I’ve been browsing and got caught up again in the illegal immigration issue. I haven’t been there in a while. The subject didn’t get a lot of attention during last year’s campaign and President Obama seems to be concentrating primarily on the economy, as he should be. As a result, the issue seems to be smoldering at about the same temperature as before — not going away, not getting any better.
The pro-immigrant camp still ignores the not-so-subtle distinction between “immigrant” and “illegal immigrant.” They argue that immigrants are human beings with “civil rights” that are being violated by US law enforcement, that they are being discriminated against by racists, etc. Nothing new there.
Anyone (not just Latinos) in this country in violation of US immigration law is here illegally and therefore subject to arrest, detention, and deportation. That’s not racist. That doesn’t violate anyone’s civil rights (one has to be a US citizen in order to have civil rights here). If families are split up because our government enforces its law, you don’t blame the government; you blame whoever broke the law.
I’m getting all wound up over this again, partly because Colorado has been considering a new law that would grant in-state tuition to illegals who have been here a certain number of years and graduated from high school. As an Oklahoma resident back in the Stone Age, I had to pay hefty out-of-state tuition for the privilege of attending the University of Colorado. And now they want to use my tax dollars to underwrite in-state tuition for illegals? (Have you ever seen a fat white grandmother go ballistic?)
Mumble, mutter, #&*(^!!
For me, it keeps boiling down to one question. Just one. And I still haven’t found the answer.
Where’s the logic in giving all the rights and privileges of citizenship
to someone who is here illegally?
I could expand on that question in a million ways, but I think it represents the bottom line. Everything seems to boil down to that. I try to be reasonable and keep an open mind about things. I keep trying to understand how so many people in this country can be so convinced that illegal immigrants somehow deserve to come here, be here, and stay here in violation of our laws.
I’m not entirely comfortable with my black-or-white interpretation of the issue. Few important things in life are that simple. But I’ll be damned if I can find the gray in this issue.