by Edgar Frost

Created on: August 27, 2008

Illegal immigrants should not have a legal path to citizenship. They should be deported quickly and forfeit the right to seek U.S. citizenship. This may seem harsh to some, but it is necessary to maintain order and the quality of life for legal U.S. citizens.

Illegal immigrants come to the United States illegally, hence the term illegal immigrants. They knowingly broke our laws. Why should this be rewarded with citizenship? Wouldn't doing so undermine our legal system? Why have laws if you reward people for breaking them?

When individuals over-stay their visas or sneak accross the border, they are making a conscious decision to violate our laws. Their defenders like to say that they are looking for a better life, but is that really an excuse? I don't think so. I live in a very modest home. I would have a better life living in a mansion. Should I be allowed to sneak into a mansion and stay there because it is nicer than the house I currently live in? Sure, it's tresspassing and it's against the law, but doesn't it make it ok if I work hard and I try to move into the mansion to have a better life for my family and I? No, it's still tresspassing, and it's still illegal.

I can understand and appreciate why so many individuals want to come to the United States, but there is a right way and a wrong way. The wrong way is to come here illegally. The right way, is to fill out your forms and wait your turn. In other words, respect the laws of the country you hope to one day be a part of, and hopefully improve. After all, if you willingly to break one set of laws without blinking an eye, then who knows how many other laws will be broken nonchalantly.

Providing a path to citiznship is also a step closer to us having open borders. After all, if we are allowing people to come here without any repercussions, aren't our borders essentially open? This would make it nearly impossible to regulate the number of individuals coming into the United States, which would increase the number of indiviuals who can't speak English and have little or no identification with the American way of life. Assimilation would be almost impossible, and over the long-term, the nation would suffer.

Immediate deportation and blocking a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants are the only ways to guarantee that our laws will be respected. The United States has no obligation to provide citizenship to anyone who wants it. For those born in other countries, citizenship should be a privelage, not a right.

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