U.S. must reject immigration bill

By Chris Herrod
Published: Monday, June 25, 2007 12:37 a.m. MDT
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The immigration bill before the U.S. Senate is dangerous. It undermines the rule of law on which our society is built. As one legal Hispanic immigrant explained to me, "When the rule of law no longer matters here, we become no better than many of the countries from which these illegal aliens are fleeing." Most people in Utah understand this and this is why they are upset. They are not xenophobes as they are often portrayed in the media. They simply believe in fundamental fairness, the rule of

law, and protecting our national security by enforcing our borders. They do not believe in rewarding illegal behavior such as identity theft or costing the taxpayer trillions of dollars.

Although illegal immigration must be addressed, sometimes doing something is worse than doing nothing — in this case, much worse. This bill radically shifts the foundation on which the U.S. was built — the rule of law and a melting pot. We will become a dual-language nation, which is unsustainable. The U.S. can survive many languages, but we cannot survive just two. It is frustrating that many in positions of influence do not understand this, have not learned from the dismal failure of multiculturalism in Europe, and will not listen to the people.

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Immigration to this great country is a blessing and should be based on the willingness to respect our laws, not break them. Tragically, no one sees the faces of those who are suffering around the world or prints the struggles of those who sacrifice to come here legally. The fact of the matter is that 4.8 billion people have a lower standard of living than Mexico. Where is the compassion for these people? Who speaks for them? Why don't we see their faces in our newspapers?

When we treat those who are here illegally differently from those who are trying to come here legally, this is nepotism at best and racism at worse. This is not compassionate nor is it Christian (56 percent of illegal aliens are from Mexico, another 28 percent are from Latin America — only 3 percent are from Africa, 6 percent from Europe and 12 percent from Asia). If this bill is passed, we will effectively discriminate against 60 million people worldwide who would have had the ability to come to the United States had it not been for amnesty (12 million illegal aliens plus an average of four family members equals 60 million). This is not even remotely fair.

When we give up on enforcing our laws because it is difficult, we become corrupt. We devalue our citizenship and strengthen our enemies. Our society functions because we have faith that we all give up certain rights or desires for an organized society. When we no longer trust that laws will be followed, we all begin to pick and choose which laws to follow and society suffers as a result.

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