Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

We have a crisis over the immigration issue


By now, it ought to be clear to reasonable people that the problem of immigration is not one that can be finessed and passed off as “good for the nation.” Let us be more precise, however. We have no objection to legal immigration, per se, and if such immigration is by worthy souls, so much the better for us. But, we also feel that there should be a limit to immigration per year. About .5% of our population per year is comfortable, which would mean about 1.5 million people all told. We also believe that this number should be apportioned across the nations that are friendly to us, not those that harbor hatreds and religious, jihadist tendencies.

First things first, though. We have not enforced our immigration and border security laws on the books. These laws should be fully implemented before we diddle around with new and sweeping changes that we obviously cannot enforce well. Our borders should be firmly under control. After six years in office, the President has not made a real effort to beef up the borders and enforce the laws we have. We now hear that instead of 700 miles of border fencing, it will be scaled back to 350 miles. Wrong move! We must control our borders, and I do not see it happening.

The interior of the nation is also a security concern. We have some 10 or 12 million illegal aliens wandering around in the country that are not known to the authorities. That is the measure of the incompetence, and flagrant misapplication of our laws by successive administrations. Mr. Bush has had 6 1/2 years in office to correct this huge gap, and has not done so. In fact, he does not want to do a thing about it but make it worse.

The INS is dysfunctional. The State Department is namby-pamby about immigration. Local law enforcement is not empowered to arrest and deport aliens they discover. They turn them over to the INS, which means effectively the aliens are free to go back into the nation very quickly. Our police forces could do a tremendous job of finding Illegals and holding them for deportation. Many forces will not do it at all, claiming that it is useless unless they can deport the Illegals.

It appears that there are companies that want Illegal immigrants to work for them. Perhaps this is because they will work for much, much less than the going wages of Americans. Their influence has been felt in the manner in which the issue has been handled. These Illegals are law breakers. Companies that knowingly hire them are breaking the law also. The Illegals have access to forgers that can set them up with all the needed papers to appear legitimate to an employer. We need to attack both aspects of this problem, that of employers hiring known Illegals, and that of Illegals acquiring documents to allow them to pass muster.

So what about the mass of Illegals that have made a home here, or have a good job here and want to continue to enjoy the benefits of our economy, and of our social benefits as well, such as schools, and medical care? Their children, some of them, are born here and have US citizenship, which gives them a hook to prevent deportation.

A percentage of these people want to become American citizens and reside here permanently. Others simply want to work here and send money home. Many do not want to assimilate into our society, but to garner its benefits, while continuing to follow their foreign moral guidelines. Our jails are almost half full of such Illegals. Do we want to give these people effectively instant and unqualified amnesty and a route to citizenship? That is what the current Senate bill promises.

This bill must be defeated as it stands, and then completely rethought and rewritten. It is a future nightmare for my children and their children.

Labels: Illegals, Immigration

# posted by Mannning @ 11:33 PM