Posted on 12/12/2003 10:59:31 PM PST by logician2u
Article Published: Friday, December 12, 2003
reggie rivers
I never expected to like Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Ever since the position was created, I've been suspicious about the organization's mission. The advent of color-coded terror alerts and duct-tape-and-plastic panics just cemented my view that Ridge and his staff were part of a shock-and-awe campaign designed to scare us into surrendering our rights. But this week, I was pleasantly surprised to read that Ridge thought that millions of illegal immigrants in the United States should be granted some form of legal status short of citizenship. Hallelujah! For too long, all we've heard is the shrill extremism of people who think all illegals should be deported, and broad overstatements of people who believe all illegals should be granted amnesty. Clearly, a more reasonable approach will be found in trying to legalize their existence in our country through work permits or other documents without automatically granting them citizenship. One of the confusing elements of this debate is the word "illegal." In fact, just yesterday, The Denver Post printed a letter from Shaun McMaster of Broomfield, who wrote: "I'm sorry, but the operative word in 'illegal aliens' is 'illegal."' That's a very popular sentiment, but what does it mean? Driving your car too fast and stealing someone's car both are illegal acts, but they're certainly not the same act. So is the "illegal" in "illegal immigrant" more like speeding or more like stealing a car? In order to have a rational debate about illegal immigration, we need to figure out where "illegal entry" fits in the panoply of punishable acts. Is illegal immigration greater than or less than assault? Greater than or less than insider trading? Greater than or less than sex in public? Greater than or less than murder? Surely, someone who crosses a border illegally, with the intent of finding a job and working 10 to 12 hours a day for minimal pay in order to feed his family, doesn't have the same psychological profile (or present the same threat to society) as someone who wants to break into your house while you're sleeping and steal your TV. But, let's not forget, the operative word is "illegal." Apparently that means illegal immigrants can be incarcerated indefinitely (sometimes for years) for doing nothing more than crossing the border, and deported at will no matter how long they've been here. They're reduced to a second-class limbo in which they're afraid to call the police, afraid to go to the hospital, afraid to complain to their bosses and afraid to cooperate in official investigations. But just how serious a crime is illegal immigration? It's illegal to make structural changes to your house without a permit. But if you do the work and the city finds out about it 10 years later, should agents burst into your house to rip out the changes? Recently, we heard a lot about Eddie and Edgar Garcia, 22 and 20, who were children when their parents illegally brought them to Colorado 15 years ago, but were deported to Mexico - as if coming here was their choice. The IRS generally can go back only seven years to catch tax cheats. So are we saying that illegal immigration is worse than tax evasion? I commend Ridge for taking a reasonable view on this issue. There are millions of illegal immigrants in the United States and massive deportation and general amnesty are not the right answer to the problem. We need solutions that will put illegal immigration into the proper place as compared to other crimes, and deal fairly with the people who are living and working in our communities.
Former Denver Bronco Reggie Rivers is the host of "Drawing the Line" Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KBDI Channel 12. He writes Fridays on the op-ed page.
Ridge at last redeems himself
By Reggie Rivers
Have at it.
(Reggie and I will sit on the sidelines this quarter and hope to be called in when the score gets closer.)
It is greater than felony theft, and almost as great as assault with a deadly weapon.
You see, they are stealing the places of legitimate immigrants who took the time to wait in line for their visas and line up their support once in the country. They are STEALING from the HONEST and the POOR.
They are stealing from all Americans by forcing them all to pay for their schooling and health care. They do not pay one dime of their own health care, and very often do not pay any taxes so they don't contribute to schooling either. In addition, our automobile insurance premiums have to cover their driving as uninsured motorists. Their thefts are into the thousands of dollars each, making the crime a felony
They also are nearing the crime of armed assault because we are at risk; some of them have criminal records or are members of violent gangs.
Illegal immigration is immoral and unlawful immigration. Sopping that they have come for a better life misses that they have cut in line in front of more honest, more decent immigrants, and may have something to hide, like a criminal background or a terrorism association. How would we ever know, if they are allowed to avoid all channels of documentation? It's no pretty little misdemeanor.
He sounds like the impeached ex-president spouting one of his homilies on moral relativism.
Penny
If I was in another country illegally, I'd expect and anticipate that I'd eventually be caught, that I'd be fined (and thrown into jail until I paid that fine), and that I'd be deported post haste.
I'd also expect that my ability to obtain a visa in that country might also be suspended five or ten years, if not permanently.
Finally, I'd expect that the police could nab and incarcerate me at just about any time and for any reason, because I'd have been deliberately flouting the known laws of their country. Basically insulting their laws, their people, their government.
None of the above is speculation or guesswork. It's the way every country on the planet operates, including Mexico.
No property ownership, no federal benefits, no housing assistance, nothing. They pay all U.S. taxes, they can send the kids to school, they pay into SSI (which they write-off against their home country taxes, exactly as Americans do when working abroad).
The problem is that the INS and U.S. law enforcement are utterly incapable of creating, administering, enforcing, and prosecuting such a program. Or any other program, including the current status quo. There is no will to do so.
Currently, the scum who advocate wholesale legalization believe that American residency (not to mention citizenship) is a cheap commodity not worth much of a bother. And I include most of the reprobates on Capitol Hill, among others.
Buit ultimately the problem is with our ignorant fellow citizens who do not demand change, and have no idea how Americans are treated abroad or how the rest of the world actully functions on the topic of citizenship and immigration.
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