Illegal immigration is a serious problem. Currently, there are approximately 12 million illegal aliens living in the shadows of America. The most recent version of a proposed immigration bill sought to grant amnesty to nearly every person who has lived illegally inside the United States since January 1, 2007. Amnesty undermines the rule of law and the foundation of good government.

Past Immigration Failures

Illegal immigration is not new. Legislation such as the Naturalization Act of 1795, the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, the Immigration Act of 1924, and even the Fourteenth Amendment have provided short and inadequate relief to the problem of illegal immigration. Albert Johnson, the chief author of the Immigration Act of 1924, stated: “[O]ur capacity to maintain our cherished institutions stands diluted by a stream of alien blood, with all its inherited misconceptions respecting the relationships of the governing power to the governed. It is out of appreciation of this fundamental fact …that the American people have come to sanction – indeed demand – reform of our immigration laws.”

Even after the Immigration Act of 1924 became law, the problem of illegal immigration has grown. The stage was set for arguably the most disastrous immigration law to ever be introduced. The author of this law, the Immigration Act of 1965, was none other than liberal Senator Ted Kennedy, who is pushing the current ill-conceived reform efforts.

Prior to Senator Kennedy’s 1965 legislation, immigrants entered the country at around 175,000 a year. Shortly after his bill passed, immigrants were entering the country at roughly twice the previous number. During the debate on the Senate floor, Senator Kennedy claimed, “The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”

Our current problem of illegal immigration has shown Senator Kennedy to be dead wrong. Twenty-one years later, amnesty for three million illegal aliens was granted by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Although Ronald Reagan predicted that “[f]uture generations of Americans will be thankful for our efforts to humanely regain control of our borders and thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship,” the results proved otherwise.

National Security

The New Jersey-based Islamic terrorists, who were arrested in May for plotting to attack the Fort Dix army base, included three illegal aliens who came across the Texas border years ago. Those three men were stopped nineteen times by police for traffic violations, but because of “sanctuary” policies, they were never reported to immigration authorities. Illegal immigration threatens our national security.

Education

Educating both illegal aliens and children of illegal aliens costs taxpayers an astounding $29 billion per year! Since 1982, when the United States Supreme Court decided Plyler v. Doe, school officials cannot refuse children of illegal aliens a free public education. Children of illegal aliens make up over fifteen percent of the K-12 student population in California. Many other states, such as Texas, Arizona, and Illinois, have similar numbers.

Healthcare

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act provides for free medical care for all illegal aliens. According to author and Congressman J.D. Hayworth, “illegal aliens know they can’t be turned away for care, so they tend to use emergency rooms like a regular doctor’s office. Meanwhile, the Border Patrol permits Mexican ambulance drivers to bring indigent patients to U.S. border hospitals under “compassionate entry.”

Family Values

The number of people living according to traditional family values will perilously decline as the population of illegal immigration grows. About one-third of births to immigrants occur out-of-wedlock. Furthermore, unmarried immigrants are much more likely to give birth than native-born singles. Illegal immigration has and will continue to have a detrimental effect on our family values and moral heritage.

Crime

The crime rate among illegal aliens continues to rise. For example, in 2003 the majority of the approximately 45,000 criminal aliens in federal prison were illegal aliens. The incarceration of these illegal aliens costs the government close to $1.3 billion. During that same year, state prisons spent close to $880 million on illegal aliens. An added problem is that crime and abuse among the illegal population reigns unchecked because of the fear associated with involving law enforcement in local problems.

Social Services

The cost of allowing those who have broken our laws to remain in the country with very minimal restitution is overwhelming. According to Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, if approximately 10 million illegal aliens were granted amnesty, the net retirement cost to the United States government could be over $2.6 trillion! This cost is due to the payment of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits. In 1986, this nation granted amnesty to nearly three million illegal aliens, and as a result, the number of illegals has nearly quadrupled!

Balancing Compassion and Justice

Granting amnesty to the millions of people who have broken the law to enter this nation is not a compassionate solution. Allowing illegal aliens to remain in the United States encourages exploitation by those whose sole purpose is to make money. Some of the exploiters are smugglers who demand cash payments for transportation and false documents. The documents are sometimes obtained through identity theft, leaving a wake of victims beyond the illegal aliens. Our porous borders also encourage human trafficking of women who are forced into prostitution or other forms of involuntary servitude. A woman recently pled guilty to conspiracy and smuggling for her part in bringing Central American girls and women into Texas and forcing some of them to work in her Houston area bar.

Immigration Reform Solutions

A workable solution to the current illegal immigration problem must contain several main requirements, including enforcement of current immigration laws, securing the borders, and assimilation.

There are currently laws that would discourage both illegal aliens and their employers from engaging in any illegal activity. If illegal aliens know that they are completely immune from criminal sanctions, they will risk crossing the border in order to achieve a better life. Audits and random checks of employers for documentation compliance should be increased to stop the demand for illegal workers.

Although it may be impossible to absolutely secure the entire border and make certain that no illegal alien crosses, there are ways to better protect our nation from unnecessary risks. Although building seven hundred miles of fence to secure our southern border was authorized by the Secure Fence Act of 2006, very little has been built. Electronic monitoring should be installed in areas where a fence is not feasible or sufficient. Additional Border Patrol agents should be hired, trained and deployed. “Sanctuary cities” should be penalized.

Legal immigrants, those who have followed the law and spent thousands of dollars to come to this country, understand that living in America is a privilege and not a right. Many illegal aliens, on the other hand, tend to have a sense of entitlement and remain loyal to their country of origin. They stay isolated and resist assimilation due to fear of deportation.

While America has always welcomed refugees and immigrants, the Founders believed in the principle of E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one). That is, America was viewed as a melting pot of many nationalities, but as in the analogy of a melting pot, the many nationalities were expected to mold into one nation with shared values and beliefs. This is a concept which is continually overlooked. We need to be mindful of this concept of Americanization. After all, the future of our country depends on it. That policy must focus on unifying the many into “One Nation Under God.”

We must secure this county by enforcing our current immigration laws, securing our borders, requiring assimilation of all immigrants, rewarding legal immigrants who can make real contributions to our society and refusing to extend amnesty to any illegal aliens. The future of America, indeed the future of our family, our faith, and our freedom, depends on a sound immigration policy.