Illegal Immigration
Immigration policies are established and administered by the Federal government, and our current policies at the federal level are not working. The federal government is years behind in processing the paperwork of immigrants who have entered this country legally and followed the rules to become United States citizens. Each year millions of people enter our country or stay in our country in violation of existing policies. Rather than addressing the problems with the immigration policies at the federal level, our leaders have engaged in partisan bickering. Our state governments and our citizens must demand action by Congress and the President. The problems of illegal immigration cannot be resolved without federal action.
On the State level, we must resist the temptation to blame our problems on “illegal immigrants”. While we cannot condone anyone violating our laws, most of the people who enter or stay in our country illegally are seeking work to earn money for their families. Yet many seek to punish these individuals while ignoring those who employ them and make money off of their illegal status. Any true attempt to address the problem of illegal immigration at the state level must focus on stopping employers from hiring individuals who have entered the country illegally.
Unfortunately, many of our politicians find it easier to play to our prejudices about people who look different and speak a different language. We pass laws that are difficult for our local governments to administer and that punish legal residents that still have difficulty with English but fail to punish the employers who put greed above following the law.