My Opening Statement

I will go ahead and give an opening statement now. I believe that the issue of illegal immigration is the most important policy issue in the United States today. Numerous public opinion polls verify this. For far to long our government policy makers have given a wink and a nod to all the illegal activity happening surrounding this issue and people are just fed up. We were told back in 1986 when the last amnesty was handed out that once this happened there would be strong enforcement measures acted upon. We were lied to. Nothing has really happened on the enforcement front for the last twenty years. There's been lots of lip service, but little action. How on God's green Earth are we supposed to believe anything the open border crowd tells us. If we give amnesty to the 20 million or so illegal immigrants here currently(according to a Bear Stearns report) or the 9 million figure by the Census Bureau, it will absolutely send the wrong signal to people wanting to come here that America doesn't care about its own citizens. A Heritage Foundation study on family reunification ramifications state that if amnesty is given out and all extended members of newly minted citizens are allowed to bring these extended family members into the country ahead of people already waiting in line, this number will reach 200 million people from Latin American countries in the next twenty years. How anyone can reasonably claim that this is a good idea for this country is beyond my comprehension, but that's why we're having this debate.

I think most people will agree that we live in the greatest nation in the world. There are roughly 6.5 billion people living on this Earth. Americans are one of the most giving people in the world. However it is not our responsibility to take care of these six billion people. A lot of them would like to emigrate here legally, but we have limits on how many people we can reasonably assimilate at one time. A study that came out last year in Mexico stated that roughly half the citizens of Mexico would like to come to the United States. We cannot let this happen becuase our social services are already strained to capacity. Does that make people like myself racist or bigoted to feel this way? Of course it doesn't. All those of us on this side of the issue are asking for is that the laws be enforced, nothing more, nothing less. We don't need any new laws passed. Just enforce the ones currently on the books. When Rome is burning, you don't add more fuel to the fire. If you doubt that Rome is burning, all you have to do is go to any ER or school in a lot of poor California neighborhoods...not to mention the congested highways/streets. So those are some of my thoughts on this issue to run with.