While listening to debate regarding the immigration issue, I realized that I was not hearing an important rationale for preserving our long-standing immigration policy. I have no statistics to add weight to what I will suggest but will have to depend on my instincts and understanding based on 45 to 50 years of "paying attention" to political and civic chatter (I'm 67 yrs. old now).
I believe that what we are seeing in America today is a willingness to apply great leniency toward groups of folks who have shown a disregard for the laws of our land by entering illegally and who now want to stay. They and some American politicians and support agencies are promoting the notion that because they have worked here for a lengthy period of time, illegally, and have even borne children while here, their "desire to stay" legally should somehow trump our immigration laws. They will pay no real penalty, and they express their desires to stay in terms of "rights" due them. They even want us to refer to them not as illegals, but as undocumented workers or undocumented immigrants. I wonder how many Americans realize how politicians play games with words and how subtle word changes can support or undermine a plan.
There are many good common sense reasons why we should not travel the amnesty road. Amnesty is insulting to the great number of people who have plugged into the immigration process and have had to wait their turn. These folks have paid the full price for admission--time and money.
I won't bore you with the obvious reasons for rejecting the new immigration bill recently debated in America. But, have you considered this?
Let me start by asking what makes the U. S. unique and attractive? Why do so many people from every part of the world want to make America their home? What adjectives or phrases come to mind in describing America? Freedom, opportunity, open society, integrated society welcoming all newcomers, beautiful, productive, open to all faiths, tolerant, etc. The list could go on. Those are not things that are necessarily unique to America. You can put your finger on a world map and find places, countries, where some or all of the above attributes exist to some extent.
No, the thing that makes America desireable is her form of government. It is our representative democracy that makes all of her other attributes available to all of her people all of the time.
There is a real risk in allowing unchecked and illegal immigration. Illegals who want to bypass the naturalization process do not understand how our Republic came into being. What is even more discouraging is that more and more generations of Americans do not either. If they do not understand the sacrifice of our forefathers, the genius of the framers, the unrelenting desire for freedom of the early settlers and populace, then they cannot be expected to help us continue in our fight to preserve our form of government. If their desire to come here is simply to be able to take advantage of the opportunities, then at some point in our history we will no longer be able to sustain our form of government.
New immigrants who do not immerse themselves in "our" history, who openly defy any suggestion at assimilating and learning English and who fly the flag(s) of their former country will eventually dilute our culture. As new immigrants are steered into voting blocks, they will, because of their sheer numbers, be able to make the necessary adjustments to our Constitution that will make them more comfortable in their new homeland. At some point they will create a duplicate of the condition from which they left.
When the number of new immigrants is high, the process of assimilation is set back. Instead of looking for support in the existing communities of the major culture, they instead can find support among people who are experiencing the same challenges. This tends to set up sub-cultures and delays or restricts assimilation. Thus, the advantages they seek become illusive, and they become wards of the state and burdens to the taxpayers.
Mexico and the U. S. have a history of border disputes dating back to the land acquisitions from Mexico that became Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The dispute for most Americans was settled long ago. Evidently, for some Mexicans, the dispute is ongoing. They feel they are taking back what is rightfully theirs. Mexican President Felipe Calderone has been quoted as saying that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico.
To sum up, our immigration policy should be mindful of the need for immigrants to be legal and limited to a quantity that can be assimilated into the major culture. It should also insist that new immigrants be well versed in the early history of America and how our form of government was developed. They should be required to learn English. They should be encouraged to appreciate and help preserve our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
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