Amnesty Will Not Die

The dis-oriented author is a first-generation American. I still oppose amnesty for illegal aliens. My father was a British subject who later became a Jamaican citizen and spent over 50 years in the US as a permanent resident alien. My mother is from Guam, she is a US Citizen by the Organic Act. The act, passed by congress in 1950, made the people  of Guam, citizens of the United States.

Earlier this year, Congress defeated the Bush Amnesty bill. The president and Congress seemed surprised by groundswell of opposition to this bill. Amnesty just will not die. This week, there are three amnesty related amendments that supporters are trying to attach to the Defense Re-Authorization Act. By sneaking these amendments into the Defense Bill, the hope is that even conservatives cannot vote against defense.

If these amendments survive, our conservative congressman need to kill the defense bill.

The worst of these proposals is the so-called Dream Act. The Dream Act, S.A. 2237 calls for granting legal resident status to illegals who came to the country before their 16th birthday and either graduated from a US high school or spent two years in a US college or the military.

The fact that illegals have access to our high schools, colleges and the military is a symbol of what is wrong with out immigration laws. How is it that illegals are even allowed to attend high school or college or even enlist in the military. This program rewards those who have come here in defiance of our laws. By so doing, we prove once again that we are not serious about immigration. This also encourages others to enter the country illegally, because they are likely to benefit from some future amnesty program.

I was at a Republican political convention last year and I talked to some amnesty supporters. They asked me whether I thought it was OK to deny illegals access to service, to keep them out of public schools and not pay them minimum wage. In essence they asked whether I thought that illegals should be a permanent underclass.

Well, my short answer is no. I do not want illegals to be a permanent underclass. Rather, I would like to see them become a temporary underclass. I would like to take away all of the incentives to stay or even enter the United States.

Call your senators, they need to defeat this amendment.