WHAT PART OF "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION" DON'T THEY GET?
By Robert Klein Engler (10/14/05)
(CHICAGO, 14 October '05)--Recent events in the news highlight the difficulty many Americans have understanding that illegal immigrants are criminals. We can do little to solve the problems caused by illegal immigration unless we persuade more Americans that it is a serious crime to be in this country illegally, just as it is a serious crime to use illegal drugs. In fact, illegal immigration may be more harmful to our nation than other kinds of illegal behavior.
The Home Depot is one of the largest retailers in the U. S. with about 1,700 stores nationwide. It is now caught in the middle of a tug of war that involves illegal immigrants on one side and the store's neighbors on the other side. Steven Greenhouse, writing in the New York Times claims, "The Home Depot is facing a knotty problem figuring out where to put one important part of the home-improvement business: the dozens of day laborers who gather outside its stores..."
The majority of these day laborers are illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America. They are looking for work, while at the same time those who live near The Home Depot stores object to the illegal immigrants milling around the parking lot and approaching customers. To make matters worse, advocates for illegal immigrants want the store to set aside a place for these day labors to gather.
In all of this turmoil, few have suggested that a phone call be placed to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and that these illegals be arrested either by local police or federal agents and then deported. The crime that is illegal immigration seems not to be very important to executives at The Home Depot or the advocates for immigration rights, either. Would they be so cavalier about illegal behavior if a drug gang used the parking lot, instead?
Steven Greenhouse continues in his article that "In Los Angeles, a city councilman has proposed requiring all new large home-improvement stores to build shelters that would provide day laborers with basic amenities such as toilets and drinking water." Such a proposal is simply outrageous. We have to wonder what part of the phrase "illegal immigration" the Los Angeles councilman doesn't get? If you wanted to sell heroin in front of The Home Depot store, would we then see the councilman advocating shelters with toilets and drinking water for these criminals?
Adding to the problems at The Home Depot, the Associated Press reports that in Tifton, Georgia "Three people have been charged with murder in a string of deadly attacks on Mexican immigrants... Authorities say that two of the suspects may be part of an armed-robbery gang preying on immigrant workers. The Mexican workers often carry large sums of cash because they lack the documents needed to open bank accounts."
It is the very immigration status of these illegal workers in Georgia that makes them easy targets of a robbery gang. Yet, even here, in spite of the tragic deaths, no one comes forth and asks that the illegal immigrants living in plain view be arrested and deported. Few are willing to admit two crimes took place in Georgia, one crime was murder, but the other was the breaking of our immigration laws.
What is most perplexing about the problems at The Home Depot or the murders in Georgia is that most of those involved know where illegal immigrants gather to live or to find work, yet no one calls ICE, nor do the neighbors or the employers insist on interior enforcement of our immigration laws. It is as if people were allowed to sell illegal drugs in front of a school while others looked away.
Selective law enforcement that overlooks criminal activity will never create respect for the law. Selective law enforcement that ignores the crime of illegal immigration will only devalue U. S. citizenship. If we know where illegal immigrants gather or work and then do nothing to enforce our immigration laws, we make a mockery of those laws. Furthermore, businesses who knowingly hire illegal immigrants or sell them goods and services are putting profits before patriotism.
You have to wonder what it takes to persuade people that illegal immigration is a problem that does more harm than good to our society over the long run. Instead of selective law enforcement we should have a publicity campaign by groups like NumbersUSA or the Minutemen Project that emphasizes how Illegal immigration is a crime, a crime that impacts everyone by higher taxes and higher social service costs. Illegal immigrants are criminals just like the criminals who sell heroin. The sooner more people get this, the better off our nation will be.
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