Illegal Immigrants

Oct 18
21:00

2003

Ed Howes

Ed Howes

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It is a U.S. ... mandate that the U.S. Congress shall secure the borders of the United States. It appears this was never done and never will be. When the Federal ... failed to do it

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It is a U.S. Constitutional mandate that the U.S. Congress shall secure the borders of the United States. It appears this was never done and never will be. When the Federal Government failed to do its job and made things worse,Illegal Immigrants Articles it became the responsibility of the affected Border States to secure these borders and start programs that reduce the pressure on those who are driven to the U.S. The Border States did nothing but point to the irresponsible Feds….and continues to do so. Not our job, they say, and the job goes undone.

In the past few years, citizen groups have begun to step in, to attempt to do what government will not. These citizen groups scare the hell out of everybody, but the people and the drugs just keep on coming. Since no one can stop the illegal traffic, it is way past time to create a uniform policy for these people that were essentially invited here by the government’s irresponsible, unlawful behavior.

Because every undocumented immigrant represents government carelessness and dereliction of duty and the lack of domestic security, they should be recorded and rewarded for their effort. In many cases they have risked their lives. Congress has risked nothing. The immigrants deserve recognition for the triumph of will over bureaucracy. They should be an inspiration to us all.

Offer amnesty, a green card and a State driver's license to every one who desires them. Document where they came from, who they are, what skills they have brought with them and why they have come here. Take DNA samples so we can identify them and their offspring so long as they remain in the U.S. They came for a better life and we will see they get one. We can help them with skills training and work options, education, health care, housing and more.

Because they essentially invaded the country, there must be a penalty that will discourage others from doing the same. That penalty is the forfeiture of citizenship for them and any offspring, forever. Unless they return to their homeland, apply for legal admission, and obtain it, based on their record while living in the U.S.

The citizenship provisions of the U.S. Constitution were deficient from the day they were written. They encourage illegal immigrants to have children here because citizenship is a privilege of birth. Citizenship should not be a privilege. It should mean as much to someone born here as it does to legal immigrants who study for naturalization. The tests should be meaningful and difficult to pass.

Citizens need to be knowledgeable in Religious, Common and Constitutional law. This law is the contract we agree to live by. Not to know the terms of the contract generates criminal society and government. That's what we have today and that's what we'll have tomorrow. Citizens have left it all to incompetent professionals. Liberty demands personal vigilance. A lazy free man is a hermit.

Gift citizenship makes political equals of the ignorant and the educated. What is the point of obtaining degrees and being a conscientious citizen, when ignorant fools can outvote you? How can you have a jury of peers when people who know nothing of law are seated on a jury and simply take instruction from some authoritarian, black robed, law priest? When citizenship is a gift it has no meaning but privilege. When citizenship becomes an achievement, it has honest value. Let's fix the many deficiencies in the U.S. Constitution. It won't be easy.

Immigrants are one of the best sources of foreign aid the U.S. has ever had. Poverty stricken immigrants work hard and long for low wages, continue to live simply and send a large part of their pay to the families that did not come with them. This serves as a check on increased immigration. At the same time, their relatively cheap labor helps U.S. industry remain competitive in the global market. All of which means, these immigrants have value and add value to U.S. society. We need to respect and reward that value, not frustrate and block it.

Over the past one hundred years, we have ignored the opportunity to export economic prosperity to our Southern brothers and sisters. We could have invited those of talent and ability to come and learn business, trade and the skills that would raise the standard of living in their homelands. These people would agree after a five year program, to return to their homelands and teach others what they have learned about creating prosperity at the local level. After such a program had been in place for twenty or thirty years, the pressure to cross the border would be substantially relieved. Instead, the welfare of the entire Southern Hemisphere has been largely ignored unless the U.S. government had some pressing strategic interest.

Not only has the U.S. government created the immigration problem, they now insist the Border States and now many others, pay all the associated costs for medical care, criminal behaviors, and the general welfare. This is the way the National Government says to the states and the citizens, you have no more sovereignty. We are the boss of all we see. We tell everyone what they will do and we pick the pockets of every man, woman and child as we see fit. The states and the once sovereign people say Amen.

Let the once sovereign states rebel. Let them forbid the collection of Federal taxes within their borders. Then their citizens will be able to support effective state and local government. We only have Federal tyranny over citizens and states because we pay the tyrants. Since the Federal War against the States in the 1860s, the power and money has increasingly flowed to Washington, D.C. from the people's pockets. It is time to build a dam and stop this bleeding into a bottomless pit that buys nothing but empty promises, from people who refuse to obey the law and do their jobs. It is time for citizens and states to grow a backbone.