¿Los papeles? ¡Nosotros no necesitamos no papeles que huelen!

By now I'm sure you've all seen the "pro-immigration" rallies that have been popping up all over the country. I knew that as Americans we had the right to gather and protest (peacefully), but apparently our government extends that right to ILLEGAL NON-CITIZENS as well. What a great country we are.

Contrary to what the "pro-immigration" talking heads have been saying (or not saying respectively) just because a person is here with good intentions, and is here to work or raise a family or both, if they didn't follow the laws of our country to get here then they are in violation of that law. The sides have been drawn in this debate...you have the "pro-immigration" side; people for keeping the current, severely broken, system of unchecked illegal immigration (security and govermental strain be damned). Everyone who doesn't sign on to that school of thought will fall under the "racist" banner. I personally believe that most of America is pro-immigration, if those immigrants follow the law. What has these "pro-immigration" groups up in arms is the long overdue action (hopefully) of our government to stem the overwhelming flood of illegal movement across our borders. They don't want a wall. They don't want regulation. They DO want the government to "pardon" all of the illegals that are currently in our country and grant them citizenship. The "pro-immigrant" groups tell us that the illegals in this country pay taxes, that they work hard, and that they have as much of a right to be here as US citizens. I don't doubt that a large number of illegals do work hard and pound out a living. I do have serious doubts about what sort of taxes they're paying. Sure they pay sales tax, who doesn't? What about Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, income tax, the list goes on and on. And so we come to one of the hot button issues: If you naturalize all of these illegals they'll have to pay taxes. So why wouldn't we? Here's why; these people have broken our laws. They didn't bend them, didn't accidentally break them, they knowingly came across the border illegally. If you pardon them, why not pardon rapists? What about drug dealers? I'm sure they'll pay more taxes out of jail than they do in jail. It's flat out wrong...Period. What sort of message would it send? "Come on in to the USA! Yeah you're breaking the law, but if you can hold out long enough they'll rubber stamp you and give you citizenship." No. No way.

Our government, as often times happens, has allowed itself to become embroiled in partisan bickering...thus delaying any action. So, I've put together an airtight plan for solving our problem:

• Secure the borders. Is a 20 foot tall fence stretching from Texas to California a viable option? Sadly, no, but we live in the age of technology for crying out loud. We can study the surface of Mars, you're telling me we can't watch our own border? How about cameras, electronic walls, and more border patrol agents.
  
• Penalize American companies that hire illegal workers. Not only is it illegal for someone to cross into our country undocumented, it's illegal to hire them. Tight fisted American business owners have perpetuated the problem, opting to hire cheap instead of legal. I've heard the argument that illegal immigrants do the work Americans don't want to do. What strikes me as funny is that most of the people saying that have never run the risk of starving, never had to worry about clothing their children. Some of our citizens do, and would gladly take the work. Americans have never shirked from hard, dirty, thankless labor. Give our citizens who are in need of work a chance to take these "undesirable" jobs.
• Deport those who are breaking our immigration laws. This is touchy, as many immigrants have started families here. I'm not for breaking apart families, so offer illegal immigrants with legal children the chance to become citizens. They've been breaking the law, let them pay a fine, and make a mends by learning our language and passing the tests required to be a citizen. For those illegal immigrants without a family, deport them to their country of origin and let them begin the process to become a legal citizen.
  

I understand that this country has deep roots in the Melting Pot mentality, "give me your tired, your weary"...and so forth, and I agree with that for the most part. The key is the "melting" part. If you want to be a member of this country you should become a part of it's society, not expect to keep all the aspects of your old society. I'm not saying that you should forget your heritage, far from it. Celebrate St. Patricks day, Cinco De Mayo, Boxing Day, whatever...just remember that you're a part of a whole, and that whole is American.

Bottom line is this: If you want to be a part of this country, do it legally or go home. So let the protestors protest, let the flags wave (notice that most of the flags went from Mexican to American? Guess someone got the memo) and the voices chant with the hopes that if you're loud enough and large enough our government will cave to your demands. That sort of mentality may be true in France, but not here, not in my America.

Oh yeah...almost forgot, click on the link to translate the title.