Thread: Call Them What They Are: Illegal Aliens

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May 5, 2010

Call Them What They Are: Illegal AliensBy Ed Koch


The push is on for providing amnesty to the estimated 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country. The supporters of this effort include President Barack Obama, former president George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, Majority Leader Harry Reid and New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Senator Schumer is now chairman of the immigration subcommittee previously chaired by the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a major amnesty proponent.

Amnesty supporters see themselves as taking the high road and claim that amnesty opponents are opposed to immigration, when nothing could be further from the truth. Many amnesty opponents actually support expanding legal immigration. Currently, the U.S. has the highest legal immigration in the world. Every year, we allow 750,000 immigrants to enter the country legally and make them eligible for citizenship within five years. Two hundred and fifty thousand aslyees are also permitted to enter annually. Those legal immigrants have the
right to work and earn a living; the asylees are eligible to work six months after applying to work. If we need more immigrants, as many think we do to expand the workforce of our graying population, then we can easily increase the number of legal immigrants.


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Ed Koch RealClearPolitics
Arizona United States


If we give the current illegals amnesty, you can be sure that 20 or so years from now, there will be a clamor for another amnesty bill as the illegals will continue to pour in. For example, the Simpson-Mazzoli bill, adopted by Congress in 1986, was hailed as the last amnesty bill we would need because the borders of the U.S., then a sieve, would be better protected. However, our borders continued to be porous, and the number of illegals burgeoned, and here we are again with the illegals and their supporters seeking amnesty once more for ever larger numbers.

No country in the world has open borders that foreigners can enter at will, certainly not Mexico. Arizona has an estimated 500,000 illegal aliens living in the state and in 2009, the border patrol agents arrested 241,000 illegal aliens, which is why that state enacted controversial legislation out of frustration. Arizona's citizens are outraged by the presence of many criminals among the people crossing their border - remember there is an ongoing drug war in Mexico with thousands of Mexicans being killed and wounded south of the border by other Mexicans. Arizona does not want that war to spill over into Arizona. Arizona citizens are also distressed with the demands made by illegals upon medical and educational services.

Regrettably, the Arizona legislation went too far, allowing local police to ask individuals "reasonably suspected" to be illegal immigrants for identifying papers. This conjures up images of Nazis engaging in Jew catching in Germany. On the other hand, it would be sound and defensible policy to have the local police examine at the workplace the identity papers of all employees to ascertain whether they are legally allowed to work and, most important, ascertain if employers had intentionally violated current U.S. laws requiring employers to check the immigration status of hired workers. Those employers who intentionally violate the law should be pursued criminally and, if convicted, go to prison. Regrettably, this is not what is happening. If that policy were strictly enforced, illegal aliens would go home, since they are here primarily to get a job and send money home to their families. Recently, I saw an estimate that a million illegals had returned home because of our recession and unemployment in the U.S. which is now at 9.7 percent.

Amnesty supporters refuse to use the term illegal aliens, preferring instead undocumented aliens. They should call them what they are: illegal. Amnesty proponents also should acknowledge that an open border policy is indefensible and irrational and has not been adopted by any other country.

If open borders were such a good idea, why don't we try on a limited scale simply expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among Mexico, Canada and the U.S. and allow anyone living in those three countries access to jobs in any of them? Would Canada consent to that? Would Mexico? I doubt it.

A week ago, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Great Britain had to apologize to a woman voter for referring to her as "bigoted" when she voiced her objections to millions of Europeans in the European Union lawfully flooding into Great Britain and taking jobs. I don't know whether she is bigoted in her attitude toward other Europeans, but she doesn't have to be a bigot to object to the English having to compete for jobs and services such as healthcare and education with immigrants from other countries.

Mark McKinnon, who was a senior adviser to John McCain and President George W. Bush, was quoted in The New York Times of April 28th, as stating, "Immigration is the most explosive issue I've seen in my political career." According to The Times, Mr. McKinnon "...also supported giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship." But, in his view, "an election year is the worst time to move good public policy on this issue."

During the Bush presidency, amnesty proponents were twice defeated when they tried to shove their self-defined "good policy" down the throats of the voters. Amnesty advocates believed, as they do now, that they know what is best for us, but the American public stood up and said "no." In an election year, the voters can throw the bums out, and that is why Congress fears to bring the issue up before the November elections.

I predict the Schumer legislation supported by President Obama and a whole host of prominent public officials and the media will fail. I also believe it is outrageous to threaten understandably frustrated, but misguided, Arizona with boycotts because we disagree with the protective procedures it has adopted. Let's leave the legality of those procedures to the courts. We are one country and should not be boycotting one another. Persuasion should be our tool of choice, not punishment.



Ed Koch is the former Mayor of New York City.

U know what...ya...I am apposed to any more immigration... Until the unemployment is Zero... NO MORE IMMIGRATION!!!! So how do you like me now!!!!!

Illegal means illegal. I support legal immigration 100%. My family immigrated legally. They had to have a skill, be disease free, crime record free, have a sponser, spoke ENGLISH, and passed the test in ENGLISH. People who come here illegally and demand we pay this and that make me sick. No other country would put up with that. I refuse to put my hard earned tax dollars to support people here illegally. We have enough legal citizens who are going hungry, cannot afford medications, living homeless..etc...I REFUSE TO PAY FOR 20+ MILLION MORE. Especially when they burn our flag (yeah..good citizen) and act like they deserve this. NO...they do not. My family worked hard to get here, and we would have never disrespected this country like they are doing. I also have 20% Cherokee in my heritage, but the past is long ago. I can speak from many different soapboxes. I feel for their pain, but my goodness, how many thousands of our jobs have moved there? We need our jobs here! If my family suddenly lost our jobs, I would be happy to mow lawns or pick fruit to feed my family. We are no longer America. I do not feel it is necessary to pulse numero dos para espanol on the phone. My family did not have that option. Go get one of our thousands of jobs that moved there...there is plenty for you. What would happen to me if I sneaked over to Mexico illegally? Wake up Obama. How many tens of thousands are violent criminals? Or spreading horrible antibiotic resistant diseases that were almost gone here? Yes..i am a nurse too..I see it.
Obama, I make a stand to no longer support lawbreakers. They can go home and do it right, just as immigrating to any other country.
I will be supporting Arizona, vacationing there and buying their products. Thank you for taking a stand when eveyone else thinks it's OK to abuse our laws and suck our funds dry!
Some have compared cracking down to the Holocaust...No..that would mean lining them up and gassing them. Sending them back is NO comparison. How dare anyone compare us to Hitler. Read up on history.
We need America back...A nice melting pot fair for all who do so legally. There are many in other countries trying hard to get here...it is unfair to them to allow these people to stay when they are working hard and get nowhere. Shame on us USA for tolerating this so long. Take a good hard look at our own who need our help but cannot get it. Makes me sick!

[quote="hardlineconstitutionalist"]U know what...ya...I am apposed to any more immigration... Until the unemployment is Zero... NO MORE IMMIGRATION!!!! So how do you like me now!!!!![/quote

I'm with ya on that one...no more immigration until American workers (including my wife) are fully employed...I like ya just fine by the way!!!!

Many amnesty opponents actually support expanding legal immigration.

Don't count me as one of them. Any amnesty opponent that has watched NumbersUSA's Gumball video would have to be out of his or her mind to support expanding "legal immigration."

I agree with the NO immigration until unemployment is under 5%. Awesome!!

I agree that illegal immigration should be like this:

100% legal and people should qualify to come and live here. It also should stop being all about Mexicans and include other races too. Mexicans dominate the immigration issue hands down. Nobody hears a thing about people form other nationalities. It's all about THEM. Immigration should be balanced and fair. Illegal immigration should be done away with, permanently. No anchor babies. One or both parents should be green card holders or citizens.

Originally Posted by MW

Many amnesty opponents actually support expanding legal immigration.

Don't count me as one of them. Any amnesty opponent that has watched NumbersUSA's Gumball video would have to be out of his or her mind to support expanding "legal immigration."

Me either. 10 year moratorium on legal immigration and CLOSE the southern border! Im to the point now where at one time I might have supported legal immigration, but no more. Times are different - we don't need any more immigrants. It seems most of them are third worlders that are in fact a burden - who needs them!?