An overview of the Illegals situation

May 9, 2010 - Link = http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-krentz-bonfire/Content?oid=1945848

The Illegal Situation

It amazes me how well the liberal machine works! By subtle nudges of the language of debate, they can obfuscate, confuse and complicate a very simple matter. They are such masters of the manipulation of discourse. In the same manner that they took the issues of perjury, undermining of one branch of government by another, unethical and corrupt maneuverings by public officials, lying, suborning perjury of others, and then tweaked them into the simplistic and puerile “It’s only about sex,” the progressives have now thrown such canards as “hard workers,” “just trying to better their lives,” “human rights,” “bigotry” and “breaking up families” in order to confuse a very well defined problem.

We get mired in how much money is spent by the government supporting each illegal, how much they contribute or take from our economy. We get pulled down in the figures; 11 million, 20 million or 30 million. We address or avoid the number of illegals in our jails, our hospitals, and our welfare offices. I wish instead to address the core principles and beliefs… those rarities that are the very substance of ethics and ideals. Beyond the dollar signs and census numbers; what is right or wrong about being an illegal living and working in the United States?

So many strawman arguments, obfuscations, and distractions have been thrown into the mix, that the core facts have been lost in the din.

If a criminal broke into your house, snuck into your attic and lived there without your permission, would you start introducing him as a member of your family? What if he started handing your silverware, your jewelry, and your cash out the windows to his friends outside the house, would you try to find him a path to family membership? To Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, John McCain and other so-called conservatives I ask, “can I break into your house, eat your food, raid your medicine cabinet, read your books, and send your money to my friends out on the street? Would you recognize that I’m just trying to make a better life for me and my family? Would you allow, even excuse that? Or would you call the cops and have me arrested for trespassing?” I often dream of thousands of peaceful protesters doing just that - engaging in civil disobedience by camping out in the front lawns and back yards of prominent politicians. And when arrested asking, “why are the borders of your property so much more important than the borders of our country?”

Let’s get this straight from the start; illegals are not immigrants. They are trespassers. “Immigrant” implies a desire to relocate and become a member of another country. Illegals have no such desires or goals. They are here not to become Americans but to milk the cow of American wealth and prosperity. They are certainly not undocumented workers anymore than a drug dealer is an unlicensed pharmacist!

They have no respect for out laws.
They have no respect for our culture.
They have no respect for our customs.
They have no respect for our history.
They have no respect for our language.
How can any such individual be considered an American or even a prospective American? Again, THEY ARE NOT IMMIGRANTS!

The cold hard fact is that they are the first group of people in history who have voluntarily crossed our borders and yet have NO DESIRE to become Americans!

This brings up another of the side-arguments. What of the natural born American children of illegals – so-called ‘anchor babies?’ They are American citizens by birth, their parents are not… Do you really wish to break up those families? Do you want to deport the illegal parents and leave the helpless child here? Of course not! No one wants to tear parents from their kids! But let me ask you something. Can a five year old purchase a gun? Can a three year old be judged by a jury of his peers? Can a fifteen-year-old vote in an election? Can a ten year old get married? Of course not. But these are all rights guaranteed to American citizens by the Constitution. Just because there is a right enumerated in the Constitution, it does not mean that such a right can be exercised before an age of majority. Such could be (and should be) the legal case against anchor babies. They should be deported along with their parents. If they wish to return at 21 and exercise their rights as an American citizen, so be it. But the United States shouldn’t be blackmailed into housing, caring for, incarcerating, or supporting illegals just because they timed their illegal border crossing within the last few months of pregnancy! I do not deny little Manuel’s American citizenship, only his ability to exercise that right before he is of legal age… just like the rights to bear arms, drink liquor, vote, or any other right guaranteed by the Constitution.

The overall argument is neither complex not complicated. Illegals are not citizens; they are not bound by the guarantees of our Constitution any more than they are subject to defend that Constitution in event of a draft. They are not entitled to support anymore than they are bound by the taxes they don’t pay. They don’t contribute to the planting or the harvest, and cannot reap the rewards of seeds they haven’t sewn. They do not value our customs, our history, our laws or our language, and should therefore not be forced to express allegiance to a culture they obviously don’t respect. But similarly, they should not be the recipients of our treasure, our graciousness, our charity and our naïveté’.

They have allowed their own country to descend into a failed narco-state, why should we expect they will have any better influence here in America? Quite to the contrary, like locusts they have ruined a country replete with minerals, ores, warm water ports, oil, and manpower. Mexico has everything any country would desire to be prosperous! They were given every possible geographical and geological opportunity and all they have to show for it is poverty, corruption and a populace flooding the borders to get out! Lumber, gold, fishing, tourism, oil, mineral deposits, and ideal trade placement… if they can’t make a golden opportunity like that work, what do we expect them to make of our country?

We cannot accept this parasitic and destructive swarm to engulf our shining city on the hill! They cannot improve our lives or our country; if they could they would have done so in their own country first. In every way possible we must resist this invasion. We must push these malcontents, these illegals, and these parasites back across our southern border. If they can succeed in their own country, then maybe they can come to our shores… but only if they are willing to assimilate. They must have a desire to become part of this great family! They must show they wish to BECOME AMERICANS, not just use America.

Here I must make an appeal to a so-far silent group gravely affected by the influx of illegals. Legal Americans of Latino decent no matter how long you've been here... American Latinos, Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans (who are indeed Americans from birth), as well as Immigrants and first-generation Americans of any background who spent countless hours studying for the entrance exams, who have spent thousands of dollars on attorneys, who waited months and years to enter this country legally… YOU MUST STAND UP!

You must separate yourselves from the criminals who are blackening your good name. You! You, the first generation Americans are everything that is good and great about America! You came here for freedom and for opportunity. If YOU do not stand up and distance yourselves from the illegals you will never be recognized for your hours upon hours of commitment, your investment in money and effort… your love, admiration, and loyalty to your new home! You know what is great about America. You said goodbye to the security of your homeland, the peace and familiarity of family and friends. You sacrificed so much just to become an American. But your voice is unheard! You have the biggest dog in this fight, and yet you remain silent! Do you really want your good name, your dreams, your commitment, your honor, your integrity and your character sullied, muddied, ruined, and blackened by these illegals? Do you really want to keep hearing that the problems with illegals are quote- an immigration – unquote problem? You are not illegals, and they are not immigrants! Why must you allow them to steal your good name and honor? Americans… true Americans love you! You are the very best of us! How can you stand shoulder to shoulder with these thugs, these usurpers, these criminals… these people who piss upon everything you stand for, everything you’ve sacrificed for, and everything you’ve worked for?

This problem is not complex, and the solutions are not confounding. They are simple. Any criminal must be punished and convinced to never commit the crime again. The penalties for being caught illegally in the United States must be so grievous that any attempt must be considered foolhardy at best, and terrifying at worst. The penalties for employing an illegal must be so sever that employers won’t even risk the possibility of being caught. At the very least, a company’s license to engage in commerce must be immediately and permanently revoked. Those who approved the hiring of illegals must be jailed.

As far as the illegals, themselves, they found their way to our doors, they can find their way out. If a criminal is caught, they must be treated not as a member of our American family, but as the trespasser he or she is. The Constitution is a legally binding contract between Americans and their government. Illegals are not a party to it, and are afforded no protections under it. That is not to say they have no rights as human beings; only they have no protections under our Constitution. If you wish to have your Miranda rights read to you, then you must pay the entry fee and declare your allegiance to that very document that protects such a right! You do that by immigrating and undergoing the naturalization process. You must show you wish to become a member of this family, as millions upon millions have over the last 600 years.

It takes more than crossing a border to become an American. You either become an American, or you will be treated… not as a second-class citizen… but recognized as being no citizen at all!

We who stand here today to defend our country and our culture are not the descendants of the Know Nothing Party, who were against immigrants of all stripes, but as Americans who embrace our legally and lovingly adopted brothers and sisters. We welcome immigrants with passion and a deep understanding that they remind us… an often jaded and ignorant populace of native-borns… of what is truly great about these United States. America, and being an American is something worth living for, sacrificing for, and even dying for. It is the immigrants that remind us this is a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom, liberty, and opportunity in a world sadly lacking in all those things. We stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters. And we condemn anyone who would shortcut the journey of naturalization, who would spit upon the very laws, history, culture and language that we cherish, anyone who would cheapen the title of American citizen! Illegals are neither our bothers nor our friends. They are criminals, thieves interested only in what they can take, not what they can give. They have no desire to contribute to this American family, only to take from it everything they can. If they wish to live here, within our American home, they must show a willingness to respect our rules, our history, and our language. Until then, they are trespassers and burglars who must be treated as all others of their illegal ilk. They must be arrested, detained, and removed from our home!

Charles King Byrne
Denver Colorado 80211