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Prez we need on illegals is long gone
Bob Barr - For the Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, May 3, 2006

The president of the United States said:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.

"But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American and nothing but an American ... There can be no divided allegiance here.

"We have room for but one flag, the American flag . . . We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language . . . and we have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Surprised that the president of the United States would make such a statement? Surprised that the president would clearly support the notion that people in this country whose allegiance is divided between our country and another --- say, Mexico --- are not, and should not be considered, Americans? Surprised that the president would state the obvious --- that English is the language of our country and we have but one flag --- the American flag?

Actually, there's no reason for surprise. The current president of the United States did not utter these words. He has been busy giving speeches explaining why the United States will not enforce its duly enacted laws against illegal entry into this country.

The present chief executive ("commander in chief," as he regularly reminds us) is preoccupied with explaining how a proposal to fast-track illegals toward citizenship based on how long they've been in this country unlawfully is not a version of "amnesty."

The common-sense quote above was uttered a century ago by another U.S. president --- one who understood what words such as "sovereignty" and "lawful" and "allegiance" actually meant. The words were spoken in 1907 by Theodore Roosevelt, who served as president in a time when political correctness did not infect the national landscape.

While President Bush finds it impossible to speak of "illegal aliens" and prefers instead the kinder, gentler phrase "undocumented workers," his predecessor in 1907 would have found no difficulty in calling those who enter this country in contravention of our immigration laws exactly what they are --- "illegals."

One can legitimately debate how best to deal with the millions of persons in this country unlawfully, and about how to fix the hopelessly broken immigration system we are trying to keep functioning with little more than duct tape and paper clips.

But if our leaders in Washington cannot even understand the basics, and cannot employ honest and meaningful language in addressing the problem, then there's probably not much reason for any of us to hope that those leaders will solve the problem.

While the demonstrations earlier this week by illegal aliens and their supporters clogged some streets in several major American cities, and as Mexicans in Mexico --- in a bizarre and utterly pointless display of bravado --- demonstrated against gringos, our leaders in the Senate and the White House continued to wring hands and bloviate.

Only the U.S. House of Representatives seems to have found any backbone on the immigration debate, having passed a bill many weeks ago that would, if enacted, at least begin the process of securing our porous southern border. In the view of at least a majority of members in the House, it is necessary to stanch the flow of illegals into America before we start pandering to those already in the country --- as Bush and many in the Senate are wont to do.

If the House bill actually became law --- which is virtually impossible insofar as it conflicts with the president's vision --- then we could appropriately begin structuring a new system for dealing with immigration.

Once we secure the borders and actually start enforcing laws against the hiring of illegal aliens in this country, Congress could hold hearings, conduct oversight and pass legislation that would establish meaningful guest-worker programs, determine realistic immigrant visa categories and numbers, and dramatically strengthen penalties on businesses that violate the laws.

Of course, the success of all of this would be predicated on the notion of respect for the law. Teddy Roosevelt understood that. Unfortunately, many of our current generation of national leaders do not.

> Former congressman and U.S. Attorney Bob Barr practices law in Atlanta.

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