Congress doesn't have will to fix illegal immigration issue

Published: March 28. 2011 4:55AM -
Last modified: March 28. 2011 7:59AM


In the United States, our governments - local, state and federal - want everyone to obey the laws. Most of us agree that doing so is in the best interest for everyone, especially when enforcement is accomplished without regard to personal or political consideration.

We have procedures to amend or repeal laws we find onerous or unfair. We also have elected officials who will, for political reasons, enact laws designed to mollify some constituents they never intend to enforce. There are ways to accomplish that end, and those officials use them in ways that seem to escape public attention.

One very good example is so egregious it screams for attention, yet no one seems to hear. This is the law passed by the Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. It provided for penalties against employers who hire illegal aliens. After a couple of high-profile raids and court cases, enforcement quickly and quietly faded away. Why? Two really big reasons. First, big business objected, and guess where the largest campaign donations came from?

Second is an item not well known by the public for whom the law was passed in the first place. The Democratic majority that passed the law did not provide funding for the enforcement.

Was that an oversight or an accident? No, it was deliberate. It happens to be something Congress could easily correct if it had the will, but Congress never intended this law to be enforced.

What are the consequences of this deliberate failure to protect our borders? Many things, among which are identity theft, fraudulent Social Security numbers and increased crimes of every variety you can think of, not to mention massive taxpayer funding for education, medical care for these illegals along with costs of prosecution and incarceration of illegal alien criminals, welfare fraud and other things too numerous to mention in this space.

All are on the backs of American taxpayers.

It is estimated that of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the country, nearly half a million are criminals who are presently awaiting or evading deportation. They are getting lots of help from various places, including a Congress that refuses to correct the problem.

If penalties against employers who flout the law were seriously enforced, there would no doubt be a reduction of people crossing the border illegally. Unemployment would go down because the jobs taken by low-paid illegals would have to be filled by someone. The economy might even improve a little.

Gary Bearden is a resident of Milford and a member of The Spectrum & Daily News Writers Group.

http://www.thespectrum.com/article/2011 ... /103280311