Immigration Debate

There's an article that appeared today in UCLA's student newspaper. It's a story of a girl going through life absolutely unaware that she was an illegal immigrant. Her parents told her of her status after 18 years of misleading her (it's assumed this was near or as she was graduating high school). She moved out of the house after high school and went out on her own. She's worked odd jobs and took college classes at UCLA whenever she could afford to. She is nearing graduation, but her future is uncertain. What kind of job can she expect given her status?

This story is an obvious heartstring puller. My take is a little different though, because I would feel the same if she knew her whole life that she was illegal. She's hardworking and is doing nearly anything in her power to better herself. We need this type of person in our country. We need to get motivated people here and encourage them to no end.

The recent attempt at immigration reform (S. 1348, The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007) was roundly rejected by staunch conservatives. Conservative talk radio lambasted the idea from all sides (except Michael Medved). The current situation we have is not good, and for some reason has recently dropped off of everyone's radar. Building a fence is great, we should enforce our border with unabashed strictness, however we need to open our doors much wider. I cannot think of any good reason why we don't want to encourage intelligent, motivated, (sometimes quite educated) immigrants to come to the U.S., the land of opportunity.

I am disheartened by the stories (as well as my person experiences) of laziness and general malaise for anything not popular culture. I shudder from the fact that we make laws, but don't enforce them. If we believe the laws are unjust, repeal them. If we believe they are just, enforce them. As a people we need to "man-up" and realize that our healthcare system is being strapped by our inability to deny care to anyone at any time. People are being taken advantage of through lower than minimum wages and unsafe work environments because they don't dare to report their employer (for fear of deportation).

My over simplistic course of action involves the following...

• We need to make it known far and wide that we are going to make immigration reform a priority (and then do so!). We must increased enforcement and re-evaluation of our laws). Illegal immigrants must know that they cannot continue as they are, but they must have hope for someday becoming a true U.S. citizen. With no hope they will continue hiding, trying to just mind their own business.
• We must force them to pay a penalty for the fact that they have indeed broken U.S. law (as well as paying any necessary back taxes for a period). There are plenty of laws that, when broken, incur no prison time, but require a fine as a penalty, I see this as a very valid application of such punishment.
• They must go through a legal immigration process that doesn't reward their illegal status (i.e. putting them at the head of the line). This would only encourage others to come illegally just to become a citizen faster than they could normally.
• We must help and encourage people to go through this process. This will relieve their burden and society's burden form the fact that they're living outside the system, and thus illegally. This is an extremely important point, because I certainly don't believe everyone wants things to just keep going as they are.

I know I am thinking too simplistically, but I think no action is a terrible thing. The process sucks right now, and we cannot continue to tacitly allow 12-14 million (some say 7-20million) to continue living in violation of established law.

I empathise for illegals, but to me that means nothing. I believe emotion greatly skews decision making (quite often with terrible unintended consequences). I see illegals' motivation to better their lives as a force that will do nothing if not help the U.S.