Before starting let’s clear something up. People who are in a country illegally, whether the US or anywhere else, are illegal aliens. They are not undocumented immigrants, temporary visitors or non-resident immigrants, they are illegal. Some are here in school, some live in appalling conditions and mow lawns to survive, and some are even high-paid technical workers whose green cards have expired. Whatever the situation, calling them illegal aliens is neither disrespectful nor a violation of their human rights.
President Obama, always quick to seize a political opportunity, used this issue to his advantage to get re-elected. He has been promising a fix to the problem for four years, but his proposals basically boil down to amnesty. That means giving 12 million people license to stay here and eventually become citizens, though in reality very few would ever try. Citizens don’t get as many federal benefits. The other downside of amnesty is that it’s like telling the rest of the world, “hey, come on in, the doors are open.” We don’t need to encourage more illegal immigrants.
On the other hand, it is logistically impossible to bus, truck, ship or fly illegals out of the country. There are simply too many of them. And if you tried that you’d have liberals in your face about the inhumanity of it all and the media would have a field day. So what we have is a giant mess thanks to years of neglect by politicians in both parties.
I happen to live about a half mile from several huge trailer parks full of Mexican migrant farm workers and I’d be surprised if any of them were legal. They pretty much mind their business and I mind mine, it all works out. The only time we really cross paths is if I should wander into Walmart on a Saturday night. That is when the store transforms into little Mexico and becomes a social gathering place. All in all it is sad that in the 21st century people have to live this way to survive because their home country is so badly managed.
I have to admit to feeling very conflicted about the whole issue. I’ve seen illegals up close and find their plight to be pathetic and sad. On the other hand we can’t afford to school and feed them all. It really is like the situation I described with feeding birds in the park. We run the risk of being overwhelmed if we allow it to continue.
I listened to Senator Rubio explain the Gang of 8 proposals and they actually make sense. That’s pretty surprising since the Senate rarely produces anything that makes sense, but this group for once seems sincere. There are already rumblings that Obama is going to push for full amnesty as one would expect, but hopefully the Senate will get its way on this. Let’s hope they don’t try to pander too much to special interests.
This problem is huge and won’t be solved with ideologies by greedy politicians. It requires clear thinking and pragmatic solutions, both of which are in short supply in Washington these days. I don’t have solutions, I voted for people to come with them for me. It’s time for them to get busy and fix the mess they created by ignoring this for so long.
Reality sucks, but it still has to be dealt with.
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