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It's past time to turn back the illegal invasion
Update: Watch this, then tell me more about those peace-loving immigrants who just want to come her for a better life living peacefully among us. (Hat tip: William Page)
End update
Rebuilding the Welfare State (Illegally)
By Jed Babbin
I used to live across the street from a wonderful Dutch family. The father was an economist at the World Bank, the mother a linguist for some government agency, and their two daughters honor students at the local high school. They're probably back in Holland because -- as the father explained to me -- his years-long employee visa was expiring and he was told he'd have to move his family back to Holland before he could reapply for permanent resident status leading to citizenship. And there was a long wait because the quotas for Dutch immigrants were filled years in advance. I think of him every time I hear about the millions of illegal immigrants in this country. And so should every member of the Senate as they take up that subject this week.
Why is it so hard for politicians to understand that the differences between legal and illegal immigration have to be real and carry real consequences for those who break our law? ...
[Read on here. Hat tip: Rurik]
An immigration brouhaha
Poison for both parties?
Glenn Reynolds
It looks like illegal immigration is shaping up to be the issue of the week, in the wake of mass rallies opposing new immigration legislation in Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere.
Mickey Kaus has been paying a lot of attention to this subject and thinks it will be bad for Democrats. I think it may well be bad for everyone.
As I've noted here before, I'm in favor of pretty easy immigration -- my family includes immigrants from Nigeria. But they're legal immigrants, who jumped through numerous hoops to get here and who are, if anything, more unhappy with illegal immigration than most native-born Americans. If we're going to have open immigration, let's change the law, not achieve that end through failure to enforce the laws we have.
Still there are a few parts of the debate worth stressing:
[Read on here.]
Proposed Illegal Immigration Bill Would Make Illegal Immigration a Felony — By Adding a Whopping 6 Months to the Punishment
Patterico
I keep reading about the federal bill that will MAKE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION A FELONY! It sounds so drastic, and so you can see why hundreds of thousands might be protesting a bill that makes such a radical change. For example, here is an article on yesterday’s march in the Los Angeles Times: [...]
Here’s the thing, though: illegal immigration is already a crime, punishable by 6 months in prison. By making illegal entry a felony, the bill simply increases the penalty from 6 months to a year and a day.
Big deal.
It also makes illegal presence a crime. But aside from making it easier to prosecute people who have overstayed their visas, this provision simply makes it easier to prosecute illegals whose initial illegal entry can no longer be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations having run.
In other words, it makes it easier to prosecute criminals. But it doesn’t make criminals out of illegals.
[Read on here]
Michelle Malkin has related posts here, here and here.
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Cool Blue has an excellent related post here.
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