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Wednesday, 01/03/07
Reader views: Should Congress put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship?

Why can't the United States of America do the right thing, as prescribed by our Constitution, on this illegal immigration problem?

The ones that are guilty of breaking our laws are as guilty as other legal citizens who break our laws. Nowhere in our Constitution does it categorize different exceptions to ignoring the laws that we choose to ignore.


I've heard so many excuses to allow those who are guilty to live on in the U.S., without regard for their criminal acts. What's next — if you can escape from other criminal acts for a period of time, you will be forgiven for your past? Not.

The solution is simple — enforce the laws of this country as they are intended today. The people who chose to ignore the law have no say in their punishment. They have no rights to any services paid for by the legal citizens of this country. They are fugitives in our country, and should be treated as such.

Joe McDowell
Pegram 37143

How many of you are tired of hearing big-business owners cry every time our immigration laws are enforced? I for one, am totally fed up with it.

Americans are being portrayed as being "bad guys" simply because we feel that people here illegally — taking American jobs and collecting social services benefits — should be prosecuted and deported (or both).

The recent show "Brokaw Reports" just showed construction company owners crying about their illegal workers being harassed. These companies were building in high-cost areas. I'm sure their profits were affected since they hire these illegal people at much lower hourly rates than Americans can live on.

Should we feel sorry for them? Of course not. If our immigration laws had been enforced for the past 20 years, and companies who hire these people were severely prosecuted, there would be no need for discussing immigration reform. This is just another word for amnesty, and I am totally against it.

Our immigration policy does need some changes, since it takes too long to obtain legal residency. However, changing our immigration laws in order to allow corporate America a cheap work force, or allowing more than 12 million illegal people to become citizens with the signing of a form is totally wrong, and just pushes American citizens closer to the poorhouse.

To all the illegal immigrants I say, go home and force your government to change their laws, so you can have jobs.

William Scarbro
Bethpage, TN 37022