Here's a treasure trove of great letters!!! These people really know what they're talking about!
Monday, Jun 11, 2007
Posted on Sun, Jun. 10, 2007
Letters: June 10
http://www.star-telegram.com/244/v-prin ... 31176.html
Star-Telegram
'It might as well be 1986 all over again'
If Canada were sending millions of non-English-speaking, poorly educated white people to our country to use our social services and bankrupt our taxpayers, I'd still oppose illegal immigration.
This isn't about race, and I resent Ruben Navarrette Jr.'s use of such code words as nativist to imply that only racists oppose illegal immigration. (See Friday column "And he comes out swinging.")
This country is at war, and the idea that it's OK for people to sneak across our border without background checks isn't only ridiculous -- it's dangerous.
Stop calling us racists!
-- Ron Bridges, Fort Worth
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Why pass new laws that no one intends to enforce? Why bother fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan against terrorism if our own borders are wide open and unprotected?
Our elected representatives are at best disingenuous and at worst traitorous in the way they treat border protection and illegal immigration.
America is a land of law and order, and when our leaders do not enforce the laws, the end can't be far off. We tried immigration overhaul in 1986 with 3 million illegals, and now it's 12 million-plus. Our medical and social services already are strained by the effects of illegals.
I'm also an immigrant. But I did it the right way. My family emigrated from Laos to escape communism. We're now all naturalized citizens.
I'm tired of having to press 1 for English when I call a government office or business. I didn't get to go to school to learn in my native tongue; I had to learn English.
-- Sarah Hummer, Fort Worth
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Under the immigration bill now apparently dead in the Senate, the millions who came here illegally would have been allowed to stay. Although they would have had cumbersome hoops to jump through, they still would have been rewarded for coming to the United States illegally.
If the executive branch can't enforce our immigration laws, it surely wouldn't have been able to enforce the many required provisions under the Senate bill. The executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws. If we have people in the executive branch who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and now say that it can't be done, they need to resign or be impeached.
The concept that we can't enforce our laws because so many people break them is the first step toward anarchy and sends a clear message to the world that if you come in droves, we can't stop you. Imagine that -- the strongest nation on Earth being rushed and simply laying back and allowing it to happen!
-- Loree Rager, Bedford
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Some of us still remember the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. At the time, IRCA was hailed as the end-all immigration reform that would fix the problem of illegal immigration, secure our borders and provide "relief" for millions of illegal immigrants who already had entered our country.
The result was that more than 3 million of these illegal aliens were given amnesty, our borders remained as porous as ever, and millions of new illegal aliens recognized that what had happened before would eventually happen again.
Well, that was just 20 years ago. Now more than 10 million new illegal aliens live within our borders, and if we legitimize these 10 million, another 25 million of them will be here by 2025.
How many times does this have to happen before our government learns that you don't fix a problem by rewarding those who engaged in criminal activity and giving them what they wanted in the first place? We've got to break this cycle or we'll be doomed to repeat it forever.
Also, doesn't it strike anyone as odd that we're one of the few countries that grant citizenship to the children of illegal alien parents who are breaking the law by being there in the first place? Kind of like saying that if you rob the 7-Eleven but make it out of the store, you get to keep the money. An interesting concept, to say the least.
-- Ben F. Bruce, Arlington
President Bush seems to insinuate that anyone who opposed the immigration bill (amnesty) is a bigot and a racist. Oh, brother!
Anyone with common knowledge knows that this is about national security and all the other problems caused by illegal immigration. Let's not play the race card.
Four years ago, Bush wanted to grant amnesty to 7 million illegal immigrants. Now he wants to help do something similar for 12 million.
He and his political buddies promise to secure the borders, which the government has promised to do for 30 years. If they were serious about it, there'd be 50,000 armed National Guard troops on the southern border, another 50,000 on the northern side and probably the same for the east and west coasts.
It might as well be 1986 all over again, when the government granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants and then broke its promise to seal the U.S.-Mexico border.
-- Nicholas Luscri, Hurst
The June 3 news story by Jim Rutenberg and Carl Hulse of The New York Times ("Immigration bill is causing fissures in Bush's base") continued the liberal media spin on illegal immigration that causes me great concern.
And the "What's next" fixture at the bottom of the story explained matter-of-factly that the proposed legislation "would allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country and work legally by paying fines, learning English, passing criminal background checks and holding steady jobs."
Wow, that sounds terrific. Wish it were factual.
Fact: Applicants could get, and renew indefinitely, their Z visas without fines, and without having to speak English, until and unless they applied for citizenship. This was just another incentive for them to remain a permanent underclass and never assimilate or become U.S. citizens.
Many of the invaders do not want to assimilate, do not want to speak English and do not want to become citizens. With guest workers, we would just create a permanent underclass of low-paid, non-loyal workers.
Here's an idea: Why not objectively report both sides of an issue and let your readers decide what is in the best interests of our country?
-- Adam Siegel, Fort Worth
Bud Kennedy's "Wise advice" was so typical of the media mind-set about the illegal immigrant situation. (See June 3 column "Wise advice: Don't live in this county if you're sick, needy.")
I'm proud to live in Wise County, not because our county commissioners cut off aid to illegal immigrants but because it's a good place to live. Don't blame the Wise County commissioners because of their stand.
Everything could be made so easy if we were to adopt Mexico's immigration laws. They're simple, direct and easy to understand. After all, we're neighbors, so what's wrong with copying some of their good laws?
But our national politicians are like Kennedy: They just don't get it. And then Kennedy blames the locals for not being compassionate and in some cases being racist.
Too bad, Bud, but I like being Wise.
-- Charles Randall, Paradise