The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Friday, June 29, 2007
Finally, a Good Day; Now it's time to Get Real
As Conservatives across the country celebrate today the people re-staking a claim to their government, we should keep in mind that there does continue to be a problem with illegal immigration. And while Fred Thompson is right that we do have good reason to celebrate, the other side of that coin is that eventually something has to give. As an example of this, I was appalled at Michael Chertoff's reaction yesterday, in effect he was saying 'now we have to enforce the law and there are going to be pictures on television of families separating...' yada yada... Well...duh; when people break the law, they sometimes get sent to jail and separated from their families. Welcome to the real world. If people were that eager to stay with their families my guess is that many if not most of the millions people sending money they earn illegally here back to Mexico (to their families) would not have sneaked across our border in the first place.
Meanwhile, the Editors of National Review have written a spot-on op-ed about yesterday's result, including this:
Glenn Reynolds offers some very pragmatic suggestions for regaining the trust of the American people:
Meanwhile, for you politicians who are shocked, shocked that the American people actually want you to act responsibly from time to time, here's a clue: if you want our trust, and want your constituents to keep you in office, how about show us you mean it about protecting our border? Enforce the law and lock down the floodgates! That has to be priority one. Because if you can't accomplish that one, anything else is just "pissing in the wind" as we say here in Texas.
Another step needed quickly would be to create foolproof and tamper proof ID cards for citizens and legal immigrants. We must fix the legal immigration system so that people who do belong here can be identified as such.
And finally--when those things have been achieved--then we can look at what to do about those already here--(meaning the ones who didn't go home after the money well dried up...). But in the meantime I would emphasize Glenn's 4th point: don't put the cart before the horse. We are a nation of laws: enforce them.
Meanwhile, the Editors of National Review have written a spot-on op-ed about yesterday's result, including this:
For months, the establishment dismissed those of us opposed to amnesty as a tiny minority of the public and the Congress. On Thursday, that “tiny minority” outnumbered the pro-amnesty forces in the Senate, dealing a humiliating and well-deserved defeat to President Bush. The same White House that insisted that there was no realistic alternative to “comprehensive immigration reform” had better recalibrate its realism now. There always were better alternatives, and the president and his party have no way out of the immigration morass he has created unless they pursue them.Read the rest here. As the Editors suggest, there is a way out; but how 'bout we start with baby steps first: prove to the people our leaders really are taking this seriously--something we have not really seen since 1986. (One would have thought that 9/11 just might have moved up protecting our Border a bit on the priority scale, seeing that 4 of the 19 were here illegally; yet the band plays on... )
Nor does the country. The public is rightly dismayed at our incapacity to exercise a key attribute of sovereignty: control of the borders. For decades, our elected officials have passed immigration laws that they lack the political will to enforce. Among the fallacies of “comprehensive reform” was the notion that this situation could be fixed instantaneously. It cannot. But by rejecting a solution that would make the problem worse, we may have taken the first of many steps toward a better immigration system.
Glenn Reynolds offers some very pragmatic suggestions for regaining the trust of the American people:
What's wrong with starting there? Enforce the laws already on the books! Punish loudly and openly employers who traffic largely in illegals. Imprison anyone supplying false documents to illegals. That's a start. If you stop employers from hiring illegals, guess what--the problem will solve itself: because if the money well dries up, there won't have to be mass deportations. Water always flows via the path of least resistance.(1) Make the process open, transparent, and timely, with hearings, drafts on the Internet, and no last-minute bills that no one has read;
(2) Earn people's trust, don't demand it, and treat enforcement like it matters;
(3) Respect people who follow the law, and make legal immigration easier, cheaper, and simpler, rather than the Kafkaesque nightmare it is now;
(4) Don't feel you have to be "comprehensive" -- address the problems you can deal with first. The trust needed to deal with other problems will come later, after you've shown some success and some good faith.
Meanwhile, for you politicians who are shocked, shocked that the American people actually want you to act responsibly from time to time, here's a clue: if you want our trust, and want your constituents to keep you in office, how about show us you mean it about protecting our border? Enforce the law and lock down the floodgates! That has to be priority one. Because if you can't accomplish that one, anything else is just "pissing in the wind" as we say here in Texas.
Another step needed quickly would be to create foolproof and tamper proof ID cards for citizens and legal immigrants. We must fix the legal immigration system so that people who do belong here can be identified as such.
And finally--when those things have been achieved--then we can look at what to do about those already here--(meaning the ones who didn't go home after the money well dried up...). But in the meantime I would emphasize Glenn's 4th point: don't put the cart before the horse. We are a nation of laws: enforce them.
Labels: Border Protection, Illegal Immigration, US Politics
