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Some people
are worried that amnesty will give illegal aliens the same
rights that American citizens have. In reality, it will give
the illegals more rights than the average American citizen.
Since most of the illegals are Mexican, that makes them a
minority. Under affirmative action, combined with amnesty,
they would have preferences in jobs and other benefits.
Those who set up their own businesses would be entitled to
preferences in getting government contracts. Their children
would be able to get into college ahead of the children of
American citizens with better academic qualifications.
Illegals who graduate from a high school in California can
already attend the
University of California, paying lower tuition that an
American citizen from neighboring Oregon.
Under the supposedly "tough" immigration bill in the U.S.
Senate, illegals don't have to pay all the back taxes they
owe. An American citizen gets no such break from the
government and can end up in federal prison, like Al Capone.
If
an American citizen gets stopped by the police for a traffic
violation and the cops discover that he is wanted for some
other violation of the law, they can arrest him for whatever
else he has done.
But
if an illegal alien gets stopped for going through a red light
and the police discovers that he is in the country illegally,
in many communities the cop is forbidden to arrest him for
that -- or even to report him to the feds.
If
an American citizen forges a Social Security card in order to
get a job, he can be arrested. Under a provision recently
passed by the Senate, illegal aliens who forged Social
Security cards not only get a pass, they get to collect Social
Security benefits.
The
great majority of Senators who voted for that provision were
Democrats, and they prevailed because they were joined by a
small minority of Republicans, led by -- surprise! -- Senator
John McCain. After similar defections on judges and free
speech, Senator McCain may give opportunism a bad name.
What
the immigration bill in the Senate has become is just another
attempt to pander to another special interest, in disregard of
how that affects the country as a whole.
Much is made of the fact that there are supposedly 12 million
illegals in the country already. The last time illegal aliens
were given amnesty, back in 1986, that led to even more
illegal aliens coming in afterwards.
Do
we want 20 million or 30 million more illegal aliens in the
future? Do we want to change the very composition of the
American population, and with it the values of the country?
There was a time when immigrants came here to become
Americans. But there are powerful pressure groups in this
country, extending far beyond the immigrant community, doing
their best to keep foreigners foreign and force Americans to
accommodate their foreign language and culture in the name of
"multiculturalism."
We
have seen what havoc such notions and practices have created
after mass immigration under "guest worker" programs in
Europe, especially after the Muslim riots in France. Do we
want that in the United States?
Most
of the first generation of immigrants may want nothing more
than a chance to work and will be happy to be here instead of
in Mexico. But second generations born in this country compare
their situation not with the situation in Mexico but with what
other Americans around them have.
There are plenty of people, both inside and outside the
immigrant community, who will fan their sense of grievance and
exploit their resentments. This is not peculiar to people from
Mexico. Europe has already experienced this.
Both
the facts of the past and the dangers of the future are being
ignored in the rush to give immediate benefits to illegal
aliens, washed down with much talk about border control but no
requirement that the border actually be controlled before
these benefits go into effect.
The
political strategy of this package deal legislation is to give
immediate and irrevocable special benefits to some and make
pious promises about the future to get all this past the
others.
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