My response to Mr. Jacoby:


Dear Mr. Jacoby,

I am writing in response to your recent op-ed piece titled 'Illegal immigrants are here to stay'. I would just like to add a few points in response:

For one, if a person chooses to enter, stay and work in the US without formal permission or documentation, the same person assumes the risk of breaking such laws. Yes, they do live in a certain degree of fear as do most all people that break the law. The fear of apprehension is a real and legitimate fear. Now, as far as the employers (MBI) go, I agree, their treatment was not harsh enough. They too, deserve to be punished. In my opinion, a punishment that requires the loss of the business ('disincorporation') would be a sufficient sanction.

As far as the policy being 'incoherent', well, I do not believe that is an accurate characterization. The policy, as constructed, is coherent. The real problem is the lack of enforcement which has lapsed at the Federal level over time. It is not fair to say that our immigration policies 'have failed' until a very serious attempt to enforce those same laws has been done. In 1986, we also had revisited the illegal immigration/ amnesty issue to supposedly, 'solve these problems once and for all'. Of course, not only did the 1986 amnesty legislation fail to achieve long term security and stem the flow of illegals, it compounded the problem. A 1986-like policy also forebodes an eventual policy failure. (In fact, Sen. Alan Simpson, co-author of the 1986 amnesty legislation recently claimed the policy to be a complete failure)

Of course an underlying hostility toward illegal immigrants exists. While having a large number of illegals *may* benefit certain special interest groups, businesses seeking slave-type labor, and some religious organizations, etc. their continued presence in the country is a definite loss for the average US citizen. They are forced to cover the additional costs in terms of health, education, social services, etc. while sacrificing on the 'other' income side of the equation through greater competition for jobs at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. It is a no-win proposition for your average US citizen; only special interests stand to benefit from maintenance of the status-quo.

Finally, you mention that it is impractical to deport millions of illegal aliens. While there are individuals which do espouse such a policy, I believe that by reducing the 'magnets' of attraction, while adding greater disincentives, attrition over time will take place. I personally know of at least one case (via extended family) whereby this exact mechanism has proven to work. Having said the above, I should remind you that under the Eisenhower administration in the mid-50's, a serious attempt was undertaken to help repatriate many Mexican nationals - whom were living illegally in the US. While the actual number of those apprehended and repatriated was only about 100,000, five to six times that number were estimated to have 'self-deported' as a by product. In total about 600,000 people ultimately left the country.

Sincerely,

XXXX