'Amnesty Trail' event likely in the near future
lakelandtimes.com
Letters
9/13/2011 1:04:00 PM

To the Editor:

Recent determinations by the Obama administration once again thrust the immigration debate onto the national scene in a major and controversial way.

Let's review the basic tenet of immigration law.

Title 8, Section 1325 of the U.S. Code deals directly with the "Improper entry into our country by an alien." Any alien who 1) enters or attempts to enter the U.S. at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or 2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or 3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the U.S. by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.

It goes on to describe punishments for multiple entries. The reader will notice that no place does it distinguish between those "just coming here to work" or "trying to find a better life for his/her family."

On Jan. 7, 2004, President Bush floated an idea during a news conference about the possibility of a guest worker program. That idea is something most citizens on both sides of the issue seem to agree upon. Sadly and predictably, however, the words "guest worker program" translated into something entirely different in Mexico. It translated to "amnesty" and the results were disastrous.

Within only a few months more than 250,000 illegal aliens flooded across our borders through two of our wilderness parks in Arizona.

Of those apprehended, 47 percent indicated they came for President Bush's "Amnesty."

To this day the path taken by the illegal aliens is referred to as "The Amnesty Trail."

Last week, President Obama resorted to an executive fiat of the wildly unpopular "Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors," better known as the Dream Act.

However it doesn't pertain only to minors as did the act which failed to pass in Congress and is unpopular with legislators on both sides of the aisle.

Announcing the fiat, The Department of Homeland Security said it would no longer deport illegal aliens in our country unless they have a serious criminal record here. Thus, the hundreds of thousands of those who committed a crime by entering our country illegally are free to stay without threat of deportation. In other words, they are rewarded for their crime.

The Constitution of the United States in Article II, Section 3 directs the president to "Take Care That the Laws Be Faithfully Executed," but it does not direct him to write his own laws or to carry out laws that Congress refused to pass.

Ironically, in July, President Obama had this to say about the Rule of Law: "I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books ... I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own ... that's not how our system works."

It is quite conceivable that we will soon have another "Amnesty Trail" event. This leaves us to wonder what effect this will have on the law enforcement agencies which are sworn to apprehend those who are in our country illegally.

I already know the impact it has on those agents of the Border Patrol who risk their lives daily to uphold our laws.

Gary Meinert

Boulder Junction

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