Tufts Daily

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: Op-Ed

Media Credit: Annie Wermiel/Tufts Daily

The United States is a nation of laws. When government leaders do not enforce those laws, we begin to see the breakdown of our republic. This is the simplest, most basic and clearest argument against the practice of illegal immigration, which occurs more than three thousand times a day in America.

Last night, the Tufts Republicans, along with Young America's Foundation, were proud to sponsor the honorable Bay Buchanan, former treasurer of the United States, former presidential campaign adviser to Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Tom Tancredo and noted Republican strategist. She brought to light the different issues that the crisis of illegal immigration has introduced to America, including the serious national security, economic and social effects.

It is very important to point out that this is not an attack on legal immigration. In fact, immigrants provide perspective, culture and skills that many value in the United States, and they help contribute to the "melting pot" that many use to reference America and its greatness. However, we have reached a point where immigration is so out of control that, according to some estimates, we have 13 to 20 million illegal aliens living in the country today. Due to the extreme lack of control in immigration laws, these new immigrants do not get the chance to assimilate into American culture as many of their immigrant predecessors were able to. And for that reason, not only are we shortchanging Americans, but we're shortchanging the immigrants as well.

This is not an attack on any one particular culture or language, for the rule of law is blind to issues of the sort. Whether people flooding in illegally are speaking French, Portuguese, Spanish or English, the fact is that they are still breaking the law and must therefore be beholden to it.

Along with the social impact of the lack of assimilation, the country faces very serious economic costs because of illegal immigration. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, American taxpayers provide $36 billion a year for illegal aliens in the form of public primary and secondary education, emergency room care and imprisonment alone. Furthermore, for those proponents of minimum wage laws, illegal aliens are not required to be covered under such laws, and as a result are undermining legal workers who deserve the higher pay guaranteed by the government. Unless our elected officials take notice of these economic problems, there will be no reason for those illegal aliens to stop sneaking into our country.

Most importantly, however, are the national security implications of illegal immigration. Much of the United States' border laws are in place so that we know who is coming into the country before they enter. Sept. 11 changed how Americans look at the security of our nation and induced the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act. However, it was not accompanied by a movement to secure our nation's porous borders.

It seems that if it's worth going through the trouble of analyzing the patterns of library books and wiretapping phones, then it would certainly be worth the trouble to put up a fence or secure the border in another fashion. It is because of this that Americans have become fed up with not only the Democratic leadership's position on this, but also with the inability of the Republicans, the party of security, to develop a consensus on an issue that poses an imminent security threat to our citizens.

Washington insiders should have realized they were wrong on immigration with the proposal of the Z-visa in 2007's McCain-Kennedy Immigration bill. This bill would secure the border, but would also take steps to provide all illegal aliens in America (with the exception of criminals) a path to citizenship, under the stipulation that they learn English, pay taxes and pay a fine. This is a form of amnesty because it is giving benefits to those who broke the law over those who are legally awaiting approval to enter the United States. Regardless of the stipulations, it allows the illegals to remain in the United States rather than being made to return to their home country before becoming legal.

The McCain-Kennedy bill received the approval of senators across the political spectrum, but more than 70 percent of Americans disapproved of the amnesty measure. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has finally seen the light on this issue and is calling for securing our borders first.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party hasn't seen that light. They want to increase the number of benefits for illegal aliens. For example, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick wants to provide illegal aliens with the in-state tuition benefits of legal taxpayers and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer supports providing illegal aliens with driver's licenses. Both Democratic candidates for President, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), state that the immigration problem must be solved "comprehensively." We already tried that with McCain-Kennedy, and Americans rejected it. The Democrats would be wise to recognize illegal immigration for the problem it is and secure the border first.

So what are the solutions after we secure the border? In his 2008 run for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney campaigned against the magnets pulling in illegal aliens. Put simply, American job opportunities are greater than those provided in Mexico, and American businesses are taking advantage of the cheap labor. The solution is to implement an employer verification system.

Under a verification system, every citizen and legal immigrant in the United States would receive a tamper-proof ID card with bio-metric information and an identification number. An employer would have to verify the legal status of its interviewees before being allowed to hire them. Of course, this would have to accompany a commitment by the American government to enforce such a system, and enforce it with serious fines and consequences.

While a similar system is currently in place, CNN's Lou Dobbs reported that in 2004, only three employers were fined for hiring illegal aliens to work for them; that number is pathetic. Our government has truly been abysmal in its inability to get anything done about this serious issue.

There are also other proposals to solve America's immigration crisis. Those proposals and counterproposals were discussed last night with the Tufts Republicans, but hope the discussion does not stop there. We enthusiastically invite the Tufts community to ask questions and promote open dialogue on the issue.

Daniel Hartman is a junior majoring in economics and political science. He is the president of the Tufts Republicans.