This is not Ellis Island

This is Not Ellis Island

As Phoenicians prepare for a second onslaught of immigration demonstrations through the streets of Phoenix, I am again faced with the oddity of trying to understand why rally organizers feel that encouraging children to walk out of class and workers to walk from their jobs, while waving Mexican flags, is evidence of them wanting to continue to reside in the United States. This type of activism has turned the legal residents of Phoenix against them. This “show of force” is meant to intimidate and threaten the very people who have offered jobs, provided low-income housing and given a helping hand.

Residing in Phoenix for over 30 years, I have witnessed first hand the crippling effect that illegal immigration has had on our state: from a reported $31 million in healthcare costs in 2005, to over crowded jails, $5 million in welfare and food stamps just last year, public education issues, increased crime rates and much more. It is for these benefits that illegal immigrants stream through the border of Arizona, not because they desire to become citizens. There are current laws and offices already apportioned to help law-abiding immigrants attain visas and citizenship in the United States right here in Phoenix.

Solving the immigration crisis is about national security. In order to protect our economy and protect our legal citizens, the government must offer a multi-faceted plan that both punishes immigration of illegal aliens and prohibits the hiring of such people by U.S. companies. Requiring employers to verify citizenship through a Social Security database is a positive step in the right direction. If illegal immigrants learn that getting employment in the United States is no longer such a simple task, I am confident that it will greatly reduce the flow of those crossing the desert every day.

However, penalizing employers is not enough. Increased security measures at the border are crucial to any type of legislation that will be successful. In addition to the construction of a border wall, we must also increase the number of border patrol agents and make use of our military technology. But still, this is not enough. Penalizing employers, increasing border patrols and building a wall are all significant steps in the right direction- but we must do more. We must also enact legislation to do away with “anchor babies.” This practice, wherein a child born in the United States of an illegal immigrant receives citizenship upon birth, only adds to the burden of states, like Arizona, to provide healthcare, food stamps and housing and further encourages the illegal immigrants to cross the border to have families.

Ultimately, the United States must hold the Mexican government accountable for its encouragement of illegal immigration. A reported $17 million is pumped into the floundering Mexican economy by illegal immigrants sending money home each year. The government must be held accountable for creating substandard living conditions and an economy that cannot support its own people and end its addiction to illegally obtained U.S. funding.

Finally, a guest worker program – or as Congressman Tom Tancredo calls it, the “McKennedy Plan” – is simply an amnesty program dressed up. The current plan unveiled this past week calls for illegal immigrants here since 2004 to go home immediately. Anyone with five to ten years must pay fines, taxes, learn English and then them may apply for citizenship. Proponents of this plan who feel that those in the under two-year category will simply pack up and go home are deceiving themselves and all Americans. Again, there is no mention of enforcement and no motivation for these illegal immigrants to do so. Furthermore, history has shown that guest worker programs do not work. From the recent riots in France, where unemployed Muslim guest workers residing in Paris ghettos rallied against the government, to Saudi Arabia and its reported six million guest workers, these programs have never worked. Guest worker programs create caste systems in societies that eventually erupt into social unrest between the castes.

As the protestors march through the streets of Phoenix, I will wave my American flag. I will file my taxes next week and I will continue to try and educate those who think this is a humanity issue – it is not. It is about protecting our borders, protecting our economy, and offering hope and opportunity to those people who wish to migrate here legally. This is not Ellis Island, as many immigration protestors would have you believe; rather, this is about people evading arrest at the border and taking advantage of our economy.