Rights for Illegals?

Recently our local news featured a story about a certain legislation that has come under scrutiny again.  As with anything to do with immigration, it came under fire from different sectors of the community.

The bill in question is aimed at ensuring that illegals who are attending state owned universities continue to pay in state tuition if they’ve attended high school in the state for a minimum of three years.

Now, I have mixed feelings about this whole issue of illegal immigration.  I’ve read enough and seen enough to know the horrendous conditions that are found in places where a lot of illegal immigrants come from.  It is absolutely heartbreaking to see how some people in this world live.  It is hard to see stories of children having to spend their days in a landfill to find food.  It is painful to see the desperation on a mother’s face because she has no idea how she’ll feed her family.  It’s no wonder that so many desperate people risk their lives and freedom to come to this country illegally. 

Is illegal immigration justified?  Are they really taking jobs away from citizens and other lawful residents? 

As I stated earlier, I find myself conflicted about this issue. 

The one argument that I really don’t want to hear, however, is that illegals should be allowed to stay because deporting them would cause harm to the family, i.e. families shouldn’t be separated.  One of the supporters interviewed on the news actually stated that it wouldn’t be right to deport them as that puts a stress on families due to being apart or separated (I’m paraphrasing of course). 

The young man has good intentions but he needs to think hard before he speaks on this issue.  Perhaps, he needs to get to know a few more people and hear their stories.  Here’s one for example.  My family lives in three different countries, not because we want to, but because we’re trying to do things legally.   Most of us are here in this country and have become US citizens.  We love our adopted country and are all contributing to our communities in a lot of different ways.  However, three of our siblings still live outside of this country because their paperwork to move here legally is still stuck in the backlog that is the US immigration system.  They’ve been waiting for 8 years and they’ll probably be waiting for quite a while longer.  We know of many families in this situation.  Some have been waiting for well over 10 years.  Some of our military friends have families from different parts of the world, and they report a similar scenario as well.  It’s hard, and it’s frustrating, and yes, we would rather have everyone here so that our family can enjoy being together, but we didn’t want them to come here illegally so we’re living with the consequences of trying to do things the right way.   

So please don’t tell me that you support illegal immigration or any rights or legislation associated with that issue because you don’t want to break families up etc.  Tell me that you support illegal immigration because to send them back to wherever they come from would be inhumane.  I can totally see that argument having some validity but don’t tell me that it would break up their family.  If families in situations like mine have to sacrifice being together as a family , then a family that is here illegally has no right whatsoever to use that as an argument to stay here or to get the fringe benefits that come with being a lawful resident or citizen.

As far as giving illegals the fringe benefits of state tuition, I’m totally against it.   This isn’t fair to the taxpayers of this state, or to every other citizen of this country.  Why should illegals get this break?  A citizen of the United States from another state has to pay out of state tuition, but an illegal student can pay in-state tuition just because they’ve been here illegally for at least three years?  Am I missing something here? 

Supporters of this bill also argue that these students shouldn’t be punished because of something their parents did, (i.e.  came here illegally).  They also argue that these students are bona fide residents of the state because they’ve grown up here and lived here all of their lives, that they pay taxes.   Well, paying taxes is the least they should do.  They should pay taxes for the privilege of having a job here in America, of working here illegally and making more than they would make if they were working in their countries.   They are already reimbursed for their taxes by the fact that they have better living conditions etc than they would have if they were back where they should be.  They drive the same roads that we all drive on, don’t they?

As for the argument that they shouldn’t be punished because it was their parents that brought them here, that it isn’t their fault, well guess what, that’s called life.  My kids didn’t ask to be in a military life.   We, their parents, made that choice and like it or not, they have to put up with the conditions that come with the kind of life that we chose, conditions such as move every two years, start at a new school, make new friends, deployments, etc.  It sucks for them, it sucks a lot.  But that’s the card they’re dealt with because as their parents, we chose this life for our family.   Good or bad, our kids have to deal with whatever problems come with the choice that we made.  Why should it be any different for children of illegals? 

If this kind of legislation is going to be law all over the country, I guess I’ll just have to call all my relatives in various parts of the world and tell them to come on over, I’ll tell them not to worry about going through the proper channels, that if they wait long enough and live here illegally long enough, their kids will have all the rights and privileges that legal residents and citizens do.  I’ll tell them that filing petions and applications to come here legally is just for suckers who don’t know any better.  Why wait 10, 15, or 20 years when you can come here right now?  Why would anyone in their right mind want to immigrate here legally when there are suckers who propose and pass legislation that reward illegals?  Think that doesn’t happen?  You’d better believe it does. 

Anyone hear the story about the camel, the camel’s owner, and the sandstorm?  If you haven’t, it’s a story you need to read because there are striking parallels to what’s going on here!

If we want to reward someone, let’s reward the thousands who are waiting to come to this country legally.  Let’s reward the families who have been separated from loved ones for years due to a backlog in immigration by pushing their petitions through immediately and granting them legal residency.  To reward families who are here illegally is a slap in the face to every immigrant that has come here legally and to every worthy applicant that is waiting patiently for his or her chance to immigrate legally to this country.

Now, I support medical care for illegals because I believe that medical care shouldn’t be withheld from anyone regardless of their citizenship or ability to pay. I also don’t have too much of a problem with the fact that they’re already getting a quality free education at the elementary and high school level alongside other lawful residents and citizens of this country.   But to spend my tax dollars to help offset an illegal person’s tuition at our state universities and colleges?  Absolutely not!!!

From what I hear, quite a few of our Samoan people are here illegally as well.  There’s probably just as many Samoans in this situation in other countries as well, New Zealand, Australia, etc.  It sounds as if there’s a lot of not-so-above-board things going on.  All I have to say is afai e iai seise o maua i lea kulaga, ia kaumafai e su’e se mea e maua ai lau green card.  E leaga le gofo i Amelika ae popole pe o a fea e maua ai oe.