Enforce immigration laws, now

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2006/06/25/local_news/features_andopinions/columnists/columnist1.txt

COMMENTARY BY DAVID STODDARD

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD/REVIEW

What we really need is immigration enforcement.

For more than a year President Bush has taken every opportunity to push his amnesty that is not an amnesty.

He continues to spout his slogans about “jobs that Americans won’t do,” “good hearted people” and “family values.”

Bush continues to pander to special interests and demands from corporate entities to legalize several million people who have sneaked into America taking advantage of America’s taxpayers. SB 2611 passed by the Senate is the 1986 Amnesty with all its flaws magnified. It is truly a pending disaster.

The 1986 Amnesty allowed for the little more than 1 million illegal aliens (at the time) to become instant legal residents.

There was immediately a rush for the border. The counterfeiters geared up and sold “packages” containing rent receipts, employment letters, utility bills, school records and other documents used to substantiate the residential requirements.

The fraud rate was 66 percent and nobody was prosecuted. The government simply turned a blind eye to the fraud and legalized over 3 million illegal aliens, two-thirds of whom had run over the border to stand in line claiming they had been here all along.

Following was the Family Reunification Act which allowed each of those 3 million to bring in family members. That 3 million expanded to between 15 to 18 million newly legalized residents into America.

Keep in mind that originally the ‘86 amnesty was intended to legalize roughly 1 million illegal aliens as determined by the Social Security Administration, Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Census Bureau and other alphabet agencies.

Today, the government is telling you that we have roughly 12 million illegal aliens who “cannot” be deported. We can put a man on the moon but we can’t deport 12 million lawbreakers and we can’t control our borders without some form of reward for those already here? I don’t buy it. I don’t advocate mass roundups and deportations. I do advocate simple enforcement of laws already on the books. We don’t need “immigration reform.”

We do need existing laws enforced. If we turn off the magnet (employment and benefits), they will quit coming. Then we can systematically enforce existing laws and, through attrition, most illegal aliens will go home. They left a home to come to the United States. They are neither homeless nor stateless. After a significant amount of enforcement, we can deal with those who remain and who have assimilated.

The Pew Research Center says that there are more than 20 million illegal aliens in this country. Other organizations agree.

If that 20 million were suddenly legalized there will be another “family unification: effort that will result in at least 80 million new U.S. residents. Where will we get the schools, medical facilities, housing, social services and infrastructure?

Since these are largely uneducated, unskilled, and “entitled” people, how much cost to the taxpayers? We are talking about untold billions of dollars. Why are our own elderly and disabled having to struggle while medical care and support are provided to foreigners at little or no cost?

How many people can this nation sustain? The days of development and settlement of America are long gone. Currently the U.S. Census Bureau says there are 300 million U.S. residents. How many imports from the Third World will it take to turn us into a Third World nation? Why are the environmentalists silent?

Nobody I know is against legal immigration. When the laws are observed, educated, skilled, healthy and productive people emmigrate.

When people are allowed to sneak into America we get those who are diseased, criminals, insane and those who the public must support. America has become a home for unwed mothers of the world. We have become sort of an international park where the derelicts of other societies migrate.

President Bush has had more than five years to be concerned about illegal immigration. Even after 9-11, he remained unconcerned to the consternation of many. Suddenly, after years of neglect, Bush is concerned about border security.

Bush has promised to enforce our borders (which he should have been doing all along) in exchange of his program to ensure a constant flow of cheap laborers to benefit his corporate sponsors and the ethnic identity groups. I don’t buy it. His “immigration reform” will result in massive government spending and entitlements which will be paid by the middle class.

The fraud generated is another issue. We simply don’t need another amnesty disguised as “immigration reform.”

We need existing laws sincerely and systematically enforced without regard for political correctness.

We definitely need to secure this nation and control our borders. All of America should get behind our legislators who are fighting this outrageous plan that Bush is trying to foist on hardworking, goodhearted Americans who are trying to support a family and be productive citizens.

david stoddard lives in Cochise County.