As tens of thousands of illegal aliens cross our southern border ILLEGALLY, the frustration of Americans from multiple political points of view is growing by the day. At the same time, there is increasing finger pointing in the Congress as Senators and Representatives posture and hand wring and ultimately do nothing.
Sadly, that is what the Congress is most likely to accomplish…nothing.
Just the other day, our good friend Governor Rick Perry from Texas decided to do something and called up the National Guard to begin patrolling the Texas border with Mexico to stem the tide of illegal crossings. He can make the case that it’s a public safety issue for American citizens where the Federal Government is failing to step up.
Elected officials and American citizens alike are growing weary of the flood of citizens of other countries attempt to enter our country illegally and everyone is demanding the government do something. I don’t get the sense that what they want is to debate IMMIGRATION REFORM. I get the feeling that they want border security.
It seems that if every other country in the world can secure their border, we should be able to secure our border. I believe that if when you enter Mexico illegally, they put you in prison; we should at least reciprocate. In fact, most if not all other countries in the world enforce significantly more stringent penalties for illegal entry than the United States of America. Is that negligence or ignorance?
And, it is my understanding that we have laws in place providing for similar penalties for illegal immigration into the US.
If we can agree that sovereign countries have an obligation to secure their borders for a variety of reasons, our country should be doing it at whatever cost it takes. In the scheme of our national budget, the cost of securing our borders would be insignificant. It’s clear we don’t have the will to do it.
Part of the problem in our country stems from the fact that for many years our agriculture industry relied on foreign migrant workers, primarily from Mexico to come into the US to work but we didn’t keep track of them too well and many of them stayed. Actually, millions of them stayed.
I would say that is more than a little problem.
So the popular buzz word around the country for the past years has been IMMIGRATION REFORM. The thought being that IMMIGRATION REFORM would solve THE problem. Forgive me for being stupid, but what exactly is IMMIGRATION REFORM supposed to be? It seems the definition of IMMIGRATION REFORM should be understood by all parties so that when we use it in a public meeting we all have the same expectations.
Since I don’t know whether we can ever agree on what IMMIGRATION REFORM should be, I would opt to understand what current immigration laws say and enforce them. First to secure the border and then when that job is done begin the process of determining the fate of the millions of ILLEGAL ALIENS that have entered our country ILLEGALLY over the past thirty years. I believe we had an amnesty for illegals in 1986 when President Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act that was supposed to be coupled with securing the border, the Congress just failed to fund that part of the deal. Amnesty came. Enforcement never did. Forgive me if I’m not willing to take their word for it again.
There is no doubt that our country has been the melting pot of the world as people from every corner of the globe have already immigrated to the US through our legal portals, a fact most of us are proud of, so I’m not suggesting we shut the door, just require that foreigners who want to come, do so through legally outlined means.
Imagine what would happen if we applied the current de facto Mexican border system of immigration for all foreigners who want to come. If some in this country want to throw the doors open for as many Hispanics as can cross in the dead of night, do they feel the same way about aliens from every country? What happens to our country then?
I wonder what would happen if a drug dealer or a bank robber asked the courts to apply the same legal standard to his crime as our country does now with criminals who enter our country illegally? Remember entering Mexico or Canada or China illegally will land you in prison.
If you are convicted of a felony, you forfeit your right to vote or own a firearm. Certainly people who enter this country illegally should be treated like the criminals they are in some ways so that society can acknowledge that there are penalties for criminal behavior even if we don’t actually put them in jail. That would be my idea of an essential component to IMMIGRATION REFORM.
Posted on July 23, 2014 at 1:38 pm in Political commentary | RSS feed
|
Reply |
Trackback URL
No Loss for Words
What Exactly is IMMIGRATION REFORM?
by Steve DanaAs tens of thousands of illegal aliens cross our southern border ILLEGALLY, the frustration of Americans from multiple political points of view is growing by the day. At the same time, there is increasing finger pointing in the Congress as Senators and Representatives posture and hand wring and ultimately do nothing.
Sadly, that is what the Congress is most likely to accomplish…nothing.
Just the other day, our good friend Governor Rick Perry from Texas decided to do something and called up the National Guard to begin patrolling the Texas border with Mexico to stem the tide of illegal crossings. He can make the case that it’s a public safety issue for American citizens where the Federal Government is failing to step up.
Elected officials and American citizens alike are growing weary of the flood of citizens of other countries attempt to enter our country illegally and everyone is demanding the government do something. I don’t get the sense that what they want is to debate IMMIGRATION REFORM. I get the feeling that they want border security.
It seems that if every other country in the world can secure their border, we should be able to secure our border. I believe that if when you enter Mexico illegally, they put you in prison; we should at least reciprocate. In fact, most if not all other countries in the world enforce significantly more stringent penalties for illegal entry than the United States of America. Is that negligence or ignorance?
And, it is my understanding that we have laws in place providing for similar penalties for illegal immigration into the US.
If we can agree that sovereign countries have an obligation to secure their borders for a variety of reasons, our country should be doing it at whatever cost it takes. In the scheme of our national budget, the cost of securing our borders would be insignificant. It’s clear we don’t have the will to do it.
Part of the problem in our country stems from the fact that for many years our agriculture industry relied on foreign migrant workers, primarily from Mexico to come into the US to work but we didn’t keep track of them too well and many of them stayed. Actually, millions of them stayed.
I would say that is more than a little problem.
So the popular buzz word around the country for the past years has been IMMIGRATION REFORM. The thought being that IMMIGRATION REFORM would solve THE problem. Forgive me for being stupid, but what exactly is IMMIGRATION REFORM supposed to be? It seems the definition of IMMIGRATION REFORM should be understood by all parties so that when we use it in a public meeting we all have the same expectations.
Since I don’t know whether we can ever agree on what IMMIGRATION REFORM should be, I would opt to understand what current immigration laws say and enforce them. First to secure the border and then when that job is done begin the process of determining the fate of the millions of ILLEGAL ALIENS that have entered our country ILLEGALLY over the past thirty years. I believe we had an amnesty for illegals in 1986 when President Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act that was supposed to be coupled with securing the border, the Congress just failed to fund that part of the deal. Amnesty came. Enforcement never did. Forgive me if I’m not willing to take their word for it again.
There is no doubt that our country has been the melting pot of the world as people from every corner of the globe have already immigrated to the US through our legal portals, a fact most of us are proud of, so I’m not suggesting we shut the door, just require that foreigners who want to come, do so through legally outlined means.
Imagine what would happen if we applied the current de facto Mexican border system of immigration for all foreigners who want to come. If some in this country want to throw the doors open for as many Hispanics as can cross in the dead of night, do they feel the same way about aliens from every country? What happens to our country then?
I wonder what would happen if a drug dealer or a bank robber asked the courts to apply the same legal standard to his crime as our country does now with criminals who enter our country illegally? Remember entering Mexico or Canada or China illegally will land you in prison.
If you are convicted of a felony, you forfeit your right to vote or own a firearm. Certainly people who enter this country illegally should be treated like the criminals they are in some ways so that society can acknowledge that there are penalties for criminal behavior even if we don’t actually put them in jail. That would be my idea of an essential component to IMMIGRATION REFORM.
Rate this:
Share this:
Related
Posted on July 23, 2014 at 1:38 pm in Political commentary | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL