http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/01 ... _08_45.txt

By: Freeman Sawyer

Commentary

There's actually little difference between amnesty and the guest worker program proposed by President Bush. These ideas of the current administration are just an attempt to legalize what is illegal.

Almost all Democratic and 50 percent of Republican legislators favor these destructive ideas, meaning poll results on these issues have lost all meaning for our elected federal officials. The past two years, U.S. citizens polled 70 percent against illegal immigration. However, only 14 percent of elected officials felt illegal immigration is a problem.


Amnesty was tried unsuccessfully in this country in 1986. Our government forgave all those who had broken our immigration laws, with disastrous results. As word of possible amnesty spread, it was like a magnet, flooding our southern border with even more attempting to beat the amnesty clock. Recent conversations with a Border Patrol agent confirmed the paperwork has still not been completed from this almost 20-year-old program.

The American people were promised the 1986 amnesty would be the only one ever permitted. It was to have been a one-time attempt to solve illegal immigration and start over with an up-to-date, accurate accounting of all those living within our borders.

The Republican answer to the fact that most Americans are upset with illegal immigration is the guest worker program. President Bush has said we need to match up every willing employer with a willing employee! Why is it the responsibility of our government to be a job clearinghouse for Mexican nationals? Perhaps, this is a job better suited for Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Our own unemployment is still around 6 percent. Why isn't our president more concerned about putting Americans to work?

Will our loyal neighbors to the south pay to set up this new bureaucracy, regulations and its enforcement? Should we expect the same quality of enforcement we've experienced with our now existing federal immigration laws?

History, the best teacher, might identify the kind of employers with an interest in hiring guest workers as the same kind of cheats and criminals who hired illegal aliens in the past. The same kind of employers who felt no shame in letting other taxpayers and charities pick up the tab for everything for their illegal employees except their measly wages.

Will the guest worker program work? The Bracero program of the 1950s worked fine until the Mexican workers stopped going home. Some of them and their descendants are still here today. Will it be any different this time? If you came to the U.S. from an impoverished country like Mexico, would you return home if you did not absolutely have to?

Why do elected Republicans and Democrats alike have basically the same opinion on this subject? Why are both groups willing to overlook the national security problems that arise from allowing large numbers of unaccounted-for foreigners into our country? Why are they so intent on finding a way to let those who are already here illegally stay?

The answers are "money" and "votes." Employers will contribute vast sums of money for changes in immigration laws that will provide so-called cheap labor. We, as taxpayers, will have to pick up the slack. Everyone pays for this cheap labor. The payback for the politicians will be the votes they expect to receive from catering to these illegals and their champions. Apparently, Bush adviser Karl Rove has convinced President Bush that Republicans can share in this bounty.

If illegal immigration, amnesty,and guest worker programs are all failures, what will work? The answer is simple: Enforce our laws! We have a legal immigration process in effect now. If people want to come to our country, let them do it in a legal manner. It is not necessary to change laws to make the illegal legal.

Freeman Sawyer lives in Murrieta.