Illegal Immigration Rights

“Immigration rights advocates more than 500,000 strong marched in downtown Los Angeles, demanding that Congress abandon attempts to make helping illegal immigrants a crime and to build more walls along the border.

The massive demonstration, one of half dozen around the nation in recent days, came as President Bush prodded Republican congressional leaders to give some illegal immigrants a chance to work legally in the U.S. under certain conditions.” (FNN; http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189110,00.html).


Among the thousands of demonstrators protesting across the nation, Arizona had its fair share. Approximately 15,000 marched in downtown Phoenix (creating not a small traffic problem for morning and evening rush hour traffic =)). Many were carrying American flags. Many were carrying Mexican flags. The crowds were made up of legal and illegal immigrants protesting the recent legislation that passed in the House of Representatives. If the law is passed in the Senate, it would make illegally entering the United States a felony and also have a wall built along one-third of the US-Mexican border.

Sounds like decent legilsation, doesn’t it? Congress has heard the cry of the American people who want our borders and our way of life protected. Raising the severity of illegally entering the United States to felony status is something we should have done a long time ago. The same can be said of protecting our border. The purpose of this new law would be to enforce the current laws of the land.

Let me make an obvious point: we have laws in this country for a reason. It is expected that laws should be obeyed. Laws should be respected by citizens … and aliens.

So let me ask a question to those who justify the crimes of illegal aliens: Why does the USA restrict the number of citizenships granted each year? I think the answer is obvious, BUT just in case it isn’t obvious to you … if we had an open border granting citizenship to anyone and everyone who wanted it, we’d have 50 million people move to the United States within the first year. We simply can’t have that. It would be devastating to our economy, culture, language, and security.

What do the protestors want? Well, assuming that there isn’t complete unity among the thousands upon thousands of protestors spread across the nation, there is probably a range of things on their agenda. First, it is clear that they don’t want the legislation passed, which means they don’t want illegally entering the U.S. to be a felony, and they certainly don’t want a wall built along the border. The unmistakable reason why illegal aliens don’t want the legislation to pass in the Senate is because they would then be felons. Second, many want us to continue turning a blind eye to their illegal presence in the United States. Third, others demand amnesty for the estimated 11 million already here.

Does it strike anyone else as odd that illegal aliens would demand citizenship? Who are they to demand anything from the United States Government? Illegals choose a criminal and sinful lifestyle from the moment they illegally set one foot on American soil. But their criminality doesn’t end with entering the United States. If they want to successfully remain in our nation they must do a number of things to avoid getting caught: lying to the authorities, purchasing fake I.D.’s, getting a job, tax fraud, using public services, and the list goes on.

Did you catch how Foxnews (and the rest of the Mainstream Media) refers to this whole debate? “Immigration rights.” Isn’t that term a bit misleading? An immigrant is one that permanently moves from one nation to another. Unfortunately this isn’t specific enough, because it fails to deal with the legality of the immigrants’ transplanting to a new country. A more proper term to define this debate would be: “Illegal Immigration Rights.”

You know what I’m going to ask next don’t you? What rights do non-citizens have with regards to American policy? They have no rights toward our policy! They don’t have the right to demand citizenship. Citizenship in the United States is a priviledge, one that the Federal government does not have to grant to anyone.

“Elger Aloy, 26, of Riverside, a premed student, pushed a stroller with his 8-month-old son at Saturday's Los Angeles march and called the legislation "inhumane." "Everybody deserves the right to a better life," he said.” (FNN; http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189110,00.html).

What is Elger’s presupposition here? “Everybody deserves the right to a better life” (emphasis mine). Elger seems to imply that people can just move wherever they want, legally or illegally, so they can find a better life. He believes that it is morally acceptable to break the law in hopes of finding a better life. He has concluded that every human being has a natural right to a better life. I wonder how Elger defines “better life”? I would venture a guess that he refers to economic prosperity, and not to happiness.

“"They say we are criminals. We are not criminals," said Salvador Hernandez, 43, of Los Angeles, a resident alien who came to the United States illegally from El Salvador 14 years ago and worked as truck driver, painter and day laborer” (FNN; http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189110,00.html).

What makes someone a criminal Salvador? Because if you believe that a criminal is one who commits serious crime(s), would you not fit into that category sir? Here is a common argument made by Illegal Immigrant Rights Advocates (isn’t it wonderful having a proper name for the movement =)): “Illegal Immigrants are the backbone of our society. They do jobs that most Americans consider to be beneath them…” Let’s look at each of the jobs Salvador Hernandez has done over the past 14 years. He was a truck driver, painter, and a day laborer. Are you telling me that there are no Americans willing to do these jobs? I have two friends who are truck drivers – both white, Christian, males. My old high school pastor used to be a painter – also a white, Christian male. How about day laborers? Since my dad is a general superintendent for the largest framing company in AZ, our family knows of many legal Americans willing to do that kind of work (in the Arizona heat no less). The belief that illegals do jobs that Americans won’t do is just plain fiction.

The only arguments that encourage us to turn a blind eye to the 11 million criminals living in our nation are emotional arguments. The liberals making these sympathetic yet baseless arguments are thinking of short-term fixes. But what LONGTERM effects will we have if we continue to ignore this growing problem? Will Mexico become economically stable by allowing more Mexicans to move to the U.S.?

Illegal Immigrants Rights Advocate: “But we need to do something to help them!” I agree. But the solution to solving Mexican poverty (or poverty around the world) is not by having people pack their bags and move to the U.S. What should we do? We can encourage the Mexican people to elect a non-corrupt government for starters. We’ll see where we go from there.

When emotionalism is brushed aside, you cannot pretend that illegal aliens aren’t lawbreakers. When you break the law, you pay the price. That is why illegals don’t want this latest bit of legislation to pass, because their sins and their crimes would finally catch up with them. They’re trying to further suppress God’s Law, which includes obeying the laws of the land.

I pray that this law is passed in the Senate. The Senate will be discussing it today. Pray that our Senators and our President would make a decision seasoned with wisdom.

Casey