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Let's attach enforcement responsibility to laws
By George Sjostrom
November 12, 2005

A certain hypocrisy has crept into our form of government, and it's hard to tell whether it is happening by accident or by intent. The hypocrisy is that we pass laws that we are unable or unwilling to enforce.

The immigration laws are only one example. The federal government has passed laws that test the character of potential immigrants, that establish quotas, and that require specific oaths of allegiance.

Yet, for all intents and purposes, our borders are wide open. May we ask why our legislators don't either amend the law, or enforce it?

Politicians have found it too easy to appease public opinion without facing up to the implied burden of enforcement. There should be a test before any proposal becomes law: Do we have the guts or the money to enforce it?

This is not just some empty philosophical dilemma. It's as down to earth as our speed laws. Have you wondered when road signs read "Maximum speed limit 55," that half the traffic passes you by, as if you were parked.

Have you wondered what hypocrisy of intent would mark turn lanes with arrows pointing in both directions? It's an invitation to disaster. Have you wondered who enforces the elaborate blue-lined handicap zones when an impatient driver pulls in for a quick hamburger?

The easy answer is that our politicians, as well as we taxpayers, are unwilling to fund the number of police necessary to enforce compliance. Or, is this ambiguity deliberate?

An even more serious problem swirls around an identification card issued by Latin American consulates and known in Mexico by the name "Matricula Consular." This is an identity card ostensibly issued to nonlegal immigrants so that they can make themselves known to consular officers around the world.

In September 2001, the Mexican government had glowing expectations that they could negotiate a comprehensive immigration agreement with the United States that would ease Mexico's massive unemployment burden. But when the 9/11 terror attacks hit, the United States was suddenly unwilling to entertain any exceptions to our immigration laws.

To appease its problem, Mexico began issuing millions of matricula consular cards. These were official identity cards within Mexico and, hopefully, were to become recognized within the United States.

This card, in reality, is useful only for illegal aliens, since all legal immigrants are already eligible for U.S. government-issued documents. Unfortunately, U.S. businesses and in fact the government itself, have become addicted to the booming new market for goods and services that is made up of illegal aliens.

The economic temptation is overwhelming our legal contract. Some of our largest banking institutions have issued more than half a million matricula accounts. Sprint and Horizon offer cell-phone service to matricula card holders.

Matricula holders can apply to the IRS for a tax identification number, allowing them to pay taxes like any documented citizen. Yes, they are even eligible to obtain home mortgages.

It's hard to say what is practically correct, what is morally right or wrong. But it's not hard to say that we have immigration laws prohibiting the very behavior that this lack of enforcement encourages.

Estimates of the number of illegal aliens already in the United States range from 11 million to as many as 20 million. These growing numbers are putting downward pressure on wages, overloading our schools and bankrupting our emergency medical services. But our politicos keep passing laws without teeth.

There may not be an easy answer, but it's obvious we have to put an end to the hypocrisy of passing laws we don't intend to enforce.

We have cities and counties and states and a federal government writing laws to satisfy every political whim imaginable. What we need is one more law, a law that requires politicians to provide specific funding to enforce every law they enact.

If a moral conscience is too difficult for our political system, then let's at least establish an economic one. Let's make it mandatory to include enforcement cost in every law. Then, either enforce our laws or revoke them.