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Culture Wars Commentary
by Sharon Hughes
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here to view past Culture Wars Articles
Immigration and the Law - It's
Pretty Basic July 19, 2003
by Sharon Hughes
If you are like the majority of Americans,
immigration is one of those issues that runs deep in your value
system, for many reasons.
First, because one of the primary
distinguishing marks of America is that she is a melting pot
of people from every country in the world, who understand that
our bonds are not in our common country of origin, or race, or
traditions, but in the ideal that all men should be free. Our
Constitution and Bill of Rights uphold this.
Second, because of this, America has
always held open arms to the "huddled masses yearning to
be free," and we reject no one based on color or creed or
nationality...all are welcome.
Third, we understand, as Ronald Reagan
said, "A nation without borders is not a nation," and
therefore we have laws that govern our borders which require
those wanting to enter our "land of the free" to do
so respecting our laws. We take American residency and citizenship
seriously.
Millions of people are attracted to
the values of liberty which are a reality in America, and because
we are a prosperous nation, they are willing to leave their homeland
to enter New York Harbor or the Golden Gate. As a result, the
U.S. accepts more immigrants and refugees annually than all other
countries in the world combined.
Unfortunately, as every nation knows,
we can only absorb so many at a time. Jobs, schools, housing,
health care, are all affected. Too many immigrants entering in
at one time puts a strain on the our infrastructure, and wise
legislators understand the balance between the welfare of current
citizens and the welcoming in of new ones, and thus we have immigration
laws.
This being the case, there are those
who do not want to go through the process our laws require, and
they enter our land, or try to, illegally. The exact figures
are not known, but estimates are that the growing numbers of
illegal immigrants in America equals the population of Florida
each year, imagine, a new Florida added each year!
Here in California we have had a known
increase of 60% in illegal residents since 1996, bringing the
number to approximately 2.3 percent, or 1/4 of the country's
total illegal aliens. And it could be more because our border
patrol say they catch only one in four who cross the border illegally,
and they caught over one million last year...so that would be
four million in California alone.
I understand that 29 percent of the
federal prisoner population are illegal immigrants and that this
figure would be much higher if state prisoners were counted because
less than eight percent of the nation's prison population are
in federal prisons. With Americans paying between 35-50% in taxes
depending on the state, the economic impact on taxpayers is a
valid concern. How much of the taxes we pay are for the added
expense of illegal aliens, and how much will taxes have to increase
in order to pay for a continuing increase of illegals in the
future? Ten years ago approximately 300,000 illegal alien children
attended California public schools at an annual cost to California
taxpayers of $2 billion. Of course, that number has only grown.
Today, California spends $30 million a day more than it takes
in in revenues...who knows how much of this is for illegal alien
costs?
You see, the key here is ...illegal.
If those who want to come here, for whatever reason, obeyed our
laws, and if we would enforce them, things would certainly be
different... and perhaps we would do a better job of handling
those immigrants who are here legally waiting for the execution
of their papers or citizenship without having to continually
get extensions year after year.
Two fresh examples of this I can give
are one, of a young hard-working, european woman, Rachael, who
stood along side hundreds of other patriotic Americans every
Friday night on the streets of Santa Rosa during the Support
our Troops/Liberate Iraq rallies a few months back, cheering
with all her heart, and so desiring to become an American citizen!
For her the process took several years and $3,000 in personal
expenses by the time she finally was able to be sworn in. Yes,
we had a celebration, although colored somewhat by the fiasco
we watched her go through, not because of a problem with her
eligibility, but because of bureaucratic red tape.
The other example is of a Changing
Worldviews listener who sent me an email just this morning regarding
her experience. Let me share some of her story: "For the
past two Saturdays I have tuned in to your program and found
it worth tuning into. Your discussion about the illegal immigrants
with Rick Oltman was illuminating; I have followed O'Reilly's
TV talk show crusade against this same problem. I would like
to listen to a discussion in the future, about another INS incompetence
that affects legal immigrants like myself. I entered the US with
legal papers in November 2001; the immigration officer at the
San Francisco airport processed me, stamped my Philippine passport
with a temporary approval of legal status and work permit, informing
me my green card would arrive in 3 months. One year later, as
the stamped permit was expiring, I still had not received the
green card. Went to San Francisco to follow it up, I was told
they lost my documents but not to worry, they'd send me a green
card in 3 months. That was supposed to be March 2003. To this
day, I have not received the card; sent a registered letter following
it up; no reply...San Francisco INS is a nightmare to go through;
you line up outside starting at 6am; follow a zigzag line to
get to a booth to get a number; wait for 3 hours or longer to
get to another booth to make your inquiry. The two times I went
there I would leave at 3pm, after waiting all day. All phone
numbers are computerized replies, you never reach a live voice."
She went on to ask a legitimate question: "What
do we legal immigrants have to do? Am I an isolated case? Meanwhile
do I just keep waiting and getting stamped extensions on my passport?
My work status is affected tremendously. Can Mr. Oltman or anyone
give me an answer to my predicament? I don't know where to turn
to."
Yes, immigration is a strong value
in the hearts of Americans, and because of conditions and situations
like I've sited above, immigration is one of the greatest concerns
of Americans today. We will continue this debate on our radio
show and continue to encourage voters to hold our legislators
accountable. This is a problem that will not go away by itself.
One thing we can do now is contact
our state legislators and tell them to vote NO on SB60 which,
if passed, would allow illegals to obtain California driver's
licenses. This would make it extremely difficult to control certain
activities such as voting by illegal aliens, for instance, which
is already a problem, not for the liberals who are pushing for
this, but for our entire process.
Permission is granted to print
or copy the "Culture Wars Commentary" Segment only
if used in its entirety and credit is given to the author,
listing Changing Worldviews' name, address, email and web
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