by Robert C. Sage

Created on: October 01, 2007

Granted that American immigration policy is broken and its borders are effectively open to the world. Both need to be fixed. The INS needs to track down those who overstay their visas. The borders need to be buttoned up with fences and surveillance by satellites and electronic means as well as beefed up staffing. We need a guest worker program that requires document registration, but without a pathway to US citizenship. This would allow the law to reflect reality.

Eventually, there will be some type of accommodation with the problem of illegal aliens. In the meantime, why should we penalize all Americans, while we wait for our politicians to figure out the solution? Being illegally in the US does not mean that they are not here or that they do not drive here. The problem of illegal immigration is an old one and the history is that periodically America has given amnesties. The message is that we reward those who violate the law.

Most American states refuse to provide driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Thus, millions of drivers in the US have no license and no insurance. Additionally, it denies local police a basic method of tracking illegal aliens when they are suspects. That makes America more dangerous and auto insurance rates higher. Of course, making illegals eligible for driver's licenses does not ensure they would get them, but being ineligible guarantees they won't. Also, it promotes more illegality.

The current status is symptomatic of a dysfunctional government. The existence of so many undocumented illegals causes many other problems. Local law enforcement is often unsure of what it should or should not do. Children of illegals are required to attend school, but then teachers with knowledge of the illegality are expected to be silent? This is an example of the many areas of American society that need to be reformed. Ironically, instituting a guest worker system would instantly bring millions of new tax payers and ease the government's fiscal deficit.

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