Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Holes in the ozone? Try holes in the borders!

One of the most popular topics of debate on Capitol Hill is that of illegal immigration. Whether it's debating the threat posed by border-hoppers or the necessity of regulating the rights of those already here makes no difference, many on the right have firmly entrenched themselves in their position opposite the left.

Apart from the leniancy President Bush seems to be showing towards illegals, the consensus from conservatives is that we need to take on a massive overhaul of border security and strangle the problem at its source. Now I'm not implying Pres. Bush is on the left with this issue, however he is taking quite a lax approach to the problem. The objection many conservatives have with his policy lately regarding immigration is that while he acknowledges the problem, his reactions are bordering on negligent. The only positive facet of his approach is that he understands the extent of the problem, and that it must be dealt with. The majority of liberals on the other hand continue to fight at the state and local level for increased rights regarding aliens. Recently here in Wisconsin, Rep. Pedro Colon (D-Milwaukee) has called for legislation that would grant in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. In an era of heightened security risks on every imaginable front, this is not the approach we should be taking.

As previously mentioned, the conservative consensus is that tight borders need to be enforced at all costs, and the rights of illegals need to be taken to a minimum as to avoid the problem encountered on 9/11. In the aftermath of that fateful day, it was discovered that many of the conspirators and players were illegals that had overstayed their visas. Meanwhile they were allowed to procure multiple driver's licenses for each of them which consequently allowed them to move freely around the country and even to acquire flight training without so much as an inkling of suspicion. One would tend to assume that as a result of this gross negligence toward the rewarding of driver's licenses to illegals, all government channels would try their damndest to cut off this avenue and make it harder for terrorist networks to function on American soil. Nevertheless we continue to this day to witness the undying attempts of conservative lawmakers to fix the problem of immigration running into incredible resistance. The liberals in Congress and on state legislatures refuse to budge and even find ways to give more rights to illegals.

It is time once and for all that lawmakers at every level threw down the gauntlet. The time has long since passed for stricter management of the borders, and now we must minimize the damage before it gets any worse. Every hole in the borders must be plugged, and every illegal already on American soil must be tracked down and documented. We can no longer afford to sit idly by while hundreds of thousands of aliens live amongst us unmonitored. I am proud of Pres. Bush for responding to the events of 9/11 so well as to stave off attack thus far, but at the pace we are fixing the remaining problems it is only a matter of time before one of these problems blows up into a catastrophe.

Stay posted, further updates are forthcoming...

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