Mark this down as the second time I've agreed with this administration...
Yes, shocking though it may be, I agree with the President on his Illegal Immigrant plan. But how could I, a card-carrying democrat, who voted against President Bush in both elections, who supports gay marraige and any number of other fluffy happy-go-lucky liberal agenda items agree with he who is considered the Anti-Christ amongst my more extreme bretheren?
Simple, the plan makes sense and is doable.
Illegals have to go. Simple as that. They need to be shown the door and sent packing. They are starting their life in this country by flaunting the laws that make it so great and desirable to live in. This would be akin to just moving into a newly built house without buying it, but then expecting the rights and protections and benefits of home ownership. But add to that the expectation that their neighbors foot the utility bills and property taxes for them.
We need to restructure our system so that unless you can prove citizenship, you are denied the benefits and rights thereof. No welfare. Only the most basic health care (emergency room, life & death situations). No food stamps. No assisted housing. They have chosen to snub their noses at our system when it inconveniences them, but want to reap the full benefits.
That said, we also need to make the process to become a citizen clearer, and more streamlined. The process has to require work, but it shouldn't be so onerous to do it legally that the illegal option is vastly easier. A worker program accomplishes this better than any alternative we have come up with in a while. It also provides a means for those who are already here illegally, a method to make amends for their past transgressions.
This is the middle ground to a tough issue. On the left, there are calls for an open border, which would be a disaster. On the right there are calls for a wall and to gather up every single illegal and ship them back. Neither of these alternatives are workable or reasonable. They're an extreme reaction to what is rapidly becoming a bad situation. No, the middle choice doesn't fix all the problems, but honestly, I don't think we can "fix" this problem anymore... at least not in any immediate way. What we have to do is reform how our systems work that handle immigration, and how we internally handle illegal immigrants. Take away the free benefits, make the penalties more severe, and place strong penalties on companies that employ illegals.
Immigrants are still very important to our nation despite what many will claim. We were built by immigrants, we are made stronger by the constant stream of new people with new voices and ideas. To cut off this flow completely as some would suggest will cause us to stagnate. We look at nations in Europe who have become so insular they've become out of touch with the rest of the world (i.e. France) but we look to do the same things. A sense of cultural superiority is growing in the US where we look down on the dirty immigrants of today. We need them, but what we don't need are the illegal ones. We need to reform the system to reward the lawful and punish the unlawful. Right now, the whole equation is flipped.
Putting troops on the border to reenforce border patrol is another key step to attempt to stem the flow across the border. It will slow it, but not stop it. We have too large a border for that. And a wall wouldn't be economically feasable and would be just as hard to patrol. No matter how high you build it, people will still get over if they want to.
Troops to stem the flow, a worker program to provide a viable path to citizenship, now all we need is to step up the penalties and deny benefits and services.
We're taking steps in the right direction finally.