THE ILLEGAL AMNESTY DEBATE

SPECIAL POST

I am the first one to say that our current system of dealing with illegal immigration sucks.  Furthermore, it is unconstitutional because it gives one class of people, illegal Mexican immigrants, rights and privileges not provided to other classes. 

That having been said, whose fault is it that they are here?  Where does the blame really belong?  The knee-jerk reaction is, “If they hadn’t crossed the border illegally, we wouldn’t have this problem.”  I agree with that premise, but it is not as simple as that. 

If you tell your child not to touch the burner or he will get burned and he touches it anyway and does not get burned, you have just lost all of your credibility.  Soon, he will be touching the burner on a regular basis and sticking his tongue out at you while he does it.  If you reward him under these circumstances with a lollipop, you’re a goner. 

That’s exactly what has happened with the illegal issue.  If you can sneak across the border with your family, your children get a free and much better education, you get welfare and social security, and you get free health care.  The odds are that if you get caught, you’re not going to be deported.  So, why not take the risk? 

Now you have been here for ten years, you have established friends, you are earning a living and paying your taxes and the government wants to deport you?  Shouldn’t we really be looking at those responsible for establishing the incentives that brought you here?  In the eyes of the law, our government has created the “attractive nuisance” and it should be held responsible. 

The very first thing we have to do is to stop the freebies for anyone who makes it across the border after today.  We need to seal the borders and provide hefty penalties for crossing it illegally and we need to enforce them.  We need to take those who have arrived recently, say within the last five years, and deport them.  As for the rest, we can give them a two-year limited amnesty and give them that length of time to take the classes and become U.S. citizens or leave the country.   We can also require that they learn English and obtain employment.  Finally, we must enforce the laws against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. 

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.