The Immigration Debate

True story . . .

A young woman slips across the border between Mexico and the US, determined to earn money to send back to her family. Any wage in the US is better than what she would earn in her native country. While in the US, she bears two children - both of whom are now US citizens. One child is born with special needs. Without proper care and services, he will die, but he is eligible for Medicaid and similar services. His mother just needs to be very careful about not getting caught.

The woman has a job on an assembly line where she is treated cruelly by her boss. She drives a car without a license or insurance because she must get her children to daycare and treatments. The three of them sleep in one bed in a run-down apartment, yet she continues to send what money she can to her family in Mexico.

If she is discovered to be in the US illegally, she will be deported. Her children will not. If she desires to become legal, she would first have to return to Mexico, without her children, and try to enter the US through proper channels - something that might take as many as three years. Even if her children were allowed to return with her, her special needs child would die for lack of necessary services in Mexico.

I listened to Mike Gallagher and Ralph Bristol on Talk Radio yesterday. The topic was the proposed Immigration bill that was approved by the Senate sub-committee with four Republican Senators voting along with all the Democratic Senators. The bill would pave the way for people living in the US illegally to pay a fine and apply for US citizenship without first having to return to their native country and re-enter legally, a lengthy process. Republican listeners were outraged; they felt they had been sold out by their representatives.

"What is it about 'illegal' that these guys don't understand?"

"A bill to grant citizenship to the illegal aliens is a slap in the face to those who have gone through the proper channels to be in the US legally."

As a rule, I tend to agree with the stauch conservative talk radio hosts. In this case, however, I think there's more to consider than may meet the eye.

1. There are perhaps 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, with more arriving daily. We made a big mistake by allowing this many people to cross out borders illegally in the first place. But now they're here, and they're reproducing. We have to do something about it.

2. Think of the sheer cost of rounding up 11 million people, assuming you could find them all, and deporting them. Now consider the children born on US soil who are, by birthright, US citizens. We can deport the parents, but not the children. What happens to them if their parents are sent away? Our already overloaded foster-child programs would explode. Furthermore, would you not go deeper into hiding if threatened with having to leave your children behind?

3. Even the most menial job in the US is better than most of those in Mexico. Immigrants will gladly do the labor that some in the US consider beneath them. The question to ask is: why do we US citizens consider these jobs beneath us? Perhaps because it is more desirable, or profitable, to be on welfare than to get a job doing menial labor. We have created a society of entitlement.

4. Illegal immigrants are unaccounted for in our system. It is a threat to our domestic security to have millions of people living here anonymously. They pay no taxes; their employers are not required to meet standards on their behalf; they may not receive welfare or government services, yet they are still living among us quite easily. Could it not be as easy for a terrorist to do the same thing? We need to know who lives in the United States.

So this proposal would open the door for "guest workers" to acquire US citizenship and all the rights and services enjoyed therewith. Okay. That might work fairly well if the open window was temporary and, at the same time, we strictly enforced border control.

Allow the illegals to pay the fine (essentially, back taxes) in installments. Allow them to apply for citizenship over a two year period. Make it very unattractive for employers to hire anyone in this country who is here illegally. Make it equally unattractive for someone to live in this country illegally; furthermore, if they are caught, deport them with no way to ever enter legally. Deny citizenship to anyone who has been convicted of criminal activity in the US; in fact send those people back to their native country with no hope of ever being allowed to return.

I do have a problem with the gangs that immigrants are bringing with them. Anyone who is convicted of a crime, even after they have received citizenship, should be stripped of it and deported. What we don't have to tolerate is illegal activities committed by illegal or illegal-turned-legal immigrants against our society. This policy should have no exceptions.

Realistically, there is no way to deport 11 million people. It is in our best interest to account for all those living within our borders. It protects the legal immigrants as well as the US citizenry. We need to incorporate them into the system for tax purposes as well as for security reasons. Then deport those unwilling to come forward of their own accord, and afford them no chance of returning.

This unfortunate dilemma could have been avoided in the first place if we'd had more control over our borders. But, in fact, we did not. Now we have a problem, and we have to deal with it realistically. Forget the wage issue. Forget the partisan issue. There are 11 million people who are in our country illegally. This poses a threat to our society, economically and security-wise.

Lastly, though not leastly, politicians who enjoy the perks of being an elected official and who would like to stay in that positition, are no dummies. Think of the voting power of 11 million people who are given a chance at US citizenship because of your favorable vote on a proposed bill. US citizens are also US voters. Hmmm. Let's just hope these politicians cast their vote for the right reasons.