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Carlsbad mayor puts price on freedoms

By Conor Friedersdorf, Staff Writer

Our basic freedoms are priceless, an estimate proven by the great price American soldiers and generations of citizens have paid to protect them.
But Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis apparently values freedom of speech and the freedom to assemble at less than $100,000, or so one would think from his unseemly whining about the costs of a forum on illegal immigration held in Carlsbad last week, Beyond Borders Blog reported.

After tallying the cost of dispatching police officers for security at the event, the mayor - whose city spends many thousands of dollars each month watering median landscapes and filling potholes - wants to send a bill to its organizer.

When I see all the ways that government wastes money, I'm appalled that city officials would tally costs for one of their core duties - ensuring the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly - and somehow suggest that it isn't the financial responsibility of the police department to provide such services.

On this occasion the meeting took place in Carlsbad. Next time it will take place elsewhere, and that city will bear the cost.

In every community local police departments protect core liberties that, when exercised freely everywhere, enable the American experiment with democracy to succeed.

If every mayor billed citizens exercising their basic liberties, like the Carlsbad mayor hopes to do, that democracy would instead whither, and volatile debates like the one surrounding immigration would become impossible to sustain.* * *

Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, talked to Beyond Borders Blog about his stance on immigration this week.

He has authored legislation that would create a tough-to-counterfeit Social Security card, a database that tells employers the legal status of potential employees and tougher penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants.

It's doubtful those measures would reduce illegal border crossings by 98 percent, as Dreier suggests, but nevertheless the bill would be a significant step toward reducing illegal immigration.

Unfortunately, Dreier also supports a temporary guest worker program that would allow immigrants to work for a while in the United States before returning to their country of origin.

He argues that many who work within the United States don't want to become citizens - rather they simply want to make money and return to their families in the foreign communities from whence they came.

As we argue more fully on the blog, the fact that many people want to come to the United States for economic reasons doesn't mean we must accept economic immigrants who haven't any interest in patriotic assimilation. When granting legal status, we ought to favor those immigrants who share our values and seek to become American citizens.* * *

Readers continue to contribute their ideas about our immigration system. For example, Mary Nafis suggested an alternative to deportation or amnesty for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already living within the United States.

"Instead of just granting them a free ride," she wrote, "why don't we require that they earn the privilege of becoming citizens? Each illegal would be required to volunteer x hours of community service (within a time deadline too) before they can become citizens."

Meanwhile, reader Carol Christian argues that forced mass deportation wouldn't be necessary if we changed our attitude toward the illegal immigrants living in our midst.

"When people are breaking the law and it is no longer condoned or tolerated by our government and citizens, these illegals will feel unwelcomed and know that they must return to their country. When they can no longer find work or get welfare, they will know that they have to return to their countries and go through the legal process."* * *

Question of the Week: Is breaking immigration law by coming to the United States illegally a serious offense that ought to stir moral indignation, or is it a minor offense such as jaywalking or speeding?

Visit www.beyondbordersblog.com , and e-mail conor.friedersdorf@dailybulletin.com with your questions, comments and opinions.