Dear Editor:
Your editorial repeats the canard that if it's not feasible to deport millions of illegal aliens, the only alternative is to "legalize" them. Aside from the fact that the mechanisms for "legalizing" such a large population would be every bit as expensive, time consuming and cumbersome as deportation, it would also do absolutely nothing to stop future illegal immigration. In fact, it would serve as a magnet--witness the large increase in apprehensions at our southern border in January following Pres. Bush's announcement of his "earned legalization" plan, which was perceived as an "amnesty" by many in Latin America.
The practical, viable, and cost effective alternative is simply to enforce immigration laws as they already exist. We've already seen that enforcement works--witness the recent enforcement actions in California. These actions worked so well that illegal aliens advocates pressured the attorney general to stop them. Enforcement is no more politically impractical than amnesty (or "earned legalization"), which the bulk of the American public opposes, or mass deportation. Nor would it impose the social costs that legalization would bring, first, by showing that our laws really don't matter, and second, by opening our social programs to the multitude of illegal aliens who haven't the education or skills to earn a decent living even were they here legally.
Ali Alexander
Copyright © 1999-2002 American Immigration LLC, ILW.COM
|
Add to del.icio.us