Illegal Immigration--Time to Stop

It's well past time to stop the nonsense on illegal immigration. I just read a post by Rants and Raves that addresses the issue. I'm providing a link to that post here, and I have added his blog to the links in my side bar.

American Exceptionalism

In a more recent post, Rants and Raves also stated: "...If you take sides in an argument people really feel passionately about, half of the people will wind up hating you. However, if you try to be objective about it, likely all of them will."

I must be ready, then to have all of my readers hate me, because I want to try to be objective about illegal immigration.

It's time to stop illegal immigration to the United States of America. It's time to stop all of the rhetoric and name calling. It is time to dispel the myths and lies that supporters of illegal immigration are using in their propaganda.

• Myth No. 1 --Illegal aliens are not illegal; they are just undocumented. The truth: If an alien does not has a proper entry document (green card), he is in the country illegally. If he is not illegal, his presence certainly is. "Politically correct" word manipulations do not change the facts. An immigrant is any person, not a citizen of the United States, who comes here from another nation or region. An illegal alien is an immigrant who entered the country without obeying U.S. immigration law and obtaining proper papers. A legal immigrant has a passport, a visa, and a green card. He has a specific purpose and stays for defined length of time, after which he either leaves or becomes a citizen in accordance with the law.
• Myth No. 2 -- Those who are opposed to illegal immigration hate all immigrants. The truth: Most oppose only illegal immigrants. Many who oppose illegal immigration ARE or WERE immigrants. They are earning, or earned their citizen ship the correct and legal way, and expect others to do the same.
• Myth No. 3--All, or most, opponents of illegal immigration are racists. The truth: There is no recorded evidence to support this statement. While it is possible that we may find more racists among the people who are opposed to illegal immigration than we would find in the general population, it does not matter. Racism is not the issue. The issue is that our immigration laws are being broken, and that situation must be corrected now.
• Myth No. 4 -- Illegal immigrants are "law abiding people." The truth: One hundered per cent of the illegal aliens have broken one law--they have established residence in this country without following the immigration law by obtaining the proper documentation for doing so. Moreover, the portion of illegal aliens who have also broken other laws (those against theft, assault, etc.) is at least the same as it is among citizens and legal aliens.
• Myth No. 5 -- The United States has no right to control its borders and to grant access selectively. The truth: There is no RIGHT, nor is there any supreme world authority to grant such a right. By custom and tradition, all sovereign nations define their own rules regarding who enters their country, who stays, and for how long. Mexico, our strongest critic with respect to this myth, has some of the most stringent immigration laws on earth. There should be no double standard.

It is time to set aside all of the myths, the propaganda, the verbal manipulations, and the name calling. Just stop it altogether.

It is time focus objectively on the solutions of three basic problems:

• First: Can, and should, businesses in the United States bring in large numbers of non-citizens to supplement our labor force? If so, how long should the non-citizens be allowed to stay? What, if any, of the tax funded citizen benefits should be granted to the non-citizens and their families?
• Second: Because the first problem is so complex and controversial, we decided not to solve it, but instead we are just ignoring our existing immigration and labor laws. We have not controlled access at our borders as prescribed by law, and we have not punished the employers who have broken the law against hiring illegal aliens. As a result, millions of illegal aliens have taken residence in our country. Should we keep them all here and make them citizens? Put them in jail? Deport them? Should all of them be treated the same?
• Third: Because of second problem, more people are entering the country every day--thousands of them. The fear that some of these illegal aliens may be terrorists causes some people great concern. More and more people are becoming dissatisfied with the situation

I am not offering my solutions, but rather the process by which the solutions must be developed. We need to solve the third problem FIRST, and allocate some resources to the first and second problems while we do it--

• (While we are devising solutions to the first and second problems,) correct the mistake that caused the third problem. Secure the border and enforce the existing immigration laws. Punish employers who are breaking the law against hiring illegal aliens. Congress should fund and the executive department should carry this out as quickly as possible, to minimize the impact of the other problems.
• Then (while we are devising solutions to the first problem,) Come up with a plan (laws and funding) to deal with the illegal aliens that are already here. A compromise that accounts for the length of time that they have been here is reasonable and probably necessary. The most recent arrivals may be deported, not to return. The most established residents may deserve a "path to citizenship" that in some way acknowledges their positive contributions.
• Finally, present the solutions to the first problem in the form of bills to change or add laws, if necessary, to provide an immigrant work force for some businesses.

The process is necessarily sequential because the more complex problems take more time to solve. Laws are being broken. Our national executives must enforce the existing law while our lawmakers devise new and changed laws to resolve other probems. At the same time, our politicians can assuage our neighbors to the South, North, East, and West by assuring them that we will do our very best find equitable solutions.

But wait--our national executives and lawmakers ARE our politicians!

Do you suppose they have the intelligence, the courage, and the desire to take all that on? Can they stop building and spending their campaign funds long enough to tackle some really important work? Can they stop wading around in the rhetoric, the name calling, the myths, and the emotional shoutings of the idiots and lawbreakers, and work on objective, sequential, fact-based solutions to the problems?