'Total allegiance' needed to be a part of the United States

September 2, 2007
By Ruth Williams
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/opin ... 29.article

That was a fine column by Kimberly Brehm on Aug. 27 on the saga of illegal alien and immigration activist Elvira Arellano. Elvira hid out in the United States for five years, never bothered to learn our common language of English, committed a felony by falsifying Social Security identification and disregarded a court order of deportation for her second illegal border crossing. She also bore a son from a paramour to use as her shield as she actively campaigned for relaxed immigration laws. Our nation needs to strengthen our immigration requirements and standards, not relax them, before we become a Third World country.

I agree with Brehm that American citizenship should not be automatically granted to babies born of illegal aliens. The son Elvira was so willing to leave behind in the hope he will become an immigration activist already has become a poster child for the movement, and you can bet he will be brainwashed by activists into believing the laws of our country should neither be respected or obeyed.

Hopefully, the Department of Children and Family Services will step in before the potential of this child as a citizen is completely destroyed and oversee his well-being. He already has been exposed to such trauma, anxiety and confusion by the actions of his irresponsible mother that he needs help toward a more rewarding childhood.

Citizenship, freedom and the pursuit of happiness all come down to one common denominator: personal responsibility that first and foremost requires total allegiance to our country and to our laws that are spelled out in our Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. Freedom and liberty should never be equated with the price of tomatoes and lettuce.

Our freedom and liberty has been bought and paid for by the countless generations of dedicated American citizens and courageous men of our Armed Forces from 1775 through this year of 2007, and still counting.

There is no free ride for anyone and that includes members of the Congress who think they can pilfer yet more money from our Social Security Trust Fund to aid illegal aliens and provide benefits to immigrants who have never paid a dime into the system.

Ruth Williams is a resident of Oak Forest, Illinois