I don't completely agree with either of you's guys, but this statement is just. plain. wrong!
"Illegal" is "illegal" until the next law is passed. It was illegal two years ago for me to deduct my state sales taxes from my federal income tax. Now it is legal.
The Congress is making law EXACTLY like the founding fathers intended, for better or worse. The House is supposed to act rapidly according to the wishes of the majority, and the Senate is supposed to put the brakes on that populism and have a lengthy debate.
And the closed loop works, too. Senate proposed something that was unacceptable to the House, and the idea fizzled. For now.
If Congress, together, decides to grant these mexican criminals amnesty, for example, they will, overnight, be LEGAL IMMIGRANTS----and you will have no argument to undo that.
Sad to say, but that is what could happen tomorrow or next year. So I think your arguments to congresscritters would have more weight if you'd consider that from THEIR perspective, "ILLEGAL" is up to "them."
Congresscritters are thinking about what happens 1 and 2 years out after they act, at most. There is no sense of urgency to close the border because, with much less shooting and concrete pouring and real decision making that a wall requires, they think they've got an easier way to fix it with a stroke of the pen.
The "enforce current laws" argument simply does not comprehend the transient reality of what is, or is not, "illegal."
And apparently you fail to understand the undeniable reality that selling out your principles destroyes your credibility. All of our laws are destined under your standards to irrelevance, so why obey any of them? Let's all just do as we wish without fear of punishment, for the rule of law is only a "transient reality" now.
My idea of legal and illegal is also tied to right and wrong. Ideally, that is what should be the case.
I do not believe the founders envisioned a relativistic society where right/legal and wrong/illegal were changed on a whim or based on who was in the state house or capitol building, or who was able to lobby the best for their particular special interestr. While it is true that issues unrelated to foundational moral issues can ebb abd flow with the political winds, it is equally true that foundational moral issues were meant to be, indeed ought to and must be unalterably tied to much firmer foundations.
It is upon that foundation that our constitution and our laws were meant to be built. There is right and wrong and with this issue and the boundary is, at least IMHO, fairly well defined.
In Senator Craig, I am appealing to an individual I know has strong moral values and thus can be appealed to on the moral level. That is a key component to our governance and outr constitution ...without it...we indeed siink into the abyss.
That moral/religious component was a key part of this nations founding, its liberty and its prosperity ever since. As John Adams said,
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."- John Adams, Oct. 11, 1798 I believe that there are fundamental issues with respect to immigration and becoming an American and that our laws, for the most part reflect it. What is not happening is the enforcement of those laws. I am appealing to Senator Craig, as is my right and my duty, to begin doing so and to establish a policy in line with what I feel are fundamental moral principles governing people wanting to "become Americans".You may feel differently and then have the same right and duty to share and influence your own representatives.
Having said all of that...irrepsective of whatever change may be made in the future (and from this letter it is clear what direction I hope to influence that debate), the current laws are being broken and those breaking them must be accountable and responsible for those actions.