With the 2006 elections approaching, it appears that Congress has chosen to avoid controversial issues on immigration reform and has decided to focus primarily on domestic security and defense. However, since the majority of illegal immigrants enter the country bypassing border security, it is clear that the two issues are related.
One of the key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report was to tighten the security of our borders, and, although a recent bill was passed calling for $1.2 billion in funding for fencing along the border, President Bush still insists on a guest-worker program to legally bring in foreign workers and speed up the process for citizenship to some of the 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. since 2005. Furthermore, the plans of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America have expanded to include a North American Free Trade Agreement superhighway system because, "The SPP recognizes that our three great nations are bound by a shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions." The goals of this organization conflict with our national sovereignty because they compromise the ability of American citizens to influence their law system.
It is estimated that in some Houston hospitals, 70 to 80 percent of babies are delivered to people who are in the U.S. illegally. Should it be easier for unskilled migrants to live in the U.S. than educated people who undergo the legal process to enter this country and become citizens? Illegal aliens lower wages and reap benefits from the welfare system, hurting working Americans. These illegal immigrants are even more protected if they have "anchor" children born in the U.S. The root of the problem, however, is the welfare state magnet, through which many aliens can obtain Medicaid, food stamps, and public housing from the same people whose laws they have disregarded.
How can we solve this complex problem? For starters, the ideas behind automatic birthright citizenship need to be reconsidered; it was originally granted to prevent freed slaves from being deported, and has since become obsolete. The next step would be to deport all illegal aliens with criminal records because they are draining the economy and should not be entitled to the same privileges as American citizens. And finally, seeing that we have spent trillions of dollars in the past protecting the country from foreign threats, being able to secure our borders for only a few billion dollars seems like quite a bargain.
