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Which side one takes in the great debate
over illegal immigration policy is a matter of values.
Do you treasure a strong, independent
United States of America as the beacon of freedom in the world?
Are you proud to live in a nation where personal liberty and
free choice led to the creation of the highest standard of
living and the best medical care in history? Do you believe in
the free enterprise system? Do you believe in the rule of law,
based on the Constitution, as the only way to protect your
natural rights? Do you believe that the United States is unique
among any other nation or system on earth?
If you hold these ideals as
truth, then there is only one solution to illegal immigration.
It must be stopped. None of the factors that distinguish the
United States from all others can be preserved if this nation
erases its borders and ignores its founding principles, primary
among which is the rule of law. Ignoring or sanctioning eight
million or more illegal immigrants among us will destroy the
fabric of the nation.
We are told this is “a
nation of immigrants” to justify allowing illegals to
stay here. That contention is wrong on two counts. First, the
nation was created by settlers who forged it out of a
wilderness. They were here for 200 years before the Declaration
of Independence. The American Revolution was fought to end the
usurpation of their right to rule themselves. They chose a
then-radical form of government that allowed each individual
the freedom to seek his own way.
Because the American experiment was so
successful others wanted to share in the fruits of these new
liberties. A growing nation invited them to prosper among us.
These were the true immigrants. They accepted American
language, culture, and values. The nation grew in size, wealth,
and power. Above all, they came in through the front door, the
famous Ellis Island and other ports of entry. They were
welcomed, processed, naturalized, and made legal citizens.
This brings us to the second
mistake in today’s immigration debate. Policy makers are
confusing the issue, mixing legals and illegals in the same
argument. Let us celebrate those who make the decision to come
here by asking permission and undergoing the difficult task of
becoming a legal American. Truly, one has to want to be an
American to go through the lengthy process. These honest, hard
working, new Americans are rightfully proud of their
achievement and are free to begin their own American journey
with the full blessing of the American people.
There can be no comparison between
these immigrants and those who sneak into the nation illegally.
What incentive does anyone have to take the legal route when
the nation just decides to give up and grant illegal immigrants
amnesty? The illegals work jobs with American incentives that
include Social Security, free education, and medical care, all
funded by American taxpayers. Unlike previous generations of
immigrants, most do not care to learn our language or culture.
Those from Mexico continue to consider
themselves Mexicans as, indeed, they are.
Contrary to the argument that they
contribute to our economy, they send billions of dollars back
to Mexico, helping that nation’s economy. At the same
time, they undermine the U.S. standard of living by swamping
our schools, hospitals and social services. They fill our jails
for the crimes they commit.
A national disaster is brewing.
In an effort designed more to appease Mexican President Vicente
Fox and less to actually fix the problem, the Bush
Administration proposes to grant a temporary three-year legal
status to those who are already here, provided they have a job
and pay a registration fee. They would be given worker
documentation, presumably so the government could keep track of
them and monitor their status.
Well it sounds good, but
there are questions to be answered. If enacted, the 8 to10
million illegals would be forgiven and free to function as
legal workers. In a nation that still has many citizens seeking
employment, many of whom would have to compete with them, will
there also be a policy to stop more illegals who continue to
pour across the border? Having failed to stop the newly
documented immigrant workers, will our nation now enforce our
laws?
Second, if the Immigration Service
can’t keep track of millions of immigrants already
documented, how will they keep track of 8 to 10 million
“temporary” workers? Can we trust those who broke
the law and slipped into the nation illegally to now sign up
for the new program and provide accurate information? What will
their status be after the three year probation period ends?
Finally, consider what the new
policy will do to the American businessman. Every time
government comes up with a grand new plan, somehow the
businessman gets stuck with the paperwork and the
responsibility for implementing it. This new proposal requires
businesses to first document that no U.S. citizen wants the job
before hiring the illegal. That means government forms must be
filled out on company time. Businesses will now be required to
keep track of these workers, a task which the federal
government has never been able to do.
This massive, purposeful, determined
invasion of this nation is being driven by the Mexican
government whose president has made his position clear. He said
all barriers between the United States, Canada, and Mexico
should be removed to allow people to live and work in the
country of their choosing. He wants a North American Union like
its European counterpart. He wants no borders. He wants one
economy. He wants the fruits of our system to bail out the rot
of his. To that end, President Fox is deliberately encouraging
his own citizens to leave Mexico and illegally pour over our
borders to gain the benefits of our free enterprise system.
In this way, American enterprise and
wealth is being tapped to bail out his Mexico’s troubled
economy. A tenth of Mexico’s population now resides in
the United States.
The United States signed on to
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in large part
to help the Mexican economy and, presumably, to stop the flow
of illegal aliens. Neither has happened. Instead, Mexico
continues to tax its business class to the point of
suffocation, thereby killing job growth, while implementing
socialist policies. In the ten years since signing on to NAFTA,
the Mexican economy has grown by only 1.2%.
The United States is now faced
with the disastrous results from the failure to enforce our
immigration laws. We’re stuck with eight to twelve
million outlaws. What are we to do? Build walls? Send the Army
to the border? Do we deport whole families, leaving many
American companies wanting for workers? The answer is yes.
It is not bigotry or hate or lack
of compassion to defend of our national sovereignty, our
borders, our cultural values, and our way of life. The key word
in the great debate is “ILLEGAL” immigrants.
Failing to understand this, it will only take a single
generation before the United States is unrecognizable, lost to
the flood of those who refuse to understand, acknowledge or
obey the rule of law that made the United States worth
plundering in the first place.
These illegal aliens are the
first wave of an assault to erase our national identity, to
prepare the United States to accept a borderless North American
Union. If our nation fails to meet the challenge and make the
difficult decision to maintain ourselves as a sovereign nation,
then prepare for our lives to change forever. An America
without borders is an America that will cease to exist.
Our federal Government will become a
mechanism for filtering the dictates of an unelected governing
North American Union Council headed by bureaucrats from all
three countries. Our Constitution will be replaced with a new
Union Pact. Our free market system will be regulated by the
Council. Our tax dollars will be “fairly” divided
among the three countries. Our legal system, unmatched in the
world, will be transformed. It will be a new order, indeed. The
vivid example lies in Europe today where some of the
world’s oldest nations have abandoned their currencies,
identities, and cultures to the European Union.
Do you want the United States to
be a strong, independent, sovereign nation? Or do you want
Vicente Fox’s vision of an American Union where the
riches of the United States lay open to the ravenous appetites
of feeding socialists. This is the real issue the United States
faces under the debate called “immigration
reform.”
We can’t have both. The
United States must either take on the difficult job of
protecting its borders and national integrity by stopping the
flood of illegal immigration or disappear.
Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of
The DeWeese Report and president of the American Policy Center,
an activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton, VA. The
Center maintains an Internet site at www.americanpolicy.org.
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