Illegal Aliens

This current issue about illegal aliens and Arizona’s law regarding illegal aliens has me very confused. I hear now that two-thirds of those American citizens polled are in agreement with the new law, but I’m not sure those who were polled really understand what it’s all about. If the pollsters simply asked folks if they agreed or disagreed with the issue regarding illegal aliens, then I’m surprised the polls didn’t show a much higher number who agreed. They seemed to have been agreeing to the concept, not the law. The scariest aspect of Arizona’s new law is allowing police to detain and ask for proof of citizenship any they suspect of being illegal. That’s too broad a concept and opens the door wide for racial profiling. Would an officer, if he heard a man saying, “I don’t know what it’s all aboot, but I’m agaynst it,” ask to see the man’s identification because he “suspected” him of being an illegal Canadian? I don’t think so.

As I see it, we have two groups of Mexicans who are crossing into the U.S. illegally—(1) the thousands (maybe millions) who are seeking work so that they can support themselves as well as send money back to loved ones in Mexico, and (2) the hundreds (maybe thousands) who are acting as coyotes for the masses coming across, or those working for the Mexican drug cartels bringing drugs into this country. Those in the first group seem to be taking jobs that no U.S. citizen wants, at wages that are well below the minimum wage level and are paid under the table. If that is true, then we must make the penalties much more stringent for individuals or companies who are hiring illegals. If in fact they are working at jobs that no one else wants, then we should have a process by which they could get green cards to work at those jobs, legally and with wages taxed just as they are for American citizens. They should be excluded from our welfare rolls and our medical insurance programs. If in fact we could label these workers and allow them legally to cross our borders, then we would do away with the need for the coyotes who prey on the illegals they lead across. We could then put all our efforts into finding those involved in drug smuggling. If any of those carrying the temporary work visas wanted to become citizens of the U.S., they could do so, just as millions of immigrants to these shores have done in the past.

Sorry, John McCain, you can build a wall a hundred feet high and ten thousand miles long and it still wouldn’t stop those people from Mexico looking for a better life. We have to have a way to allow them in legally.