I saw this on the front page of the metropolitan section of the Dallas Morning News today, and it ticked me off!!! Just another pro-illegal pandering columnist for the DMN, like Ms. Sandoval. I'd write a complaint letter if I could figure out something "nice" to say!

And it's interesting that this story came out on the same day that the front page of the Dallas Morning News was talking about Dallas now being the fastest-growing city in the NATION!! Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the illegals not only flooding over our pourous Texas borders, and illegals rushing to Texas from Oklahoma, Arizona, and Georgia's tough immigration laws. Get with the program, Texas, and get tough!!! It's no wonder there is still a construction boom here in Dallas. Tons of illegals needing housing, tons of illegals to work the construction jobs, etc. It's a fake inflation of our local economy! We can't keep spreading out any more here in Dallas. It's already too far!!

TexasGal


It's time to think about compromise on immigration

05:36 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Forgive the pun, but I wondered if Jean Towell was ready to throw in the towel.

Mrs. Towell is our hometown hardliner on illegal immigration. She's president and a founder of Dallas-based Citizens for Immigration Reform.

And despite her best efforts to stir outrage, the issue absolutely died this political season.

"A dud," as one Republican pollster put it.

The two GOP presidential candidates who staked their campaigns on immigration — Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo — went nowhere.

And insult of all insults, the Republican most reviled among hardliners, Sen. John McCain, won the nomination.

Locally, Republican sheriff's candidate Charlie Richmond campaigned on cracking down on illegal immigration. And he came in dead last in the four-person primary race.

So what does Mrs. Towell make of all this?

"Yeah, I was afraid you were going to ask me about that," she sighed. And let me say at the outset that Mrs. Towell is a sweet hardliner, a 70-year-old great-grandmother who has mentored poor Hispanic girls at a Dallas elementary school.

For the moment, she simply describes her outlook as "uncertain."

No, not uncertain about the rightness of her cause. "Illegal is illegal," she said firmly. Nor is she uncertain about continuing her work. "If I get into something, I have to see it through," she said.

She's uncertain why the issue should have fizzled, though she has her theories.

Naturally, one blames the media. "Hunter and Tancredo just never got the time or attention that other candidates did."

Another theory is that the economy and the war sucked up every drop of voter attention.

And a third possibility is that voters gave up on the federal government, relying instead on state and local governments to crack down on illegal immigrants.

I'm guessing the issue lost steam because we're all weary of bitter deadlock.

But when I visited GOP activist Richard Collins recently, he pointed out that we're mostly in agreement now.

We agree that illegal immigration is a problem. We agree that stronger border security and workplace enforcement are vital. And we agree that some sort of permit system is necessary to admit needed workers.

That leaves just one area where we're stuck — what to do with the 12 million or so who came here illegally, built lives, prospered and now wish to earn their citizenship.

For Mrs. Towell and her group, the answer is easy. "It's a no-brainer," she said. "They need to go back home and do it the right way."

Yep, all 12 million — though Mrs. Towell thinks it's more like 20 million. They need to move back to Mexico or wherever and begin the long, slow process of applying for legal entry.

OK, forget the havoc to their lives. Wouldn't that wreck the U.S. economy?

Mrs. Towell doesn't have an answer. She has only faith. "I'm willing to say that if we start enforcing the law, there will be an answer to that," she said. "I'm one who believes that when you do right, answers will come."

Perhaps trying to beat critics to the punch, she added, "That's very lame, but it's how I feel."

Yes, Mrs. Towell, with all due respect, it's lame. We don't need a cure that kills the patient.

But we do need a cure. And quickly.

My prescription: a big dose of common sense, a teaspoon of compassion and, yes, the bitter pill of compromise.

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