight different states across the U.S. During this time, he kept notes and we asked him to share some of his experiences. As you read the column below, imagine the words are being spoken in a thick, Irish accent. If you're having trouble imagining how that sounds, you can hear it for yourself by tuning into Dunne's free weekly podcast, "Freedom's Disciple," on TheBlaze Radio, available on SoundCloud, iTunes, iHeart Radio, Google Play and Stitcher.

PHOTOS: What Glenn saw in North Carolina was INSANE

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Last Thursday, October 3rd, Glenn traveled to North Carolina to join Mercury One as they provided critical aid to those devastated by Hurricane Helene.

What Glenn saw during his brief visit looked like scenes straight out of an apocalypse movie: houses torn from their foundations and tossed to the side, sometimes entire towns away from where they were built, semi-trucks rolled, railroad tracks swept away, bridges washed out. It was a level of destruction Glenn had never before seen.

But perhaps the most shocking encounter of his whole trip was when Glenn discovered a lone FEMA crew. It was a miracle that Glenn even spotted the FEMA truck, as it was parked away from the main road without any signs or markers to indicate to any passerby in need of its existence. Glenn and Congressman Cory Mills decided to talk to this FEMA crew, the only one they had encountered on their trek, and see what they were up to. As it turns out, not much. The FEMA workers admitted that they had only arrived the day before (nearly a week after the hurricane) and still did not have any sort of supplies. They claimed that people would know where they were located via the local news, despite the fact that most people did not have access to power, cell service, their home, or even their cars. Moreover, there seemed to be confusion about whether they were to go door-to-door in order to render aid to those in need.

FEMA dropped the ball on this entire affair, and it is only going to get worse. FEMA is claiming they blew their yearly allowance on aiding illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, another hurricane is approaching Florida and is expected to make landfall on Wednesday. It seems unlikely that FEMA will be of any use to Floridians in need, and they will have to rely on the aid of their fellow Americans.

Want to help out your fellow countrymen where our government has failed? You can donate at Mercury One and rest assured that your money will be used to step in to help hurricane victims where the government is failing.

The case for mass deportation

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Unchecked illegal immigration into America may be the most dangerous issue our country faces today, and with every day it goes unsolved, the risk of a terrorist attack of 9/11 proportions only increases.

Despite the risk, we can't even touch the subject without the Left and the mainstream media having a meltdown. Even suggesting that the tide of undocumented immigrants may pose some sort of national problem will quickly get you labeled as a racist, stumping intelligent conversation before it can even begin. But as any right-minded Conservative will tell you, calls to close the border and deport the people who stole into our country have nothing to do with race.

In his most recent TV special, Glenn described in detail what sorts of dangers we have let into our countries, with facts and figures that prove that if we don't act soon we will be in deep trouble. Glenn made it clear: we need to conduct a mass deportation or risk being torn apart from within. Here are three reasons that make the case for mass deportations:

Islamic terror cells are forming in South America.

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Congressional testimony from the Committee on Homeland Security in 2011 revealed that Hugo Chavez held a "Secret Summit" involving the Supreme Leader of Hamas, the Chief of Operations for Hezbollah, and the Secretary General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Caracas, Venezuela. It is clear that ever since (and possibly before) there has been a Radical Islamic Terrorist presence in Venezuela. Right now there is an Iranian beachhead off the Venezuelan coast on Margarita Island, where the Iranian government is running criminal activities and recruiting and training Venezuelan gangs. These gangs have used our border crisis to infiltrate the U.S. The most infamous of these gangs, Tren de Aragua, has been declared a terrorist organization by the State of Texas.

Terrorist-backed gangs are smuggling in weapons and tearing through the country.

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What are these Iranian-trained and backed gangs doing in America? As you can imagine, nothing good. Just this year alone an estimated million rounds of ammunition, 1.2 million gun parts, 3,000 body armor vests, and thousands of pieces of other military paraphernalia have been smuggled across the border. On top of that, they have already taken over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, and are now terrorizing the remaining residents.

It's noteworthy that the gang managed to move into the apartment in the first place because they received subsidies through an NGO that was assisting the Colorado asylum seekers program, using money given to the state by the Biden administration in 2021.

Gangs have attacked military bases.

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It hasn't stopped at apartment complexes either. A leak from the U.S. Army revealed that the gangs have launched probing attacks on military facilities within the U.S. Members have been sighted taking surveillance photos of Lackland Air Force Base, as well as firing multiple shots into the facility. Another military base in Texas, Fort Sam Houston, caught a gang member attempting to gain access to the facility. This coincides with suspicious activity documented within the Permian Basin, the largest oil field in the U.S.

They are smuggling in vast quantities of military equipment, probing and surveying military facilities and key energy locations, and taking over residential areas. What exactly is going on and why isn't the federal government taking it more seriously?

VP debate recap: A Vance victory

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This might have been the most consequential VP debate in recent memory.

For those of you who missed the debate, it was a decisive victory for J.D. Vance and the Trump-Vance team as a whole. Vance presented a calm, collected, and considerate side of the Republican party that compliments Trump and helps to make their platform more palatable. Meanwhile, Tim Walz had a lackluster, though certainly not catastrophic, night. He had a few embarrassing gaffes and came across as overly nervous, but like Vance, kept it civil.

Both VP candidates entered the stage as relative unknowns to most Americans, and by the end, both men had given an accurate representation of their characters. Here is a brief recap just in case you missed the debate:

J.D. Vance looked great

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Vance came out of the gate swinging, with a stellar opening statement that helped set the stage for the rest of the debate. He delivered a concise yet compelling recap of his life, which framed him as everything Walz claims to be: a relatable veteran from humble beginnings who earned his position through hard work and service. He then went on to deliver a clear and palatable defense of Trump's platform and mission while cooly drawing attention to the failures of the Biden-Harris administration.

Overall, J.D. Vance looked incredibly presidential. He presented himself not just as a capable vice president, but as a strong successor to Trump and as a valid replacement if anything should happen to the former president between now and the end of his hypothetical second term. Vance also successfully dispelled the notion that he is "weird" as Walz called him, and if anyone looked strange during the debate, it certainly wasnot Vance.

Tim Walz's gaffes

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While Tim Walz certainly didn't have an awful night, he did not stack up well against Vance. Walz had a major gaffe around halfway through the debate when asked to explain the change in his position on assault weapon bans. Walz then claimed that he had befriended school shooters during his time in office. While that was clearly not the intention of what he was saying, it was embarrassing nonetheless.

Another weak moment was when the moderators asked Walz to explain a claim he had made regarding being in Hong Kong during the infamous Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, which has since been proven false. Walz gave a long-winded, rambling answer about taking students to visit China and how Trump should have joined in on those trips, before being called out by the moderator for dodging the question.

Vance fact-checked the fact-checkers

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One of the conditions of the CBS debate was that the moderators would not fact-check the debaters live, but instead rely on after-the-matter fact-checking. But, CBS couldn't keep to its own rules. While Vance was describing the migrant crisis that has swelled during the Biden-Harris administration, one of the CBS moderators, Margaret Brennan, chimed in with a "fact check." She claimed that the Haitian migrants in Ohio have legal status, to which Vance clapped back by calling Brennan out for breaking the rules of the debate, then proceeded to correct her, explaining that they only had legal status due to overreach by the Biden-Harris administration.

Dockworker strike: Everything you need to know

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At midnight on September 30th, dockworkers across the East Coast went on strike, effectively cutting the country's import and export capabilities in half.

Don't go out and panic buy a pallet of toilet paper and instant ramen just yet. It's going to take some time for the full effects of the strike to be felt and hopefully, the strike will be good and over by then. But there are no guarantees, and this election cycle could get significantly more insane as we draw near to the election. And even if the strike is settled quickly, it shows growing cracks in our infrastructure and industrial capacity that needs to be addressed if America wants to maintain its global dominance.

Here is everything you need to know about the dockworker strike:

What do the dockworkers want?

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As with most strikes, pay is the driving factor behind this situation the country now finds itself in. The longshoremen want more pay, and with rising inflation who can blame them? After all, working the docks is hard and dangerous business, and fair compensation only seems... fair. But when you compare the wage of a dockworker, which is around $100,000 to $200,00 a year to the average income in America of $56,000, suddenly they seem significantly less sympathetic.

How much money are they asking for? For most Americans, a three percent raise is considered high, but the unions are asking up to 15 percent, depending on location. On top of that, they are asking for a 77 percent raise over the next six years. The West Coast dock workers recently made off with a 36 percent raise and were considered lucky. These increases in costs are just going to be transferred to the end consumer, and we'll likely see a jump in prices if these terms are accepted.

The other major ticket item is protection against automation. Autonomous ports are quickly becoming a reality, with major ports in China that are capable of handling vast amounts of cargo being run by a single office, not an army of dock workers. Naturally, the longshoremen are concerned that their jobs are at risk of being replaced by machines that can work harder, longer, for cheaper, and without risk of injury.

How will it affect Americans?

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Don't panic yet!

It is going to take some time for consumers to feel the effects of the strike and it is possible that a resolution could happen at any time.

Week one should be pretty much business as usual. It might be a good idea to stock up on fruit and other perishables, but there is no need to go COVID-lockdown-crazy yet.

Week two is when you'll first start feeling the pinch. Fresh fruits and veggies will become scarce, along with other imported goods like shoes, toys, and TVs. Prices will start to creep up as the shelves will start to look a little sparse. The supply of tools, lumber, and other hardware materials will also begin to dry up.

By week three, the cracks in the system will really start to show. Entire industries will begin to slow down, or even stop. Factory workers will get furloughed and sent home without pay. Stores will have to ration items, prices will be sky-high, and online orders will come to a standstill. At this point, the strike will have escalated into a full-blown crisis, and even if it was resolved immediately, it would still take weeks to restore everything to working order.

At the four-week mark, the situation will have developed into a national security crisis, and as Glenn describes, a poly-crisis. Small business will be closing their doors, entire brands will be out of stock, and everything that remains will be so expensive it is unaffordable. By this point, the holiday season will be drawing near and there will be a rush on any sort of gift or decor items left. At this point, irreparable damage to our economy will have occurred and it will be months if not years before it can be mended.

While that sounds bleak, with the election just around the corner, it seems unlikely that the Biden-Harris administration will let it get that bad. That being said, their administration has not been characterized by good decision-making and reasonable policy, so there are no guarantees.

What can be done?

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The big question is "Why hasn't Biden already done something?"

President Biden, who ran on the image of a blue-collar, union-worker, has been uncharacteristically absent from the issue. Despite his earlier involvement in a train strike, Biden has declared that involvement in union fights is not a presidential issue unless it getsreally bad.

So where's the line? At what point will he step in? He has to understand that an economic crisis right before the election will reflect poorly on Kamala.