Illegal Immigration

A Repost from May 10, 2007

If there is a subject that makes me wonder about this country sometimes it has to illegal immigration. I am sick and tired of hearing all of these complaints and arguments over this. It should be very simple. The solution comes from the very basic principles that make a society
work;
Laws govern all people equally. If the law is broken, you pay your debt.
There, done, over with. We have laws that cover immigration. We welcome LEGAL immigrants. We sponsor persons to come to this country and make a living, prosper, form churches, whatever. We also are a nation of laws and hold everyone accountable for what they have done.
We do not and cannot allow people to just ignore the rules. We cannot right laws to allow people that break that most sacred of all rules in the public contract of ignoring the laws.
Why are we rewarding people for breaking the laws? How is giving these people amnesty going to stem the problem we have now? If we keep giving these people amnesty then more will come over to just wait out the system and see if they can survive until the next amnesty.
This sort of neglect would never fly with other criminals. Police will issue arrest warrants for speeding tickets or not having insurance on file and will go and serve those warrants. If you decide to avoid the police for years, if they eventually catch you, they will eventually
charge you. No one would be thinking about writing a law that proclaims "avoid justice long enough and we will let it slide." This sort of attitude is not the American way. The United states prosecutes hate crime, racial crimes and old mob killings decades after they occur. Why is it that the same agency do not try to go after these illegal immigrants?
My theory is a very charged one. It contains elements of willful neglect for money, and some would call it a conspiracy. But I stand by this charge;
There is no money or glory to be gained by kicking illegal immigrants out of the country.
There, I have said it. By deporting the immigrants the agencies would be spending many thousands if not millions of dollars on something that would bring in no money (if you fine them or charge them taxes, you make money) or glory (bring attention to the great job you law enforcement does by showing off high value drug busts, lawmakers give you more money to continue these major cases.) Instead if you treat it with a mild neglect you are able to save a huge amount of funding for more urgent needs. In some sense you cannot fault these agencies for feeling that way. We have some many millions of laws on the book that these courts and enforcement agencies cannot possibly charge everyone with every law they break. They would be unable to hold everyone they prosecute (thus parole and probation) or have the funding to see every case through to its end. Instead, pick up the biggest offenders and the ones that grab
the biggest media attention. Drugs, murders, gang, etc.
But immigrants are low on that list. And the American public is allowing the illegal immigrants to spin this issue as if they (illegal immigrants) were the victims.
Paris Hilton is using the same tactic with her recent appeal to the public that she should not go to jail because the system is against her and it is unfair. The public is not buying it. She drove drunk, got off in a plea bargain that included no license to drive, attend alcohol classes, and stay out of trouble. She got in trouble with the law for driving (against parole) not once, but twice, as well as racking up two ADDITIONAL charges along the way (reckless driving and DUI.) I think
she should go to jail for longer than 45 days, but I am not the judge.
Would you let Paris Hilton off the hook? What if I did the same thing?
Would you let me off the hook?
Well, I would not let you off the hook. You did something that society believes is dangerous, then when you got treated in a very gentle way, you through that back in our faces. Then too bad. Off to jail with you.
The same feelings are towards the illegal immigrants. They have broken the law. The fact that they have made friends and have families in this country does not sway or eliminate the KEY issue. They (illegal immigrants) broke the law. It does not matter how many good things you do in life. You break the law once, you pay the price. We should send them home.
By not sending them home we cheapen the work and dedication of immigrants the FOLLOWED the rules and waited years to get in the country by following the law. All we are saying to them is, good job, you got screwed. You tried hard and succeed by following all the laws we could find. You win. Oh, and the guys that didn't follow the rules, cheated, stole, and otherwise lied, they win too. Have fun!
For all of my friends in college, image this:
Lets say that to work in America you have to go to college. After you get out you can finally go to work at the job of your dreams, take a vacation, whatever. But you have to finish school first.
You work hard in school. You get 4.0 and do volunteer activities and learn a foreign language and study foreign history. You apply to get in, and after months of waiting, you get accepted. Then they ask you to pay them yearly to stay at US College, just as you expected. Four years
later you graduate, get your degree and can work in America. Yay!
I, on the other hand, go about this a different way. Instead of going to school and getting 4.0's and applying to US College, I just sneak on Campus. Then, I pretend to be a graduate and receive a degree. I pay nothing, I do not have to attend classes, and I do not even have a real degree. But I get out of school before you and then land your job.
If that happened would you be mad?
So next time you hear about illegal immigrants wanting amnesty, remember, someone else had to work hard to get the same thing they want for free. And if the illegal immigrants get what they want, then we have all went to "college" for nothing.