A Sober Look at Illegals

My regular readers know I’m passionate about illegal immigration. My opposition to amnesty for illegal immigrants, who flout the rule of law, stems from my lifelong commitment to justice and fairness.

Truth is, we already have an earned path to citizenship. It’s called naturalization.

It’s fundamentally unfair to Americans to create a separate path to citizenship for illegal aliens who think it’s their “human right” to sneak across our border, depress wages for American workers, and access social services and public benefits for which American taxpayers must bear the cost.

At the same time, the arrogance of the open-borders lobby and their insistence on political correctness, including the transformation of illegal aliens into “undocumented” immigrants, preclude meaningful dialogue.

So, I was surprised to find a glimmer of hope in this piece by Ruben Navarrette with whom I generally disagree on the subject of illegal immigration. (Disclosure: Navarrette and I were recent guests on Tell Me More with Michel Martin on National Public Radio.)

Navarrette writes:

That’s why I like the outline of the immigration reform plan being pounded out by the White House and GOP senators, as well as the immigration bill proposed by Reps. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. And it’s why I’ve been a fan of the Hutchison-Pence plan, which was proposed last year by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. All of these proposals include a path of legalization, but with lots of conditions. Illegal immigrants have to pay fines, or learn English, or even return home for a short time. The message is clear: “You want the right to live in the United States legally? Fine. Earn it. Nothing valuable comes easy, and the right to live legally in the greatest country on Earth is of tremendous value.’’

No dice, said some of the marchers. One man in Los Angeles told television reporters that he demanded a “general amnesty without conditions just like in 1986.’’ And forget that business about requiring people to leave the country and reapply to enter legally. No way was he going to do that, he said.

What a jerk. Here he is getting a gift and he wants it wrapped with a bow. Heaven forbid, he’d have to lift a finger.

Another man, also in Los Angeles, acknowledged that he was here illegally and explained his demands this way: “We want legal status so we can have the same rights as other people do.’’

There is his mistake. It’s likely that the “other people’’ he is talking about are either permanent residents or U.S. citizens. If he wants the rights they have, let him go through the steps on his own to obtain either status. Then he can have rights galore, but with responsibilities the way “other people do.’’

Then there is the old standby, those signs with the slogan: “No human being is illegal.’’

OK. But human beings do, on occasion, commit acts that are illegal, and, when they do, they have to pay for those mistakes. And step one is admitting they made them.

And step two is acknowledging that concern about illegal immigration does not make one a racist or a xenophobe.