AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH ON HIS "IMMIGRATION REFORM" Speech
Mr. President,
Monday night you asked for a few minutes of our time to make it clear where YOU stand on Immigration reform. Now, I ask you to indulge me while I make it clear where the vast majority of Americans stand on "Immigration reform".
You say we must begin by recognizing the problems with our immigration system.
That's a great idea, lets start by identifying some of the real problems.
You begin by telling us that "our border has been broken for decades, and as a result, millions of illegal immigrants have sneaked across the border".
Lets start by first recognizing what you just described. Those sneaking across the borders are NOT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. These ARE ILLEGAL ALIENS. Illegal Aliens ARE NOT Immigrants. Those illegal aliens are criminals according to current laws.
This is the first problem. Recognizing the difference between illegal aliens and immigrants.
An immigrant implies someone who has taken the steps to legally enter the states, apply for citizenship, and become a visible part of society. An "illegal immigrant" would be someone who applied for, and failed their responsibilities to complete the requirements of citizenship, and remained in the United States illegally.
On the other hand, illegal aliens are those who have slipped across the borders, work for low wages, an most likely get paid in cash to avoid discovery. Illegal aliens are also those who have still here on an expired work visa. An "un-documented" worker is an illegal alien. The term un-documented workers is a misnomer, a political term attempting to diffuse the 'illegal' aspect of an illegal alien. An illegal alien would be someone who sneaked into this country. These people are not immigrants. They are illegal aliens.
In the Lou Dobbs debate with Mexican Ambassador Jorge Ramos, Jorge asked why there was not such an fuss made over the IMMIGRANTS of the past years, but everyone seems to have failed to catch the difference of IMMIGRANTS vs. ILLEGAL ALIENS. They are not the same thing. People are interchanging these terms, including lawmakers to the point that misconceptions and falsehoods are being propagated, probably intentionally, to further their arguments.
America has always welcomed Legal immigrants. Most Americans still accept and endorse controlled, legal immigration. Many of us are here in America today, because our grandparents or great-grandparents were at one time legal immigrants. Many legal immigrants are as apposed to illegal aliens as much as natural citizens are.
Henceforth, I will refrain from calling those sneaking across the borders as "immigrants", because they are not immigrants, they are illegal aliens.
You indicated that our border has been broken for decades. Why is that?
Obviously, your administration can't be responsible for decades of poor border management. But why is it still broken after 911? Didn't you or your administration think it was important after 911 to secure our borders? It took five years to decide to do something? Your administration couldn't even track the alleged 911 terrorists when they had valid visas, let alone all the undocumented "immigrants" flowing through the borders. How many drug dealers or terrorists do you suppose slipped in and out of the country via our borders in the past five years?
You go on to tell us how these illegal aliens live in the shadows of our society, putting additional burden on state and local budgets and increase crime. Yet, in the same breath, you say the vast majority of illegal aliens are decent hard working people, but are beyond the reach and protection of American law.
You say "We are a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws." But, you say they are beyond the reach of American law?
This is a contradictory statement. Americans have always been taught that no one is above the law. There are millions of hard working American citizens who are paying the price for DWI, battery, abuse, tax evasion, shop lifting, lying, and other crimes. These American citizens are not beyond the reach of American law. Why should we accept that a segment of the population is beyond the of reach of the law?
Which American laws are they beyond reach? Are the laws that say its illegal to sneak across the border insufficient? Are the laws that say employers aren't supposed to hire illegal aliens broken? Are the laws concerning temporary work visas not enforceable? Are the laws which dictate what a "legal" immigrant applicant must accomplish to earn citizenship too tough? Exactly which of our current laws are broken and are in need of repair?
You did indicate that the current law that allows us to deport illegal aliens back to their country is broken, and is basically a "catch and release" program. You tell us that our legal system released these criminals back into society because we didn't have enough detention facilities to deal with them. So we would release them and asked them to return for a court date, and most of them wouldn't show up again. So much for their honor and willingness to abide by American law. Yet, you ask us to trust that, if they are given an opportunity to a path of citizenship, that they will abide by all of our Laws? They apparently haven't so far, what will have changed?
You say you support a temporary worker program which would allow a foreign worker to enter our country for a limited amount of time, and then return at the conclusion of their stay. We already have Temporary Work Visas that have these exact requirements. Are you suggesting an overhaul of the Work Visa system? Are you suggesting a separate program for the countries bordering our nation? What exactly would be different from our current Work Visa program?
You say we must hold employers accountable for the workers they hire. Yet you indicate that employers aren't to blame, because they can't verify documents and work eligibility.
Again, this is contradictory. Most employers require multiple documents, including birth certificates, drivers licenses, Social Security numbers. Are you saying that all these documents are being forged undetected for employment purposes? You don't suppose this is a national security issue, given the fact that a terrorist would also probably want to forge these same documents to enter our country. You indicate that a new tamper-proof national biometric identification card for every legal foreign worker would solve this problem. I suggest before we hastily create another document that will no doubt be forged within months of its implementation, that we review guidelines, procedures and processes in which legal documentation is created, processed and validated.
You tell us that we must face reality that millions of illegal aliens are already here. You claim its unrealistic to deport all the illegal aliens presently here. If it took decades for them to show up here, no one expects them to be gone overnight. Don't we already track 100's of thousands, if not millions of deadbeat fathers all over the country for not paying child support? Don't we already use computers to track millions of DUI, DWI, tax cheaters, and other minor criminals? But yet, it would be impractical to track another category of law breakers? No, Mr. President, it is not un-realistic. What you meant to say is it would be a politically tough sell in an election year.
To solve the problem of the millions of illegal aliens already here, you support a different path to citizenship, which of course, you claim is not amnesty. Actually, it is amnesty, Mr. President. Look up the definition of Amnesty. What you are proposing is a text book example of amnesty. (..and no, Mr. Kennedy, its not a banana).
But, lets not repeat history and get stuck on what the definition of Amnesty "is" is. Instead, lets focus on what your proposal of a shortened path to citizenship would mean.
It would basically be an invitation for more illegal aliens to attempt to cross our borders while we scramble to plug the holes. It will escalate into basically a border war.
Your Amnesty plan says that if an illegal alien has already established roots, is a model citizen then they would be required to pay a fine, and eligible to apply for citizenship. You are suggesting that some sort of 'statue of limitations' needs to exist for an illegal alien who has managed to elude our laws and has managed to exist under the radar be allowed to stay because we didn't catch them? I wonder how many American citizens think the same concept should be applied to an American citizen who has moved to another state to avoid criminal prosecution. If you don't catch me, then after so many years, you can't touch me? I don't think so.
Second you say they aren't getting off scott free, they will have to pay a fine. The last time I read the proposed Immigration bill, they were proposing a $2000.00 dollar fine. I wonder how many American citizens would think $2000.00 dollars would be a great price to get them out of their current legal troubles? Even for a simple DWI, that would be a quite a deal. This small fine was thrown in so that lawmakers could point to it and say, "see, its not amnesty, they were fined".
The real tragedy would be the net affect of such a program. This shortened path to citizenship would actually encourage more border crossings, because they would see it as a way around the legal immigration process. Many may argue that they would have to show proof they have been in the country before a specific date to be eligible. No problem, just a few more documents to forge. If they weren't documented before, how are you going to verify that they aren't recent illegal aliens. If they were documented illegal aliens, why were they still here? Its a circular problem that just exasperates the problem. The only real solution is to stick to existing immigration processes.
So, to sum up just some of the problems we have identified so far are:
Identifying the differences between an illegal aliens and immigrants
Broken open borders
Insufficient border patrol
Broken deportation laws
Broken employment laws
Broken immigration identification
What to do with illegal aliens already here
Current Work Visa failures
Document forgery
Lack of enforcement of current laws
Amnesty program will encourage increased illegal border crossings
In your speech tonight, You say that must have a comprehensive immigration reform. Most Americans agree.
The title "Immigration Reform" however is misleading because many of the problems identified are not just immigration issues. Real "Immigration Reform" would address issues like updating specifics of immigration. Such as maybe changing the number of immigrants allowed into this country, the process in which they must apply. Reducing the amount of time waiting to immigrate to our country. Possibly even the requirements to become a citizen. These would be immigration issues.
May I suggest something more appropriate for the actions you are requesting, like "Border and National Security Reform". When, and if, lawmakers finally do address the re-vamping of the current immigration process, then you can have your "Immigration Reform".
Some of the problems you addressed tonight are not immigration issues, but are border and National Security issues and lack of enforcement of current laws. In your speech, you have identified five key areas which you claim make up a comprehensive immigration reform package.
1-Secure border
2-Temporary worker program
3-Hold employers accountable
4-Amnesty Program
5-Continue the American Tradition of Immigration
If you compare your five key points to the list of other problems identified, you can see your "Immigration Reform" falls way short of addressing all the problems. But to be fair, many of the problems identified are not immigration or illegal alien problems, but systemic failures in the way we create and enforce laws in this country. Some of the same reasons that we failed to prevent 911 and Katrina fiasco is because we have become lax and let things collapse around us. This all needs to change.
While deploying the National Guard to assist the Border Patrols may help stem the current flow of illegal immigrants, you indicate that they are temporary. You indicated that we would use high tech surveillance, building patrol roads, vehicle barriers, etc. These are expensive temporary band aid measures. Any Doctor will tell you that you can't cure an illness by treating only the symptoms. You have to go after the "root cause" of the problem.
The "root cause" in this case would be the possibility of employment in this country. Take away the employment, they will quit coming. Besides enforcing current laws, there needs to be a graduated response to employers who hire illegal aliens. If fines don't work, revoking their licenses to do business, then maybe some prison time will get their attention.
Mr. President, you asked the members of the House and Senate to come to a compromise on a bill so you could sign it into law by the end of the month. Americans do not want a compromise. We want a true solution to these problems, a real comprehensive solution to this problem, and not a politically motivated carrot stick. In the mean time, direct our Border Patrol and Law Enforcement Officers to enforce the laws already on the books.
Mr. President, your attempt at tugging at the hearts of all Americans with your story about wounded Master Gunnery Sergeant Denogean, while heart warming, was totally irrelevant to the topic of Illegal Alien or Immigration Reform. I'm sure there are thousands of immigrants who have served in our Military who will disagree with you about your position that would allow those who have sneaked into our country be allowed to stay. Nice try though...
Mr. President, instead of traveling half way around the world on your "War on Terror", you don't have to go much farther than out the door of the capitol building. The Terrorists are already here. They go by the name of Nation of ATZLAN, MEChA and RAZA. They have publicly claimed that the southwestern United States is rightfully theirs, and the AZTLAN WAR has begun. They have publicly stated Gringos must die. Billboards in LOS ANGELES, CA with the CA crossed out and replaced with the word MEXICO. Maps showing parts of America as part of AZTLAN. This is Terrorism, and yet you want us to invite them to stay with open arms? Why won't you address the terrorism that exists in our own country before it escalates in to a real war right here at home? Remember, 29% isn't the lowest a poll can go.
In closing Mr. President, I would like to offer you this single piece of advice.
You and your administration have repeatedly demonstrated to the American people that YOU will decide what is right for American, despite our objections. It would be a grave mistake to think that Capitol Hill or You will force us to accept anything less than real solutions to these problems. These problems are not half way around the world, it's in our own backyard. Americans have a history of taking matters into their own hands when their leaders do not. Immigrants are not the only ones willing to risk everything for freedom.
Thank you.
Douglas R. Anderson
Minnesota
