Alien nation?
By Donald Collins

Saturday, September 4, 2004

Three years after 9/11, we hear no screams or dismay from either major political party when a vast army of illegal aliens breaks our existing immigration laws.

These lawbreakers ask for valid American driver's licenses (and get them from willing legislatures in a number of states). They ask to open bank accounts with identification cards from a foreign government. And they ask for hospital services to birth their babies, then ask to use these new babies' citizenships to claim asylum for the whole family.

These lawbreakers get away with flouting our existing immigration laws, as all illegal aliens do -- and our government is doing far too little about it.

Various estimates of illegals here now range from 8 million to 12 million, most from Mexico, with thousands of illegal crossers being apprehended daily. The chance for the United States to be a nation of 1 billion later this century is almost certain given the willful indifference or studied neglect practiced by our government leaders.

A few brave voices from both parties are basically ignored, despite polls reflecting 80 percent-plus disapproval of illegal immigration by Americans. But between the politically irresponsible immigration proposals of the Bush administration, the cheap-labor crowd, and the ethnic lobbies, the die for passage of another amnesty for illegal aliens may well be cast after Nov. 2. It would be the seventh such amnesty since the 1965 immigration legislation that unleashed a flood of 50 million new arrivals, mostly from Mexico.

Demography is destiny, some bright soul opined. We are now nearly 300 million people and are straining every muscle to get enough oil, water and good wages to keep our lifestyle going. Undercutting our work force with cheap illegal labor while outsourcing continues puts pressure on an economy that is stretched thin.

Fundamental to solving this interrelated web of economic, social and political issues is upholding our cherished Rule of Law. This massive unregulated transit into our country is simply wrong. Our current immigration system is broken -- and we must find the will to fix it.

Collins, a freelance writer living in Washington, D.C., has often written for the Trib on immigration issues.