Immigration Politics

I listened to a “news report” on National Public Radio today about “undocumented workers” and the passage of a law in Prince William County, Virginia. The law basically states that when a person is arrested or brought to the attention of law enforcement, they will notify the US Government about the illegal status of the person. Therefore, a person who is violating the law of the United States will be reported to the appropriate authority about the law violation. On the surface, this seems to be a pretty intuitively obvious thing to do. However, the political left is outraged. National Public Radio tends to be a liberal news outlet and the story was, of course, extremely sympathetic to the plight of the law-breakers (“victims”). Some of the justifications they used require some severe stretching.

The focus of the story was two women who entered the country legally using work visas and then stayed past the expiration of their visas. Let’s make sure this is clear: the two women knowingly violated the law by overstaying the visa that the United States granted them. How does that make them sympathetic characters? The story lamented how one could not visit a friend in the hospital because she might have to produce identification. I suppose we should feel badly for bank robbers on the run who can’t visit their families because they might get caught. We are also supposed to be feeling sorry for illegal aliens because they might be reported if they commit a crime and get arrested. Am I the only one who sees how stupid this argument is?

The next segment was an interview with someone who was talking about how a group of three or four hundred illegal aliens (“undocumented workers”) who were receiving free tax-funded education to learn English as a second language were no longer attending classes. Let’s make sure this is clear: A group of immigration law violators are no longer using U.S. tax funds to receive educational benefits in a country where they shouldn’t be present. How is that a problem? The point was that the new law was causing illegal aliens to leave the county. How is that a problem?

The next portion of the report was about the financial burden. A County Commissioner was saying that because of the volume of illegal aliens in the county, it would cost a lot of money to enforce the law. Let me make sure we understand this: We won’t enforce laws because it costs money. It sounds like the county needs a new commissioner.

I found the interview with the head of the police force very interesting. He stated that the police force does not set up immigration screens or checkpoints. If they encounter someone who is an illegal alien, they do not detain the person unless they are being detained for committing a crime. They do appropriately report the encounter to the federal immigration authorities, as they should. They do detain illegal aliens who are arrested for committing a crime. How is that a problem? Should illegal aliens have special benefits that criminals that are American citizens do not? That is patently ridiculous.

I assume all of this ridiculous logic is way to try to obtain Hispanic support in the upcoming elections. The liberals also said that committing perjury was no big deal for President Clinton because it was about sex. Therefore, the political left can pick the subjects in which it is okay to tell lies in court. When a woman accused Clinton of sexual assault, the National Organization of Women said nothing, because their political agenda (abortion) agreed with Clinton’s. The liberal wing chooses which laws to obey and not obey and when the law contradicts their philosophy or goals, they find a judge who agrees and the just “re-interpret” the law. One cannot cease to be amazed.