http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 7/MTCN0305

Wednesday, 01/03/07
Amnesty would undermine U.S.

By THERESA HARMON

The federal government has already tried granting an amnesty to illegal aliens in an effort to appease both sides in this issue. The amnesty was granted in 1986, the border enforcement never materialized, and the problem only worsened.

When the 1986 amnesty was granted, the federal government estimated that approximately 1 million new citizens would be added to the United States. The actual number turned out to be over 3 million — a 300-plus percent margin of error! Now, our government is admitting to between 12 million and 15 million already within our borders when even organizations such as the Pew Hispanic Center are estimating approximately 28 million! In actuality, the number is probably already well over 30 million and it doesn't stop there.


Once citizenship is gained by those who did not respect this nation's laws to come here, they will ALL be eligible to act as "anchors" for their extended family members, whom they may then "sponsor" to also bring here and, once the citizenship prize is obtained, they will all then become eligible for any manner of taxpayer-funded benefits to which they currently have no access including (but certainly not limited to) AFDC, Social Security, disability, food stamps and health care.

Burden is hurting elderly

This nation cannot afford to continue taking in the world's poor at these alarming rates and still maintain any semblance of our way of life for our own future generations to enjoy. Our elderly and others on fixed incomes are already being taxed out of their homes to pay for additional schools, roads and health care for those illegally within our borders, and many areas in our nation are already experiencing power and water shortages. Adding another 30 million people and their extended families will guarantee that these problems will only worsen into other areas.

Our current legal immigration system is designed to guarantee that our nation's cultural makeup will not be undermined by drastic increases from anyone outside culture and to keep the numbers low enough to ensure assimilation into our language and culture.

The immigration process is also charged with vetting those who wish to enter our borders to weed out the criminal element — something that will NOT be done in another amnesty situation. There are already about 25 American citizens PER DAY being killed by illegal aliens either through outright criminal acts or as victims of drunken drivers. Our federal prisons are ALREADY over 25 percent foreign nationals and local jails also contain disproportionate amounts of illegal aliens for various other criminal acts (more drains on tax coffers). Do we REALLY want to add more?

To continue granting amnesties to lawbreakers is only serving to undermine our national cohesiveness and balkanize our country right before our very eyes. It's time to get serious about border enforcement — not rewarding lawbreakers with citizenship.