Commentary: New bill promotes, not curtails, illegal immigration

By JOE Kallas

Over the last twenty years, the United States government has allowed more-than 12 million Mexicans to illegally enter and stay.


It is incomprehensible that our government would do this. No other country in the world has a policy like this and for good reasons. Canada, for example, has closed its borders. You can visit but you cannot live there permanently. Regardless of what you think, a country's resources are limited.


Wisconsin's late Senator Gaylord Nelson opposed unrestricted "legal" immigration. He believed that the United States was like a ship at sea and this ship with all its greatness cannot support an unlimited number of immigrants.


The solution that the president and leaders from both parties proposed is almost laughable. Under this bill, all an illegal immigrant has to do is step forward and declare himself to be illegal.


Next, he pays a $5,000 fine and is allowed to stay in the country. He goes to the "back of the line" for obtaining citizenship, which could take fifteen years.


First, who in their right mind would do this? Most immigrants have jobs, but they don't have the money to pay the fine.


Second, nothing happens to them if they don't come forward. The authors of the bill have said repeatedly that sending illegal immigrants back to Mexico is not an option. Why then would anyone come forward and turn himself in?


In practice, this landmark bill will accomplish nothing. Thousands will continue to cross daily into the U.S. because we are unwilling to spend the money that it would take to close a 2,000-mile border across four states.


What's truly fascinating about the debate over "illegal immigration" is that the government created the problem in the first place. Its unwillingness to impose penalties encouraged more and more Mexicans to risk their lives to get across the border.


Today, transporting people illegally into the United States has become a big business. The people who live along the established routes into the U.S. live in fear of being robbed or killed. They call the border patrol as they watch large groups pass their homes, but by the time the authorities arrive it's too late. The illegal immigrants have been picked up at designated areas and transported north.


Some politicians from both parties defend illegal immigration by arguing that the U.S. economy "needs" them. They insist that illegal immigrants are only taking the jobs that Americans won't do. Not true. Illegal immigrants provide corporations with a source of cheap labor, and, yes, if they didn't hire illegal immigrants, they would have to pay a lot more to get Americans to do the work.


The biggest meat packing plant in the United States is run almost exclusively with immigrant labor. Workers are doing back breaking work for low wages in working conditions that are often unsafe.


In the final analysis then, it's not that the United States cannot secure the borders and stop illegal immigration. Our leaders choose not to.


Any reasonable person would have to conclude that our government not only wants but promotes illegal immigration.


The latest bill before Congress accomplishes that goal and sends a strong message to those left in Mexico that "we'll leave the light on."


Northwestern Community Columnist Joseph Kallas lives outside Princeton, the fourth generation resident of his family farm. Kallas has been a farmer, writer, production supervisor, and Assistant Director for Fresh Start with CAP Services Inc. He has also served on the Green Lake County Board and Princeton Town Board. He currently teaches at Fox Lake Correctional Institution.



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