America is a Nation of Legal Immigrants

"There is little reason to think that illegal aliens will have more respect for the laws Congress passes than Congress has itself."

Kate O'Beirne National Review's Washington editor, has a good article in the latest issue, that is unfortunately available by subscription only. Online subscription is $21.95/yr, which is a great deal considering the writing is superb.

That said, I'll cover the gist of the piece.

The theme of the article is a "two-phase approach," which should be a no-brainer to politicians, but I guess that isn't true for that class. Phase one, strengthen the borders and enforce the laws; phase two address increasing "legal immigration."

According to O'Beirne, "the American public are sticklers for obeying the law." We the American people (for the most part) see a program that allows illegals into the country to live and work, "while awaiting citizenship as an amnesty for lawbreakers." We also realize that people all over the world would like to come to the U.S. to live and work, albeit through legal channesl.

According to the author (and anyone of us), the Kennedy/McCain plan get's tough regarding security, although only rhetorically. There plan "actually rejects all serious enforcement," there is no call for more border agents, no physical barriers at the border, and does nothing about employer verification of status. The plan does however speak to tightening the border with national strategy at some point in the future. Sounds somewhat reminiscent of the mid-eighties, no?

Supports of the plan call for and say we need a "guest-worker" program; but with no increase in security it won't work.

"U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has a statutory mandate to eliminate its backlog of immigration applications by September 2006, at least 1.2 million such cases remain and are unlikely to be eliminated by the September deadline. “Comprehensive” immigration reform would add amnesty applications from 11 million illegal aliens, and visa applications from at least an additional 400,000 guest workers a year, to a bureaucracy unable to cope with its current caseload."

Security and enforcement needs to be addressed first. Then once certain these steps are working in the right direction other programs can be addressed.

To quote O'Beirne again, "There is little reason to think that illegal aliens will have more respect for the laws Congress passes than Congress has itself."

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let them know at what level you would like to participate.

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