2008 Woodie Awards
Should illegal immigrants receive amnesty? No
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Opinion
Michelle Overby
Illegal immigration has become an increasing problem in the U.S. as our population has increased over the years.
Washington is trying to solve this problem by granting amnesty to current illegal aliens living in the U.S. Amnesty, however, will not solve the underlying problem of illegal immigration.
On one hand, amnesty acknowledges our simple economic reality. The U.S. needs cheap workers and Mexico provides half the illegal workers here.
Many pay taxes, yet they are denied many of the health and education benefits legal status would bring. The process to become a legal resident of the U.S. is long, so amnesty is supposed to be a quicker solution to providing legal status to those that our economy depends on.
On the other hand, by granting amnesty to illegal aliens, we fail to reward those who are currently abiding by the law. We can't forget these illegal aliens are intentionally breaking the law.
Every choice we make has a consequence.
Breaking the law is supposed to have negative consequences, but granting amnesty to illegal aliens tolerates that choice instead.
There is also the chance future amnesties will occur and expectations of these new amnesties will rise, which will encourage the continuation of illegal entries through border states.
This does not solve the underlying issue of illegal immigration.
The process of granting amnesty is in itself not necessarily a quicker route to becoming a legal citizen.
Fines are involved, along with proving you kept up with your taxes, learning English and other criteria.
They may even be forced to wait in line behind immigrants who are seeking citizenship legally.
If illegal aliens are able to comfortably live in the U.S. currently, why would they go through the hassle of being granted amnesty, especially since the current immigration process takes so long.
And how would they go about applying for amnesty? There has been talk of certain time frames where illegal aliens could come and apply for amnesty without fear of being forced to return to their country.
If the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. all applied for amnesty, what time frame would seem reasonable as the cut-off date? And how are politicians supposed to decide on that if they can't even agree that amnesty should happen?
There is also the problem with how much this is going to cost. It is possible that $2.6 trillion will be needed to enact this plan.
Where will this money come from?
Taxes of course; so now the legal citizens are going to pay for illegal aliens to receive the same rights they do.
Like I mentioned earlier, people who have followed the current law of the land should not be punished by helping out those who break the same laws.
Illegal immigration has become an increasing problem in the U.S. as our population has increased over the years.
Washington is trying to solve this problem by granting amnesty to current illegal aliens living in the U.S. Amnesty, however, will not solve the underlying problem of illegal immigration.
On one hand, amnesty acknowledges our simple economic reality. The U.S. needs cheap workers and Mexico provides half the illegal workers here.
Many pay taxes, yet they are denied many of the health and education benefits legal status would bring. The process to become a legal resident of the U.S. is long, so amnesty is supposed to be a quicker solution to providing legal status to those that our economy depends on.
On the other hand, by granting amnesty to illegal aliens, we fail to reward those who are currently abiding by the law. We can't forget these illegal aliens are intentionally breaking the law.
Every choice we make has a consequence.
Breaking the law is supposed to have negative consequences, but granting amnesty to illegal aliens tolerates that choice instead.
There is also the chance future amnesties will occur and expectations of these new amnesties will rise, which will encourage the continuation of illegal entries through border states.
This does not solve the underlying issue of illegal immigration.
The process of granting amnesty is in itself not necessarily a quicker route to becoming a legal citizen.
Fines are involved, along with proving you kept up with your taxes, learning English and other criteria.
They may even be forced to wait in line behind immigrants who are seeking citizenship legally.
If illegal aliens are able to comfortably live in the U.S. currently, why would they go through the hassle of being granted amnesty, especially since the current immigration process takes so long.
And how would they go about applying for amnesty? There has been talk of certain time frames where illegal aliens could come and apply for amnesty without fear of being forced to return to their country.
If the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. all applied for amnesty, what time frame would seem reasonable as the cut-off date? And how are politicians supposed to decide on that if they can't even agree that amnesty should happen?
There is also the problem with how much this is going to cost. It is possible that $2.6 trillion will be needed to enact this plan.
Where will this money come from?
Taxes of course; so now the legal citizens are going to pay for illegal aliens to receive the same rights they do.
Like I mentioned earlier, people who have followed the current law of the land should not be punished by helping out those who break the same laws.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 14
Maggie
posted 9/05/08 @ 9:34 AM CST
One good reason not to grant amnesty is because according to our immigratin laws, if they have any impact on this question at all, is that only 6% of any one ethnic background group be allowed immigration into the US per year. (Continued…)
Diane Dugan
posted 9/05/08 @ 10:13 AM CST
You are correct but forget chain migration. In the event that amnesty is given, they could bring their relatives.
The impact on the environment alone s reason enough to say. (Continued…)
tina
posted 9/05/08 @ 10:37 AM CST
Whether it be sneaking across the border, identity theft/fraud, driving w/o a license, being a financial burden on the taxpayers, illegal aliens have clearly demonstrated through their dishonest actions, that they have no claim whatsoever to the welcome mat extended to legal and honest immigrants. (Continued…)
panola
posted 9/05/08 @ 10:48 AM CST
Migrating to America legally is, and should be, a long, drawn-out procedure
meant to protect the interests of American citizens. It involves more than
simply jumping a fence and heading north in pursuit of free health care,
education, food stamps, and other handouts paid for by U. (Continued…)
lccat
posted 9/05/08 @ 11:23 AM CST
It doesn't seem to matter if it is Police Officer in Houston attempting to safe guard his city, a high school student in Los Angeles standing in front of his home while his mother is half way around the world defending her country, or a father and his sons in San Francisco driving home all became targets of ILLEGALS and were murdered because of the greed of "our" Elitist Politicians and their Elitist Contributors in search of "cheap labor" to help their "bottom line"!
I just do not understand how our current President and our Congress, not to mention our Presidential candidates, can send our young men and women half way around the world in defense of the United States and refuse to defend our National Borders and Enforce our Immigration Laws while at the same time warning our military, for their own safety, not to wear their uniforms when traveling to "our" southern borders. (Continued…)
Delaware Bob
posted 9/05/08 @ 12:30 PM CST
First, very good opinion!
Being from Delaware, we have about 40,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS here. We are doing our best to get the legislators to get a law passed to get rid of the ILLEGAL ALIENS as did Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and other States. (Continued…)
Joel Wischkaemper
posted 9/05/08 @ 9:15 PM CST
In fact, Congress created this mess when they refused to fund law enforcement that would have stopped the illegal aliens at the border. Now they want to cover up their incrediable behaviour with amnesty and that would be very, very, very expensive. (Continued…)
lccat
posted 9/05/08 @ 9:18 PM CST
The following link is an interview with the widow of a Houston Police Officer who was murdered by an ILLEGAL, it may be worth seeing. She intends to testify before "our" congress next week. (Continued…)
CHIRS
posted 9/06/08 @ 11:27 AM CST
now yall... what would jesus do? =D haha
Ruth
posted 9/06/08 @ 11:32 AM CST
Perhaps you are not old enough to remember the 1986 AMNESTY where 2-3 million illegal aliens got citizenship even if they had come here illegally. Well now we see how that DID NOT STOP future illegal immigration and you know why? Because we REWARDED ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR so it only encouraged future illegal behavior. (Continued…)
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