Immigration Protests and Legislation

After the protests this weekend, I have to say I have had a visceral reaction similar to what Thomas describes in his column.

Observing the pro-immigration demonstrations in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta and elsewhere in recent days, I wondered: whose country is this? Why are many illegal aliens who broke our laws to get here and who continue to break our laws to stay here, demanding that the United States not only allow them to remain, but support them with the taxes of law-abiding citizens? Have we gone mad?

"Thousands Rally For Immigrants' Rights" read a headline about the Phoenix march. What rights? If they are here illegally, they have the right to leave. They have no rights under our Constitution, anymore than I might expect the rights of a Mexican citizen should I choose to live illegally in Mexico. Marchers in Los Angeles carried Mexican flags, which should tell us about their primary allegiance.

There were work stoppages and school walkouts. Every person who left school or job should be required to prove they are in America legally. If they cannot, or will not, they should be deemed illegals and deported.

Nothing puts off the citizenry of a country like thousands of illegal immigrants waving Mexican flags, demonstrating against proposed legislation of the country they want to be in, but don't care to come in legally. My first reaction was, "don't like it, go the #$%& home."

Admittedly this country has large sectors that need the labor provided by these immigrants, but that employment could easily be filled with people who follow the laws. I understand the resistance of many conservatives on the issue of blanket amnesty. This was done before with nothing in place to quell the illegal migrations and has lead us to an even larger illegal immigrant population. The problem is that the economy needs those jobs filled, and just slamming the door doesn't provide a reasonable resolution. And having no process to stop illegal immigration is doing nothing to stem the flow of illegals.

Bill Frist's bill isn't the best, but it at least is trying to move in the direction of answering the issues. That is if he puts the whole thing forward. That sounds like it's not happening.

Frist’s bill requires company computer checks of employees’ legal status to winnow out the estimated 11 million illegals believed to be in the US. The computer checks would be phased in over a five-year period to progressively smaller companies. At the same time, opportunities to obtain permanent residency ‘green cards’ are sharply expanded. There would be an allocation for 100,000 H-1B "“guest workers"—far lower than the 400,000-500,000 proposed by Senator John McCain, R-AZ, or Senator Arlen Specter, R-PA. While Frist does not offer blanket amnesty, there would be a much greater opportunity for many who are now here illegally to obtain permanent residency by going through the visa application process.

The threat of a filibuster by Reid isn't helping any, but then Frist's attempt to bypass the Judiciary committee's bill isn't exactly politic.

Blanket amnesty won't do. That was tried before, and there were no protections added to quell the influx of illegals. This is setting up to have the same result. The McCain-Kennedy bill is another attempt at blanket amnesty with no real protections attached.

In other words, the Senate thinks as follows: In order to have fewer immigrants, we must admit more of them. In order to halt illegal immigration, we must legalize it. And in order to enforce the law, we must reward those who have broken it.

Until very recently the advocates of this upside-down logic -- Senators Kennedy and McCain, President Bush, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, various pro-immigration "experts," and almost all the nation's editorial writers -- maintained that immigration of all kinds, illegal and legal, was not a problem at all. It was a benefit from which all Americans and the U.S. economy gained enormously.

The frustrating part of this comes with the acknowledgement that the solution must address all parts of the problem. Some senators want blanket amnesty, which is just re-legislating a previous mistake. Some want merely some form of border protections, but fail to address the illegals already here. Then there are those that want to throw them all out, which denies that there is a need for the low wage labor that is provided.

First there needs to be a clearly defined guest worker program that addresses the labor pool needed. There should be employer requirements that the workers have the needed documentation to work in this country. Hell, I'm a citizen and I had to provide two forms of legal US identification to get a job in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. You'd think that this is something difficult for employers to enact.

Next there has to be some path to legality for those already here. This must allow the culling out of those undesirables who are more of a threat than a benefit to this country. Criminals should be purged with no say. And this has to come with some teeth to it. If the illegal doesn't come part of the program, then they should be a felon and deported.

Lastly there needs to be an escalation of border security. The present methodology is an obvious joke that isn't likely to get any better without reform and reinforcement.

There are likely more changes needed, but these are the most obvious and discussed in the MSM at the moment, so I'll leave it at that.