The immigration issue is complicated, with tensions running high on both sides. I find myself torn but, like anyone who carefully examines the situation, I recognize the need to crack down immediately.
The United States has become a beacon of liberty, inspiring freedom around the world. Some people hate us for this but many more yearn for the freedom and opportunity that our citizenry is afforded. As a result, more than a million people come to our country every year, legally and illegally. The problem is not that too many people are coming into this country; it is that too many people whom we don't know are coming into this country.
As it stands now, our U.S. immigration policy is the worst it could possibly be. We allow so few people in that waitlists are decades long in some countries and, as a result, desperate people risk their lives and violate the law to come to America. These illegal immigrants are undocumented, unchecked and, in this age of terrorist infiltration, a danger to our national security. The vast majority are clearly trying to create better lives for themselves, but we just cannot be sure about who falls into this category.
And whether the solution is building a barrier on our borders, granting widespread amnesty or dramatically increasing quotas, we simply must know who is coming into our country. The same holds true for visas, which present a potentially larger problem when visitors come to the country for such things as school, business and tourism and simply remain illegally and unknown. This is how many of the Sept. 11 terrorists got in, and we need stricter rules to protect ourselves.
There are even troubling aspects to the recent pro-immigration protests themselves. At one California school the Mexican flag was raised above the American flag on the school flag post. It seems to me that there could be no worse way to protest. These protesters should be publicly venerating the American flag since these protestors want to come to America from Mexico. There is nothing wrong with pride in one's country of origin but it is the American values of liberty and opportunity that pro-immigration forces should be citing in support of their case.
But I support the goals of many of these protestors because I see immigration not only as a political or economic issue but as one of human rights. I cannot help but think of the boatloads of Jewish refugees turned away from the shores of our country during World War II and sent back to the fires of the Holocaust. I cannot help but think of the many dissidents persecuted for their practice of Christianity in China, Pakistan and many Arab countries who seek refuge in America. I cannot help but think of Africans fleeing Arab militias in Sudan, Kurds and Shia persecuted and massacred by Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Tutsi slaughtered by Hutu in Rwanda, all because they could not get out and had nowhere to go.
While I see the need for far more rigorous border security to harshly to crack down on illegal immigration, I support significantly expanded quotas to document the millions who are coming in illegally anyway in order to set reasonable levels for enforcement. We also must ensure that there is equity for people from all countries around the world and that illegal immigrants are not rewarded for cutting the immigration line.
As far as losing jobs is concerned, Americans are perhaps the best-educated, most competitive and most resourceful people in the history of the world, and I have no doubt that we will continue to improve our economy, no matter how many people come into our country. Throughout history Americans have shown an unbridled capacity for education and learning new skills and we still have this same capacity today.
The threat does not come from the majority of immigrants who seek a better life, but from those who want to destroy our country. First and foremost, we need the government to stop terrorists from infiltrating our country.
Our country is, in short, truly a nation of immigrants. We are built on tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. New, hardworking, legal immigrants will do a great deal to raise our standard of living in the long run and contribute to the pluralism, opportunity and freedom that the American people embrace.
