Should illegal immigrants be entitled to receive benefits?

No

1 of 60

by Buddy Miller

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That illegal immigrants are currently drawing benefits from our government is offensive to me. As a compassionate American citizen, I can see that life is not easy for illegal immigrants. Mexico and Central America are the source of most of those crossing the U.S. Southern borders without papers. It should be noted the Mexican government encourages it's citizens to go north and even publishes brochures to show how to best be successful in crossing our borders. Once here the illegal or in some cases the entire illegal's family are often beset by a multitude of problems.

The U.S. is not the land of milk and honey, but we do have what someone from another country would see as a great resource: our Social Safety Net. With everything from sympathetic churches to well-meaning citizen's groups, the illegal immigrant now has a sophisticated network of supporters that aid their every step. One of the most damaging things that these "good" citizens do is to work their magic on the social welfare systems to arrange everything from jobs, drivers licenses, fake identification, food stamps, maternity services and safe-houses.

For every job that is taken by an illegal immigrant it is an opportunity that is erased for an American citizen and a legal green-card carrying immigrant. Yes, there are legal immigrants that are looking for jobs too. What gives the illegal immigrants the rights to come to this country and work illegally, draw benefits from our Social Welfare System, intentionally have children that according to a very silly law entitles those children to citizenship automatically and not assimilate into our culture? The Emergency Rooms are overflowing in small-town America with Spanish-speaking families. Who pays for all this? Citizen Taxpayers are paying in the billions of dollars. This is not simply a question of those towns in proximity of the southern border, but towns in Michigan, Minnesota and New York. This is a national economic drive-by.

The Federal government agencies whose sole purpose is to protect our borders are not doing their job. As a result we have people in government who would rather engage in a cultural experiment rather than enforce our laws. Why are we paying these guys and funding their agencies? These agencies are suffering bureaucratic dysfunction in so many areas that it simply must be by design of our Congress and President. Nowhere is this apathy toward the problem more apparent than our current President Bush. Of course, none of his likely successors are thinking much differently toward solving this problem. Federal dollars are not being spent to compensate the local economies that are struggling with this invasion across our Southern border.

While our country is apparently at war according to our President, our borders remain porous to all manner of entrants. That the problem is well-known and nothing is apparently being done leads me to believe this might be some sort of international conspiracy. Should we call Austin Powers? Instead of controlling our border as the Federal Government is charged to do under our Constitution, we have no real actions taken and we are reaping the problems associated with Washington's idiocy on this problem.

Our social welfare system, our public education system and our general economy is suffering from this invasion. The only real actions necessary to limit these problems are admittedly complicated and somewhat distasteful. We must immediately control our porous borders for the sake of controlling immigration and primarily national security. That our dim-witted President George W. Bush and Congress did not move the military to our borders after 9/11 is a tribute to more than something in the Washington, D.C., water supply. This is a clear violation of the Constitution which requires them to act on matters of national security. This very issue is being used to frustrate local officials trying to enforce national immigration law. Immigration is Constitutionally a Federal responsibility. I say if your house is dirty, grab a broom.

Perhaps the simplest way to respond to the Mexican government's encouragement of their citizens coming to America would be to adopt the Mexican government's immigration policies as our own. "Google" that important issue and you will see just how the Mexicans would handle Americans wading the Rio Grande into their country without immigration documentation.

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