The Joplin Globe

Published August 17, 2007 12:05 pm - The third rail of national politics next year will be illegal immigration, given what Congress has failed to do in protecting the nation’s borders and what presidential hopefuls espouse as long-term solutions to stem the tide of humanity illegally crossing into this country every year.

In Our View: What doesn't Uncle Sam Understand

The third rail of national politics next year will be illegal immigration, given what Congress has failed to do in protecting the nation’s borders and what presidential hopefuls espouse as long-term solutions to stem the tide of humanity illegally crossing into this country every year.

Building miles of fences stretching from Texas to California may serve as a symbolic gesture that the United States will not tolerate people who ignore our immigration laws, but fences won’t keep the illegals out. They’ll find a way through or around them.

And granting amnesty in any form for those 12 million illegal immigrants already here isn’t a viable solution either. Giving them the opportunity to stay and earn citizenship will only encourage others to sneak into the country and hope that they, too, will be given the same chance at citizenship as those who legally come into the United States.

Of course, the problem depends on the definition of the word illegal. There are segments of society that believe how these individuals or families arrived shouldn’t matter. Once they are here and are gainfully employed, they are contributing to the nation’s economic well-being and holding jobs that most Americans wouldn’t take.

That sort of thinking makes a bad joke out of immigration laws that require legal orderly growth rather than the uncontrolled torrents of undocumented immigrants over porous borders. It also virtually guarantees that illegal workers will be taken advantage of with low pay and difficult conditions.

So far, Washington has shown no political will to battening down the hatches against the storm of illegal aliens. Many states and cities are taking steps on their own to keep out undocumented workers with proscriptions against renting them apartments or permitting them to apply for state assistance program.

The biggest magnet for illegals is the job market. If that is closed to them, they won’t come here or they won’t stay. To that end, we would recommend federal laws that would make the penalties for hiring undocumented workers devastatingly unprofitable for businesses. Furthermore, executives and managers should find themselves being fined and put behind bars.

The key to everything, though, is enforcement. Only when Uncle Sam understands the word illegal requires action and is willing to take the appropriate steps, including tightening security at the border and cracking down on employers who hire illegal aliens, will the problem be solved. The public is angry, frustrated and impatient. It wants the broken system fixed. Now.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/lo ... d=topstory