The issue of illegal immigration is fraught with emotion, yet we need to focus on the facts of this nation's current situation and the proper policies to put in place to deal with this problem.
The emotional toil of witnessing parents taken from their children is heart-breaking. For children to be informed that they will be forced to leave the country because they are in this country illegally, through no will or fault of their own, is terrible.
Yet the blame cannot rest on the shoulders of the state and local governments, which have a right and duty to enforce their borders and the immigration laws of this nation. The United States has prospered because it is a nation under the rule of law, with a rich legacy of promoting individual freedom and civil rights, especially against the encroachment of the government. A nation ceases to be a nation under the rule of law if if permits unfettered immigration, in which the proper authorities are unable to evaluate the efficacy or wisdom in
Nor should the blame rest on the children, although they ultimately bare the brunt of the illegal actions of their parents.
If anyone should be held morally culpable for this tragic situation, it must be the couple, the parents who entered the country illegally in the first place. Shamelessly did they sneak into the country, openly flouting the law of the land though hiding in the shadows. They must have known, or at least have engaged in the back of their minds, that there would always be the possibility of being caught and sent back. They must have, or at least should have considered the impact that such an outcome would have on their children, whether legal or illegal.
The best solution is a staggered amnesty, one which permits those individuals who have lived and produced for this country for a set number of years, perhaps a decade or more. All others would be forced to leave.
Businesses must be disciplined for hiring illegal immigrants. This black market for labor is a corrupt system which undermines the rule of law while placing the illegal immigrant in the precarious position of being exposed and deported, sometimes without even receiving their pay.
Most importantly, the United States must dismantle the welfare state which is a magnet for illegals. The state of Alabama proposed a legitimate response to illegal immigration, including not only a mandatory status-check during routines traffic stops, but a requirement that school districts receive proof of citizenship from enrolling students.
Of course, streamlining the immigration process so that immigrants would be naturalized more quickly and efficiently would also be good. Less bureaucracy, more attention to assistance -- that reform would be good for all, citizen and immigrant.
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