Legal v. Illegal Immigration:

Since President Obama’s grand announcement not to enforce immigration laws for selected illegal immigrants, the immigration issue is in the forefront of the news.  I believe this could not be coming at a worse time for the President.  Not only is he on the unpopular side of the issue, he circumvented the constitution by changing immigration laws through executive order instead of the constitutional channel of legislation.

Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution expressly grants Congress, not the President, the power to establish laws of naturalization (1).  Therefore, when President Obama overstepped his authority and decided through executive order not to enforce immigration laws, justly passed by the legislature, he is attempting to act as both the chief executive and legislature of the country.  President Obama thinks he is doing the right thing because it is unfair that someone should be deprived of the American dream just because of his or her country of birth.  He is also convinced that his tactics are correct (2) So, we must ask, is the President right or are our existing immigration laws right?

My family, like many others in our nation, immigrated to this country from Germany.  They did not come here to change this country to fit their own needs.  Nor did they come here looking for some sort of government handout.  They came here seeking a better life but understood that they had to find a job in our nation or start a business and become self-sufficient.  They also understood that they had to obey the laws of their new home or suffer the consequences of breaking those laws.  They also understood that in order to succeed in their new home, they had to learn the language of the land in order to conduct commerce and communicate with others.  This is generally the behavior of someone who legally enters the United States. 

The current crop of illegal immigrants (undocumented for my PC readers) believes they somehow have a right to expect the United States Government to take care of them and grant them all  the rights and privileges of those who either are citizens or legally here because they followed the immigration rules.  This warped logic would be the same as saying that just because I walked into a grocery store, I am somehow entitled to anything I need in the store without following the rules of paying for it first. 

I live in Arizona and see their behavior first hand.  They send their kids to our schools at an estimated cost of $44.5 billion (3) and expect us to teach them in their native language thus requiring schools to hire additional teachers to teach in their language, at taxpayers’ expense.  Of course, they will argue that they pay taxes too but even though they may have taxes withheld from their paychecks, when they file their 1040, they receive this money back plus additional refundable credits (i.e. Earned Income Credit, Child Tax Credits). Even though the tax laws prohibit them from receiving these credits, many use stolen Social Security Numbers to receive these credits  Is it any wonder identity theft is such a big problem in our country.  They also expect to attend college in our state run universities and only pay in State tuition. 

They go to our emergency rooms and expect hospitals and doctors to provide care for free or at taxpayer expense instead of paying for insurance and using that to pay their medical bills.  I understand that the law mandates that they receive care when going into the ER, but they should still be required to make payments to the hospital and doctors to pay their medical bills.  The truth is that these people go to the ER because the law mandates they receive care and do not intend to pay for their care.  This is a major cause of the raising healthcare costs for us all (4).

These illegal immigrants, who have no regard for the laws of our land, continue to break our laws after illegally entering our country, filling up our prisons, and putting a strain on our criminal justice system.  It is estimated that illegal immigrants account for 6.1 percent of crime at an estimated cost of $24 billion.  (5)  It would be better if the state were allowed to return them to their country of origin after they are arrested for a crime than to spend taxpayer money and resources to house them in our prisons.  Our prisons are already overcrowded so why exacerbate the problem. 

Governor Brewer and the Legislature of Arizona, in the interest of keeping the citizens of her state safe, passed and signed into law Senate Bill 1070 (6).  This legislation gave local law enforcement the authority to enforce Immigration laws when they arrested someone, who committed some crime other than breaking immigration laws, that they believe might be illegal.  Local law enforcement does not deport these individuals but turns them over to federal authorities.  This is not unusual for states already assist federal agents in the enforcement of drug laws and firearm laws, so what is the difference here. 

The difference is that the Obama Administration needs these people for their political gain.  They want to appear more compassionate then conservatives in order to attract liberal voters who vote with their emotions rather than logic and common sense.  I also believe they have intentions of granting these people the right to vote, which is why they oppose voter ID laws. 

It is time to act fellow political avengers by writing, calling, or emailing your representatives in Congress and the White House.  Let them know that you support legal immigration where people come to this country and make a positive contribution and do not support illegal immigrants coming here looking to take advantage of the citizens and taxpayers of our nation.  I believe it is time to end this insanity but what do you think? 

Please feel free to use the comment section of this blog to let me know your opinion on this issue.    

1. Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution. www.law.cornell.edu/constitution. [Online] Cornell University Law School. [Cited: June 19, 2012.] http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution.

2. Friess, Steve. Obamas policy strategy: Ignore laws. Politico.com. [Online] Politico, June 16, 2012. [Cited: June 10, 2012.] www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77486.html.

3. Izumi, Lance T. Educating illegal immigrants is costly. ajc.com. [Online] Atlanta Journal and Constitution, August 17, 2010. [Cited: June 20, 2012.] http://www.ajc.com/opinion/educating-illegal-immigrants-is-594092.html.

4. Illegal immigration statistice. The Rising Cost of Illegal Immigration: Healthcare and Health Insurance. illegalimmigrationstatistics.org. [Online] 2012. [Cited: June 20, 2012.] http://www.illegalimmigrationstatistics.org/the-rising-cost-of-illegal-immigration-healthcare-and-health-insurance/.

5. Rasmusen, Eeric. Illegal immigrants cause 6% of crime, which costs $24 billion. rasmusen.org. [Online] April 30, 2008. [Cited: June 20, 2012.] http://www.rasmusen.org/t/2008/04/illegal-immigrants-cause-21-of-crime.html.

6. Arizona State Senate. Senate Bill 1070. www.azleg.gov. [Online] State of Arizona, 2010. [Cited: June 19, 2012.] http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf.