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DEALING REALISTICALLY WITH UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS
Michael Wildes, Latinalista - There is an estimated 20 million undocumented aliens currently living in the United States, but we don't know who they are and we don't know where they came from.
The enormity of the problem has caused paralysis and political impotence for years, but the tragic events of September 11, 2001 were the catalyst for a grassroots effort to force Congress to confront the immigration issue comprehensively and publicly. . .
This discussion must take place within the parameters of certain realities.
First, America will never support the destruction of the nuclear family. The separation of child from parent or husband from wife is antithetical to the very core of our national identity, and therefore any suggestion of removal en masse of these millions of illegal immigrants is simply untenable.
Second, it is unrealistic to believe that our government has the resources to find, detain, grant due process, and remove 20 million aliens from inside our borders. As such, the argument favoring mass deportation is unsustainable even as applied to those without immediate family ties to American citizens.
Third, disregarding the biased statistics advanced by those on both sides of the issue, simple math tells us that these individuals provide approximately 4 - 5% of our national labor force and should, therefore, be paying their share in taxes.
The economic reality is that legalizing the presence of undocumented aliens provides a sorely needed resource to our shrinking Social Security fund, and removes the financial burden currently placed upon the taxpayer to provide medical and educational services to illegal aliens and their children.
We must accept the only rational course and admit that our past border policies have failed. . . With millions of illegal aliens living clandestine lives in our nation, any effort to document them is doomed to failure if it doesn't contain a reasonable opportunity for them to achieve citizenship at some point. Drawing the many, hard-working worthy out of the darkness is the only way to shine a light on the unwanted, dangerous few. . .
We are a nation of immigrants. More than any nation in modern history we have embraced diversity and been strengthened by the contributions of the foreign-born members of our society. Every American reading this is blessed to be so called because of the opportunity of entry given to a member of their family.
To deny this opportunity to others because of fear, economics, or bigotry is to deny our capacity to resolve this issue with the compassion and innovation that is worthy of our great nation.
Michael Wildes serves as mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. In addition, he is an immigration lawyer and a former federal prosecutor.
The enormity of the problem has caused paralysis and political impotence for years, but the tragic events of September 11, 2001 were the catalyst for a grassroots effort to force Congress to confront the immigration issue comprehensively and publicly. . .
This discussion must take place within the parameters of certain realities.
First, America will never support the destruction of the nuclear family. The separation of child from parent or husband from wife is antithetical to the very core of our national identity, and therefore any suggestion of removal en masse of these millions of illegal immigrants is simply untenable.
Second, it is unrealistic to believe that our government has the resources to find, detain, grant due process, and remove 20 million aliens from inside our borders. As such, the argument favoring mass deportation is unsustainable even as applied to those without immediate family ties to American citizens.
Third, disregarding the biased statistics advanced by those on both sides of the issue, simple math tells us that these individuals provide approximately 4 - 5% of our national labor force and should, therefore, be paying their share in taxes.
The economic reality is that legalizing the presence of undocumented aliens provides a sorely needed resource to our shrinking Social Security fund, and removes the financial burden currently placed upon the taxpayer to provide medical and educational services to illegal aliens and their children.
We must accept the only rational course and admit that our past border policies have failed. . . With millions of illegal aliens living clandestine lives in our nation, any effort to document them is doomed to failure if it doesn't contain a reasonable opportunity for them to achieve citizenship at some point. Drawing the many, hard-working worthy out of the darkness is the only way to shine a light on the unwanted, dangerous few. . .
We are a nation of immigrants. More than any nation in modern history we have embraced diversity and been strengthened by the contributions of the foreign-born members of our society. Every American reading this is blessed to be so called because of the opportunity of entry given to a member of their family.
To deny this opportunity to others because of fear, economics, or bigotry is to deny our capacity to resolve this issue with the compassion and innovation that is worthy of our great nation.
Michael Wildes serves as mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. In addition, he is an immigration lawyer and a former federal prosecutor.
3 Comments:
Anybody thought of tremendous amount of money immigration attorneys make for filing papers for immigrants. Then there is all the consultations? The guy pleading for illegal aliens who violated the Rule of Law, is an immigration lawyer--Work it out yourself?
We don't need no stinking green card!
Maybe everybody should be required to have a Passport.
The government can be saddled with sorting out false birth certificates.
Employers would merely have to ask for people's Passports.
This wouldn't be discriminatory, it would allow people here illegally, to stay here. But, it would allow legal immigrants to get a job.
Employers who hire those without a Passport would be jailed.
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