Immigration Reform - Steyn Offers A Must Read

First note that the pro-illegal immigration crowd has learned a lesson, allowing them to couch their demonstrations as purely pro-America. They may be so, but they are pro-Open Bordered America, at best - and there is a difference. The irony is that some American on line publications were compelled, as they regularly are, to offer the story up in Spanish.

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - Up to half a million Hispanics and their supporters poured onto U.S. streets in the latest huge rally for immigrant rights on Sunday as Democrats and Republicans remained divided over plans to overhaul immigration laws.

Up to 500,000 people marched through Dallas, many wearing white to symbolize peace, waving American flags and voicing anger at Congress' failure to pass reforms that would help many of the estimated 11-12 million illegal immigrants become legal.

Steyn offers up some real world perspective on just where our Immigration and Naturalization Service is. It's frightening. Read these juxtaposed portions below.

Go ahead, try it. In Michelle Malkin's book Invasion, she recounts the tale of two fellows who in August 2001 pulled into a 7-Eleven parking lot in Falls Church, Va., in search of fake ID from the illegal-alien assistance network that hangs around there. Luis Martinez-Flores, who'd been living here illegally since 1994, took them along to the local DMV, supplied them with a fake address and falsely certified they lived there. The very next day, the two guys returned with two pals of their own, and used their own brand-new state ID on which the ink was not yet dry to obtain in turn brand-new state ID for their buddies. A couple of weeks later, all four of them used their Virginia ID to board American Airlines Flight 77 at Dulles Airport and plowed it into the Pentagon.

... Here's another place where family values stops: The rubble of the World Trade Center. Deena Gilbey is a British subject whose late husband worked on the 84th floor: On the morning of Sept. 11, instead of fleeing, he returned to the building to help evacuate his co-workers. A few days later, Mrs. Gilbey receives a letter from the INS noting that as she's now widowed her immigration status has changed and she's obliged to leave the country along with her two children (both U.S. citizens). Think about that: Having legally admitted to the country the terrorists who killed her husband, the U.S. government's first act on having facilitated his murder is to add insult to grievous injury by serving his widow with a deportation order.

That's right, a broken immigration service with a tragic record of un-enforcement allowed the 9-11 hijackers in - then promptly sought to deport a 9-11 widow after they struck. There is perhaps no more compelling real world story from which to begin thinking prudently on the topic of immigration reform.

Certainly an amnesty of some form for many otherwise law abiding immigrants currently working here applies. To insist otherwise is plain folly. But to assume that amnesty is the Nation's number one priority is also folly.

You cannot change or reform that which you cannot control. That's a universal and a tried and true axiom. Currently we do not control illegal immigration in the context of our Southwestern border - it's largest pipeline.

Adding sugar to a beverage while a source continues to pour liquid into the glass cannot possibly result in a sufficiently good tasting mix. And amnesty without sealing our border isn't going to yield anything American voters should want to swallow.

The people understand this issue at street level, where it most impacts. And in this case, the high falutin rationales of our politicians, including our President, do not wash.

Also note how some were quick to register voters at recent demonstrations. Tomorrow will yield more of the same. And the multi-cultural madness we've allowed to take hold in our society, including within our elections processes, mandates individuals be allowed to register without even learning English. Contrast that with how much of the world has come together around English because of our great success. It's madness that we would throw off a hard won legacy like that by simply giving citizenship away.

Many Conservatives realize that an underlying issue of many of our societal problems today has to do with freedom without responsibility. I am not advocating that immigrants not be helped to access American freedom. All I advocate is that they be given a sense of its duties and responsibilities in exchange. Is that really so much to ask?

Be sure and read all of Steyn's column. It's a worthy effort.

Flopping Aces has more.

The problem is assimilation, or lack thereof by the immigrants in our country. At the last rallies they showed their true nature by flying the Mexican flag while protesting in the United States. The organizers have seen the backlash to this and have told everyone to fly the American flag.

Comments

[*flo*]

Also note how some were quick to register voters at recent demonstrations. Tomorrow will yield more of the same.

BINGO!!!

[IMHERE]

When are American taxpayers going to vote? The vast majority of Americans are not even registered voters. When are the un-registered non voters going to wake up and realize that being a spectator in the American processs does not work.

[annie]

I really don't think that people who have entered the US unlawfully should be rewarded by giving them amnesty under any circumstances. Doing that means that all those people who are wanting to enter the country and are willing to wait and enter through the proper chanels (often costing them quite a bit of money for all the administration work), are being given a kick in the teeth.

Stick to the law, or the US will become a lawless society, because these illegal people just don't dance to the same rhythm as everybody else. If they can get what they want by breaking the laws, what else can they, and will they get??

[*flo*]

When are American taxpayers going to vote? The vast majority of Americans are not even registered voters. When are the un-registered non voters going to wake up and realize that being a spectator in the American processs does not work.

Posted by: IMHERE | Monday, April 10, 2006 at 10:05 AM

I spent most of my spare time on last yr's elections as a lobbyist, petitioning at the most commons/public places, Walmarts, infront of court houses, bus depots, libraries. I found the homeless prefer to be homeless and voters do want change, its the younger crowd, 18-20 yr old whom prefer not to particapate, many who were interested were hispanic, non-citizens...BTW, I'm in a large hispanic community in Florida.