Immigration vs. Illegal Immigration - There is a Difference

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This is a sign at the Canadian Border

Illegal immigration is something at the forefront of political debate these days.  Politicians use it to win elections and everyone has an opinion about it. 


Last week a federal judge ruled against portions of the Arizona's controversial immigration law aimed against illegal immigration in that state.  Arizona has been hard hit by the influx of illegals for many years.  50% of Arizona's population are illegal immigrants.  How does a state get to the point where half of there population is living there illegally?  How does a state deal with an immigration problem of this magnitude without the federal governments help to implement new laws or the laws that are already on the books?  Below is the link to the court document where you can see all the parts of the law being held and appealed.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34999290/10-1413-87

This law would give police the right to check status when they detain people for general violations unrelated to immigration status.  It would also require people to carry their papers on them at all times.  I can see why certain parts of the law ruffle people's feather, but in the past we have ruffled feathers and disrupted citizen's daily activities for the security and greater good of many.  911 for instance and the new security measures put into place since that event.  Some fear that it will promote racial racial profiling.  Possibly, but I have heard of gray haired old ladies being pulled aside at the airport and being searched.  I would hope that law enforcement would extend document checking to everyone regardless of race.  Immigrants aren't only Hispanic.  I will proudly carry papers showing my status has an American.  I just don't see the problems with this.


I know I live in a great country.  Everyday I read or watch the news I thank God I live in America, regardless of it's flaws.  I am lucky, especially as a woman, to have been born here.  So I truly appreciate the fact that so many from around the globe want to be here and take advantage of all that we have to offer.  That being said, I will not tolerate the fact that people are coming to our country by unlawful means and that, even more despicable, people are making a living out of exploiting the dreams of these immigrants by human trafficking which, most of the time, just leads to a life of slavery (yes, there are still slaves in America) and abuse or even death during transport.  People take some awful risks to get here, but that does not mean that because they succeeded in arriving here that they have won the grand prize.


Not only do immigrants come to this country for freedoms and reuniting with families, they come for the economic prosperity, education and health care that we can provide access to.  This is another reason we must limit the number of legal and illegal immigrants  on a regular basis. No country has unlimited resources and we have seen the dwindling of our own in the past few years as our economy has taken a dive.  In a time when the cost of health care is through the roof and education funding is being cut more every year and the unemployment rate is skyrocketing, why would we want to bare the burden of an estimated 12 million or more people who have not been granted the right to be here.  We have always had a limit on the number of new legal immigrants we grant citizenship to every year just for these reasons. The more people who enter the country the more resources we need to support them as a citizen. I tend to believe that the very fact that we do have this number of illegal immigrants in the country, and some people estimate even more than 12 million as shown below, is the very reason our economy is in such dire straights.  We have, in fact, been taking care of them in our hospitals, educating there children, been giving them jobs and in many cases giving them government assistance such as food stamps and welfare.  I haven't quit figured out how that last part happens, but it is happening.


www.immigrationcounters.com

So there are some numbers for you.  Is this really something we want to ignore.  When 40% of all illegal immigrants are related to some form of criminal activity, other than being here illegally, such as murders, rape and other violent crimes, are we going to wait until we experience these scenarios personally or take heed now?  Are we going to continue to let employers hire illegals to work at slave wages so they don't have to pay an actual citizen minimum wage.  Are we going to let a family member bleed to death in the emergency room because the hospital is too full of people who shouldn't be here in the first place.  The answers seem like common sense, but common sense doesn't seem to be playing a big enough roll in the American public today.  65% of Americans want to see better immigration policies put into place, but what's going on with the other 35%?  Also, policies and laws only work if we enforce them, which seems to be the root of the problem to begin with.


The people who fight for "amnesty " are the illegals themselves, their families and Hispanic rights groups. They are organizing, and they are ready to fight for what they want if we won't give it to them.  It will end up being a war on American soil. Wake up America!!  This is not a problem that is going to go away or go away easily.  We granted amnesty back in the 80s and it only fueled more to come.  Condoning illegal activity and making these people automatic citizens is not the way to make this go away.


I want to be very clear.  I have no issues with legal immigrants.  I welcome you and hope that you appreciate this country as much, if not more, than I do.  I think it is a slap in the face to the legalized citizens, who worked and waited so long for their chance to be a true American, for us to now say we are even considering giving over 12 million people the title.  So to the government who is not lifting a finger to protect it's real citizens and are exploiting the situation for political gain, I say "Screw You!".  There are more of us than there are of you.  We will vote you out and if that doesn't fix the problem we will go to war.