Immigration Woes

First, and unrelated to the post, I would like to apologize. It has been two weeks past due since my last post. Suffice to say, the Rocky Mountain Classic in Colorado was worth it. I had the time of my life.

Unfortunately, the world at large did not take a hiatus along with me. One of the biggest issues I kept up on while I was away is immigration.

First, there were the rallies. Certainly, the right to peaceably assemble "shall not be infringed," but usually American protests involve Americans. These protests were apparently held by a host of Latin American countries …. at least that is what I can infer from the flags They were purportedly carried because of cultural unity, not a lack of loyalty to this country. I beg to differ.

It is not an issue of loyalty, but an issue of assimilation. My mom has told the story of her great aunt, who was brought home from kindergarten because she could only speak Norwegian. She could not return until she spoke English. Now we have some proposals for "Spanish-only classes."

The next thing to garner my attention was a proposal in New York State. They introduced legislation to allow resident immigrants the ability to vote in local elections if they have resided in the city for a period of six months.

The whole point of citizenship is to disallow people who are not citizens to benefit from the rights without the responsibility. This bill puts forth an interesting notion. Voting with a green card is already recognized as a right. A green card, or United States Permanent Resident Card, is just that, a permanent residence visa with some routes to naturalization.

Voting with a green card makes sense, because obviously the resident went through a legal channel to obtain such a card and intends to stay. The holder of said card has a means of employment and does pay taxes. However, there must be regulation of identification at the polls, else simply allowing resident voters (in the very short time period of six months) seems to bring back ideas of simply collecting buses of people to go vote for a candidate in the polls. This is a bad idea without enforcement. Otherwise, it seems to make sense on its face ... for local elections.

The bill seems to be a spring board for federal elections, something that should not be allowed with a green card. The federal government should continue to be run and elected exclusively by citizens an argument that also makes sense on its face.

Finally, there is the apparent compromise in Congress. Well, this morning it was a compromise. Tonight it has reportedly hit a dead stall. The plan would allow citizenship for about 11 million illegal immigrants. Increased border security and regulation of future immigrants is certainly a good part of the new deal, however simply allowing those presently breaking the law to become lawful is a bad idea.

To quote Josh Dasher (not for the first time), "It's like a criminal game of hide and seek. If you come here, and don't get found by the law, you win! You can stay." This new proposal does not seem to provide a solution. While it certainly claims not to grant amnesty, that is what the new compromise bill would do; it seems unlikely to really solve the problem.

There are greater issues at work than economics; something that should not be forgotten. It's pretty much a given that we need better border security. Without assimilation, regulation, prevention, identification, and repercussion for illegal activities there will only be a partial solution.