Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Integration
I am astonished that anyone, much less an elected official, can argue FOR illegal immigration. Given that terrorism is a worldwide reality and the U.S.A. is one of the prime targets, along with the fact that a primary duty of a national government is to protect its borders, we should be very concerned about anyone coming into our country illegally. There are established immigration laws and they should be enforced.
If anyone has a problem with those laws, especially our elected representatives, then efforts should be made to AMEND the laws… not IGNORE them. If the majority of the citizens of our country want to see the laws changed, they should exert pressure via their votes to influence that change.
I am not against immigration… but I AM against ILLEGAL immigration. Why have borders if they don’t mean anything? Why have laws if they aren’t enforced?
Allowing people into the country to visit… or go to school… or to work… are all fine with me so long as the proper procedures are followed and documentation is recorded. If there is a real economic need for workers from Mexico, for example, let’s adapt our work visa requirements and allow those workers to come in legally. In fact, such an approach would be good for a number of reasons:
- If such a worker could easily come into the country, they would have no need for the criminal subculture in their country that exists to sneak people across the border illegally (and often inhumanely).
- Those people would be documented and, as a legal visitor, would not have to fall prey to the criminal subculture that exists in our country to help “hide” them while living and working here.
- A large, hidden part of our economy would become visible.
However, allowing workers into the country should not automatically make those people citizens… nor should they be eligible for all the benefits of citizenship. There should be some attainable requirements to achieving citizenship and it is my opinion that some basic English language skills should be one of them. If a person wants to become a citizen, they should have the nominal ability to integrate into and become productive members of our society. Which isn’t to diminish their heritage at all. The simple reality is: knowing fundamental English will increase the odds of them becoming positive forces in our society. Everyone wins: the new citizen will be better able to work and live successfully in our country and our nation will have a better citizen, too.
To advocate changing the law is one thing, to advocate flouting the law is another.
