The following was in my local paper yesterday
Congress is considering a new law that will tighten America's border with Mexico, and it has spurred a national debate for and against immigration.
Basically, the law would make it unlawful to assist an illegal immigrant.
The Catholic church has spoken against the policy, stating that providing spiritual advice to an illegal alien would land the priest in jail.
Proponents of the law have vehemently denied that providing spiritual guidance qualifies as assisting an illegal immigrant.
Those it would affect would be the coyotes -- the human traffickers who are paid to transport a large number of illegal immigrants from Mexico to various locations around the United States.
Sometimes these transactions end with the unsuspecting illegal being fleeced for cash and dropped off in the middle of the desert.
Other times, tragedy strikes when the vehicle that is packed with illegals wrecks and several people are killed.
Communities with large Hispanic populations like Los Angeles and Denver saw protests last week against the law, claiming it discriminates against Hispanics.
But there are two larger issues to be examined here.
The first is the responsibility of Mexico to its own people.
With a porous border, there is no way to know who is coming in.
Perhaps the illegal immigrant is trying to escape a life of poverty and is coming to find a job.
Given the same set of circumstances, I might try to find a better life than that provided by the Mexican economy.
And so, Mexico does not guard the border to keep its people from crossing without following the proper procedure.
Instead, they encourage the exodus. Why? Because the second leading source of income in Mexico is money sent back from workers in the U.S. That source of income is only second to oil production in Mexico, which was developed by the U.S. and then nationalized by Mexico, costing American businesses billions.
Mexico is a member of the richest cartel in the world -- OPEC.
But that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, and the remaining population lives in poverty with no chance of advancement.
The Mexican government does nothing to change this status and has made no attempt at creating the opportunities that would provide a middle class.
And we reward their behavior by allowing illegals to enter the U.S. and export cash to Mexico.
That has not solved the problem of a missing middle class, because it is not creating economic change in Mexico.
NAFTA has yet to bring wages up in Mexico, either. All it did was send jobs out of the U.S. to Mexico where workers earn a fraction of the wages earned by the American counterparts.
Where would you want to work?
The other issue is national security.
Perhaps the illegal is simply trying to find a better job.
Or perhaps it is someone who seeks to do harm in the U.S.
Maybe the open border is an opportunity for those with various religious and political views to attack from within.
Either way, anyone who helps someone break the law is breaking the law themselves. It is almost ludicrous that there is a disconnect between the two.
The best thing America can do to improve the quality of life in Mexico is to close the border between it and the U.S. When the people have nowhere to go, they will demand change from within -- more freedom and opportunity, less corruption and favoritism for the people of Mexico.
And America would be safer from terrorist attacks that seek to simply walk right in to America.
This is a good law and should be passed.
EARL WATT