Immigration Amnesty? No, Mr. President, No!

As a native-born American citizen, I offer my respectful dissent to your proposal of 07 January 2004.

I watched your speech on Wednesday, and was immensely dismayed by your action. You are, in effect, legalizing the millions of illegal immigrants (not ''undocumented aliens'' or other such euphemism) who broke American law to enter this nation. I know you stated that you oppose amnesty. Yet, this is exactly what you are doing, sir. In effect, you are telling illegals that their lawbreaking has been rewarded by legal recognition and rights. Rights that they are NOT fairly eligible to receive.

You spoke of the great period of immigration, in which 18 million people came to America in a thirty-year span, to make this nation the preeminent country on earth. What you didn’t say, but should have, was that they came to America legally. They followed the rules. They took the time to learn the language, learn the Constitution, and learn the history of our nation before they became citizens.

None of the illegal aliens in America today did that. And the number of illegals today is getting quite close to the number of legals of yesteryear.

You spoke of ''Americans by choice'' of which there were many in your audience that day. And I’m sure some of them told you how illegal aliens were the downtrodden, the abused, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Well, if that were true, they should’ve come knocking at the FRONT door, not sneaking in a back window and hiding in the basement.

We are a nation of compassion, and a nation of welcomers. This much is true. But America is also a nation of LAW. And these people have violated the law. They do not deserve the right to work in America or, for that matter, to be allowed to become Americans.

You stated that illegal aliens would only be taking jobs that American citizens ''didn’t want.'' How do you know? You’re implying that there are some jobs beneath Americans, but not beneath immigrants. I was always taught that no job is beneath a man if it is done honestly and to the best of his ability. Whether that’s digging a ditch, picking tomatoes, flying a 747, or running a nation, all of them are equal in the honor and the dignity of wholesome labor.

We have around three million people who are unemployed. We have anywhere from 10 to 15 million illegal aliens, perhaps more still than that. Assume one third of those are the breadwinners of the family (the proportion is probably higher, but bear with me here). You’d wipe out unemployment in a single stroke. You’d increase the income tax roles, which would have a positive effect on the budget. You’d reduce the welfare roles, both for the American citizens who would now have jobs, and for the illegal aliens who would no longer be in America.

Yes, deported. Give them the old heave-ho. Common sense and fairness, as well as U.S. law, states that people who are in America illegally have broken the law, and deserve a swift trip back to wherever they came from. Are they going to have problems because of this? Yes. However, when people break the law, they automatically must accept the consequences of the illegal action. That means a boot to the backside hard enough to carry them across the border.

I know there’s an election coming up. And I’m sure you’ve been told that this is the only way to get the immigrant vote. But it’s a Pyrrhic victory for you. Because you’d be getting only a handful of votes in exchange for handing far more of them to your opponents. Lib/dem/soc/commies will garner the lion’s share of immigrant votes. Legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, dead immigrants, pet immigrants, etc., seem to vote primarily for lib/dem/soc/commies. Often. Get rid of the illegals and you’ll lose a few votes, true. But your opponents will lose far more. Because some of their voting base will have been put on a bus with a box lunch and a ''don’t call us, we won’t call you'' greeting card.

As mentioned before, we’ve got a lot of illegals here. How many are potential terrorists? You don’t know. Nobody does. But even one of them is one too many. You are, with your proposal, giving the opportunity for some terrorists already here illegally to continue to plan against, and potentially act against, the safety and welfare of American citizens. Citizens you have sworn to protect. Explain to me, please, how letting illegals stay here is a good thing for Homeland Security.

I know you want to stem the tide of illegal immigration. There’s a way to do that. It’s simple, effective, legal, and direct. It also has an incredible deterrent effect, and is well within America’s right to control its borders.

Harsh? Yes. But illegal aliens, breaking the law, don’t have constitutional rights as far as I’m aware. If they know the penalty for illegal entry into America is not necessarily a boot to the backside but a bullet in the brain, there’s a very good chance that the flood of illegals could be stemmed to a mere trickle. And we have the technology to monitor the borders with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) over wide areas at a relatively low cost. We’ve used it against our enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps it’s time to apply this concept closer to home.

If you really want to protect America, you should remember the old adage that ''good neighbors make good fences.'' You should also worry less about what your counterparts north and south of us think, sir. They weren’t exactly helpful in the recent War to Liberate Iraq. Why the heck should you help them now? By legalizing illegals, you’re helping their economies more than our own.

Please, Mr. President, reconsider this immigration policy that you’ve announced. The potential short-term political gains are far outweighed by the long-term risks for America. And we, as a nation, deserve better than that.

cc: Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Mr. Vicenté Fox (President, Mexico) Mr. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Canada) Secretary John Ashcroft (Justice) Secretary Colin Powell (State) Secretary Tom Ridge (Homeland Security)

This Article Was First Published At http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=5540

We can expect labor costs for these companies to lower significantly...thus passing the savings to the consumer and increasing stock-holder dividends.

LOL As well as lowering further the real wages of AMERICAN CITIZENS! We can't take anymore hits on our paychecks, Capitalists. We have to eat.

Lou Dobbs today said that illegal immigration effects were responsible for $200,000,000,000 out of American paychecks in the past few years. That's a paycut of $200 per week for American workers. Enjoy your 'cheap goods and dividends
' while you can. They come at the expense of the rest of us who not only lose our jobs but have to subsidize your cheap labor.

Forget conservatives for a minute. I'm amazed that anybody believes that illegal aliens and their employers are suddenly going to abide by the law

ROFL...yeah, I know. What morons! To that list I'd like to add who believes the government will ACTUALLY INFORCE THOSE LAWS. Stop! My sides! LOL

Sure they will just like Nike lowered their shoe price when they moved to $1.00 a day wage pool.

The only thing 'cheap' about these goods is the quality. Something I CAN'T afford to do is replace this crap every few months. I have towels that have been washed 4 times. They look as bad as my old ones..wish I'd kept them. LOL

I can still remember the long lines of people signing up for amnesty in LA not many years ago. Are all these new illegals the people who have jumped the border since then? In other words the problem continues to worsen, while our government says we need these workers. Why doesn't the government come look at what LA has turned into, the third world. Even the good neighborhoods in this area are starting to feel like another country. Where do I move to in order to live with Americans? I'd move to Yosemite, but the government has practically ruined all the restaurants there.

65 posted on 01/08/2004 11:30:02 PM PST by man of Yosemite ("When a man decides to do something everyday, that's about when he stops doing it.")

And why should I have to subsidize your paycheck? Hmmmm?

Get educated, invest, work hard and stop blameing immigrants, foreign labor and corporations for your problems.

67 posted on 01/09/2004 8:46:09 AM PST by The_Eaglet (Conservative chat on IRC: http://searchirc.com/search.php?F=exact&T=chan&N=33&I=conservative)

That's it, in a nut-shell! Churn out another law and all will be well. the naivete of some folks.
In addition, there is absolutely no way we can round up 10 or so million people and bus 'em out. My God, the PC crowd will have fits! the academic elete, students, media, tree huggers, homeless, anti-war mobs, communists, socialists, Hillary, the French, Barbrah', Dean, 'Bore, ACLU, WTO mobs, Jesse, Al, Boxer, Ted and my neighbor's golden retriever!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.