Bill Jones | Ramp up protection against illegal aliens

April 29, 2012 Bill Jones | Ramp up protection against illegal aliens

Bill Jones
— Aiding and abetting a criminal is a crime in every state of our Union, yet we find people in all levels of our society doing just that, including top levels of our political structure.

If we were to help a bank robber, a common thief, a suspected murderer or any other of the so-called “recognized” criminals avoid capture and punishment, we would be jailed, and we should be.

But we continue to hear our politicians propose amnesty and various other niceties for illegal aliens. We even hear some claim we should use the term “undocumented aliens” instead of branding them “illegals.”

What part of the word “illegal” do these people not understand? How hard is it for anybody to understand that there are legal and lawful ways for folks from other countries to enter the United States, either as a visitor or a prospective citizen? Anybody who enters in any other way has done so illegally, and is a criminal.

Why do we coddle these criminals? Why do we make excuses for them? Why do we lie to ourselves and each other to protect them?

The first lie is that they come to do jobs that American workers will not do. But the truth is that there are no jobs Americans will not do if the pay is adequate. Americans accept this falsehood because a head of lettuce might cost us 25 cents more if growers had to pay for American workers to care for and harvest their crops. Thus, the truth of this argument is that illegal aliens put some Americans out of work.

Another lie is that those crossing the border illegally are just poor Mexican families seeking a better life and hoping to become U.S. citizens.

While this is true of a tiny minority, most Mexicans who cross the border illegally have no thought of becoming U.S. citizens. They live in enclaves, earn their money and send much of their income back to family members in Mexico.

They fly their own flag in this country and have no allegiance to our government.

Others come for a free ride for things they could not get in their own country, including free educations, free medical care and welfare payments, all at the expense of American taxpayers. Can you blame them for wading a river in the dark of the moon?

Not all who cross the border illegally are Mexicans.

Included among them are people from countries in Central America. Included among them are good people and bad. Among them could be agents of various unfriendly foreign governments, agents prepared to do us harm.

We do know that border states in the southwest have more crime, added expenses and a lot of debris from illegal aliens passing through their lands. One Arizonian wrote this comment on his website:

“I think these bleeding heart liberals need to understand that the people (not only Mexicans) who cross the border illegally have broken the law and are therefore criminals. They are not undocumented aliens, but illegal aliens. I live in Tucson, Ariz., and if the rest of the country could see how these illegals are destroying our desert, they might support us. If these illegals threw as much trash in your yards, you would want them arrested.”

Arizona kicked up a national frenzy a few years ago by passing a law that gave the police authority to ask for proof of citizenship if they stopped Latinos. Among the outcries were “racism” and “profiling.”

We have become too sensitive about both those words.

If you are in an area where illegal aliens have become a widespread problem, and 99 percent of the illegals are Latinos, it is only common sense to look for your culprits among that group rather than the general population.

Arizona became a target because somebody chose to make it a target. It was not the first state to try to protect itself from being overrun. A number of others have done so, and hopefully others including Pennsylvania will do so in the future.

As early as 2007, Missouri voters approved a referendum by an almost 90-percent margin to make English the official language of the state. One interpretation of that law is that no individual has a right to demand government services in any language other than English.

In 2008, Missouri required its state highway patrol and other law-enforcement personnel to ascertain the immigration status of any person arrested. The same law provided for officers to obtain training in federal immigration law enforcement. And it barred illegal aliens from obtaining benefits, including food stamps and medical care.

One year later, another state law said that no illegal alien would be permitted to receive financial aid from any public institution, including colleges and universities.

This is not a diatribe against the Mexican people. I have known many who have been outstanding citizens.

I do believe we have a need to protect our borders, especially in this age of international terrorism. We cannot know how many would-be terrorists sneak into our country in the guise of poor Mexican families.

We have been very lax in protecting our borders. While countries of central and eastern Europe protected their borders with machine guns and deadly fire, we have settled for an occasional patrol.

It is not enough.

source: Bill Jones | Ramp up protection against illegal aliens » Editorials » The Tribune Democrat, Johnstown, PA