10 immigration questions for Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, FWD.us)

The video [1] below shows Mark Zuckerberg - CEO of Facebook and founder of the advocacy group FWD . us - promoting comprehensive immigration reform.

Needless to say, Zuckerberg is all wrong. To demonstrate how wrong he is, I'll provide ten questions that Zuckerberg wasn't asked and that he'd have a great deal of trouble answering straightforwardly. After the questions, I'll describe how to either get them answered, or to make Zuckerberg's group and the media look bad by refusing to ask them.

On the video, Zuckerberg says:

When you meet these children who are really talented, and they’ve grown up in America and they really don’t know any other country besides that, but they don’t have the opportunities that... we all enjoy, it’s really heartbreaking - right? That seems like it’s one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time... There are 11 million undocumented people living in this country... There are a lot of misconceptions about that … a lot of them came here because they just want to work. They want to help out their families and they want to contribute. We definitely should make it so that... there's a path for them to come into the country legally as well... And that means that getting the most talented people into this country is the most important thing that we can do to make sure that the companies of tomorrow are founded here... [asked about "non-skilled" illegal aliens] One of the things that the DREAMers here today show is that even if you're a child of someone who came here who wouldn't be considered one of the higher-skilled workers you still are probably, you could be, one of the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. And, you know, that's the American dream.

1. Do you agree that there are huge downsides to the DREAM Act, as discussed at that link? There will always be more otherwise-eligible applicants for college slots and discounts than slots and discounts that are available? Thus, won't giving a college slot to an illegal alien necessarily deprive a U.S. citizen of that slot or discount? You run a global company but you're an American, so why do you want to take college slots and discounts away from your fellow citizens to give to illegal aliens?

2. One possible solution to the DREAMers issue is the DREAM Act. Another is to let those illegal aliens remain in the U.S. but not legalize them. I want you to think big and come up with a third option. Can you think up a completely different option that would avoid the problems of both the DREAM Act and having large numbers of under-educated illegal aliens in the U.S? (Note: the better option I have in mind is some form of repatriation for DREAMers. That would cause some problems, but overall it would help both U.S. citizens and foreign countries. Really pressing Zuckerberg on this question could force him to either describe his objections to such plans, or look bad by not being willing or able to come up with such a plan. See this similar test.)

3. Isn't there a fundamental difference between civil rights for blacks and your "civil rights" for illegal aliens in that yesterday's blacks were U.S. citizens and today's illegal aliens are citizens of other countries? Do you agree that if an illegal alien returned to the country of which they're a citizen, they could obtain the full and actual civil rights they're entitled to under their country's laws? Please just answer that question. If a U.S. citizen goes to France, they have certain rights but they don't have the civil rights of a French citizen, correct? If they want to obtain their full and actual civil rights, all they'd have to do is come back to the U.S., correct?

4. Others who've said things similar to your "want to work" line include Rick Perry, Scott Walker,Rand Paul, and a George W Bush hack. What did all those people want and for whom? While some of their support may be due to them favoring NeoLiberal economic policies, aren't varying amounts also due to them receiving donations from businesses that want less expensive labor?

5. Do you agree that there are huge downsides to skilled immigration and remittances (i.e., the "help out their families" quote), as discussed at those links? What long-term impact will depriving Third World countries of their smartest people have on those countries and on the U.S.?

6. Do you deny that, by the basic law of supply and demand, more workers means lower wages at least in the short term? That is, if you have 1000 eligible workers one day and 1100 eligible workers the next day, wages will go down? Please answer those specific questions.

7. If you say there's a worker shortage, can you back it up with independent statistics from a reputable group that doesn't have a conflict of interest?

8. Your ads use the system is broken talking point. Would we have so many illegal aliens living in the U.S. of politicians had done their jobs and strictly enforced our immigration laws? Isn't the large population of illegal aliens in the U.S. largely due to political corruption, as politicians looked the other way in exchange for campaign donations or in order to obtain racial power? Won't your plans reward that past corruption?

9. Isn't immigration "reform" an outright amnesty for corrupt businesses that knowingly hired illegal aliens? While illegal aliens who enroll in "reform" will have to do various things, all the businesses that knowingly hired illegal aliens won't be penalized in any way. Is that fair to companies that followed our laws and if you'd remedy the situation how would you do that?

10. What message would legalizing the DREAMers have to other parents who might decide to put their children at risk by bringing them here illegally? Assume for moment - even if you think something else will happen - that any post-reform immigration enforcement will be similar to what we have now. Won't the DREAM Act encourage other parents to put their children at risk by bringing them here illegally? Once again: please assume that post-reform immigration enforcement will be similar to what we have now, and please answer whether - making that assumption - more parents will try to bring their children here illegally.

Those are the questions, but they mean nothing unless you get involved. Here are three things you can do:

1. Go to public events where Zuckerberg appears and ask him directly. Then, upload video of that to video sharing sites and share on social media (such as Facebook). To be as effective as possible, recruit an experienced questioner like a lawyer to ask the questions. See the Question Authority page for more.

2. Encourage reporters to do their jobs and ask the questions. Contact @WrightUps, @greenbergerj, @erlenorton, @benjaminbell and others associated with ABC and ask them when they'll have those questions asked. If they don't respond, look up those they chat with and point out that they aren't doing their (idealized) jobs.

3. Tweet the questions to @joekgreen - the president of FWD . us - and ask him to answer them.

4. On posts promoting or discussing what Zuckerberg wants, ask the host or reporter when they'll ask him the questions above.

Zuckerberg's plans will affect hundreds of millions of people and involve billions of dollars. He needs to have answers to the questions above and more and reporters who have access to him have to ask them. Otherwise, this might as well be an oligarchy where billionaires get to set policy with barely any scrutiny.

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[1] The video is from today's ABC News This Week. That show specializes in things like immigration debates where everyone is on the same side. So, the weak questions that ABC's David Wright asked Zuckerberg shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The interview isn't as bad as fake interviews conducted when selling products on TV, but it's close. Note that ABC News and Facebook have been in various partnerships ( peekURL.com/zP7pUAD , peekURL.com/zQLms8L , peekURL.com/zYyXdeN ). We may never know if Wright was asked to go easy, but clearly if he'd really pressed Zuckerberg on any of the questions above and made Zuckerberg look bad he'd probably be out of a job for impacting ABC's business dealings.