And NO, it's not the '3 'S's'.....
~CL
==================================


07/24/2005
How to deal with illegal immigrats
By:Courier staff

Our View: It's time to deal with illegal immigration

Montgomery County is miles away from the southern border with Mexico, yet illegal immigration has affected our county in numerous ways, and now may be prompting a backlash.
Frustrated with the federal government's unwillingness or inability to stop illegal immigration, a group known as the Minutemen made news recently by policing the southern border. One of its members says the group plans to stage some activities here in Conroe. It is probably just the first taste of what will happen when local residents, faced with government inaction, feel forced to take matters in their own hands.
Texas spent nearly $4 million in 2004 to educate illegal immigrant students and U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national, nonprofit organization focusing on immigration issues.
Also, the federal government this year will give Texas $46 million to reimburse hospitals for emergency care required for illegal immigrants. Montgomery County is part of that story, as local hospitals are forced to absorb the costs of providing unreimbursed care to illegal immigrants.
There have been other issues as well. It took a committee consisting of local businessmen, Hispanics and city officials to deal with the problems caused along Frazier Street by day laborers, many of them illegal immigrants.
Finally, as our nation continues its war on terror, the national security implications of allowing millions of people to live and work here in the shadows can no longer be ignored. Something needs to be done about illegal immigration.
Fortunately, it does appear the president and Congress finally are preparing to act. The key is to avoid the mistakes of the past, namely the ill-conceived 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which promised to control the problem of illegal immigration while offering amnesty and expunging the records of some three million illegal immigrants. The legislation was a massive failure because it didn't consider the incentives that draw millions of immigrants here every year, and because it didn't provide the resources needed to police the border.
Good legislation will do both of the above; one bill that comes close has been offered by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Arizona.
The Kyl-Cornyn legislation makes a serious attempt at securing the border and cracking down on employing illegal aliens, which would help dry up the employment opportunities that draw illegal immigrants.
The legislation also addresses the millions of illegal immigrants already here. Realizing that criminalizing and deporting 7 to 11 million people is impossible, a system must be created to bring these millions out of the shadows and into a legal framework. The Kyl-Cornyn legislation would do that with a proposed temporary worker program that would allow an unlimited number of immigrants to work here for a maximum of six years;
illegal immigrants would have to return home to enroll. Those who register with the program would be given five years to get their affairs in order and move back home.
Obviously, the answers aren't easy. But doing nothing is no longer an option.

©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2005