John Hawkins posts an informative entry, Answering 13 Frequently Asked Questions About Illegal Immigration, on his blog RightWingNews. Hawkins debunks liberal myths on illegal immigration and crime, health-care costs, and amnesty proposals. Is border security impossible? No, "we only have 11,000 border patrol agents working on both the US and Canadian border combined.... New York City alone has 39,110 officers. How can anyone expect us to secure both our Northern and Southern borders with 1/3 of the personnel used to handle a single city?"
Fifteen years ago, politicians wouldn't touch this issue. There were exceptions, notably Pat Buchanan and Alan Simpson, but they were dismissed as cranks even by members of their own party. Increasingly, avoiding immigration comes at greater peril than addressing it. Today, there is no issue that motivates the Republican base more than immigration, illegal or otherwise. Many independents, such as Lou Dobbs, and even Democrats are incensed by illegal immigration.
President Bush is one politician who didn't avoid the immigration issue. He just chose the wrong side. In dissecting why President Bush went from respectable poll numbers to eeking above the political Mendoza line, his laxity on border security and immigration laws stands behind only Iraq in understanding the drop. Politicians, particularly Republicans, will increasingly face such backlashes. No longer do proponents of enforcing immigration laws snipe from the outskirts of the Republican Party. They are the party. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist understands this. President Bush found out the hardway. He won't be the last politician to suffer the wrath of an outraged public on this issue.
Is illegal immigration illegal? In a newsstory today: the "House bill ... would make it a crime to be in the United States illegally... "
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14235378.htm
I don't get it. Doesn't the fact that their status is illegal in the first place mean that they have immigrated here without completing the necessary requirements to be here legally?
Are the current laws not adequate? Or, is it that they are not strong enough to keep them out or throw them out if they do get in but don't conform to the rules of the law?
I can't imagine we don't have plenty of laws currently on the books that would accomplish these two important goals.
Or are our pols posturing and looking for tv and news face time?
asdf:
Bingo!
Is this an legislative issue, or one of enforcement? If we need to pass new legislation fine but we should have no tolerance for any "feel good" measures on this issue.
