FAMILY VALUES RUN AMOK
Public opinions prove Americans want an end to get-out-of-jail-free passes for illegals
BY KEN WARD

Ken Ward is opinion page editor of the Press Journal in Vero Beach, Fla. A Las Vegas resident from 1990-2002, he was a freelance columnist with the R-J and assistant managing editor at the Sun. E-mail him at kenricward@juno.com  Other stories by Ken Ward

No one (except for international socialists, global capitalists and misguided libertarians) comes right out and says illegal immigration is great. But many Americans fail to see how far "legal" immigration has gone off the rails in this country - and how it's fueling the run on our border.

Courtesy of ill-advised amnesty programs, liberalized immigration laws and lax enforcement, one in three foreign-born residents is here illegally. This steady climb has occurred right along with increases in "legal" migration.

Research (which you won't read in the mainstream media) proves that's no coincidence.

"Our immigration system has become a beast that feeds itself perpetually, but cannot satisfy the perceived 'demand,'" James R. Edwards Jr., co-author of The Congressional Politics of Immigration Reform, writes in his latest study, "Two Sides of the Same Coin."

Since the United States broadened its definition of "family" in 1965 and amnestied 3 million illegals in 1986, an immigration chain has been extended to millions more. Instead of determining a foreigner's eligibility based on individual merit (e.g., education, financial worth, job skills, etc.), applicants are rubber-stamped as long as they have some familial connection to a legal resident. It's no longer just spouses and children; now aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, etc., are waved through.

"If one member of a family could gain a foothold, he or she could begin a chain of migration within an extended family, constantly jumping into new families through in-laws and establishing new chains," Edwards says. The chain gang has swamped the country's ability to manage "legal" immigration, let alone control the "illegal" flood.

"People come to suppose that they have some inherent right to impose themselves on another sovereign nation," Edwards observes. "That sense of entitlement is on display in America's streets as Hispanics stop work, cut school and march for 'Reconquista!'"

Mexicans - who make up 75 percent of America's illegals - are not willing to take a number and stand in line the "legal" way. And why should they when their kinfolk already are here and Washington talks about yet another amnesty? We're all one big family, right?

Currently, the United States offers citizenship to some 700,000 foreigners yearly - about 300,000 more than this country's historical average. Getting back to that benchmark will ease the strain on an immigration-enforcement system stretched way too thin.

Edwards calls for the following:

• Eliminate extended-family immigrant visa categories. By accepting only spouses and children, you break chain immigration.
• Return to the pre-1965 system of prioritizing admissions according to the individual's qualifications. A point system would reward the literate and the technically skilled.
• Enlist foreign government cooperation. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., has introduced a Truth in Immigration bill (HR 4317), which would require an annual estimate of the illegal alien population by nation of origin and restrict a sending nation's legal immigration by a corresponding level (Mexico would be No. 1 on this list).

On the illegal side, strict enforcement "not amnesty or some new low-wage foreign labor scheme" is required.

Every case of suspected fraud (immigration fraud, benefits fraud, welfare fraud, marriage fraud, document fraud or identity fraud) involving an alien must be vigorously and routinely investigated. "Absconders, visa overstayers and failed applicants must face the real likelihood of capture and prosecution," Edwards recommends.

This could be done daily at local courthouses, where a seemingly endless flow of illegals is hauled in on various civil and criminal charges. Stop giving them get-out-of-jail passes in exchange for payment of a fine (wink, wink, nod, nod). Send them home for good.

In broad strokes, this is precisely what the House immigration bill (passed last December on a 239-182 vote, with support from 36 Democrats) strives to accomplish. That's what public-opinion polls say the American people want.

Hispanics, by contrast, want amnesty. The same polls show that Latinos of all age groups, party affiliations and income levels want the U.S. government to bend over for their brethren. Whether they've been in this country for one month or five decades, 70-plus percent of Hispanics surveyed "strongly" favor a legalization program.

This demolishes the sophistry that long-time, legal immigrants oppose citizenship for newcomers who sneak across the border. It proves once again that blood is thicker than diluted (and deluded) laws; the more immigrants we have, the more the illegal pipeline overflows.

Everyone knows where La Raza stands on Mestizo family values. Who will our elected representatives stand for? LW