U.S. Border Control

Those who wish to live in America should work to become full citizens

April 13, 2006

The United States, a nation of immigrants, is also a nation of laws. The protests against enforcement of any immigration laws this week point out the folly of wide-open borders, particularly during a war on terrorism.

The marches also show the difficulty of crafting good legislation and enforcing those laws. The federal government cannot easily kick out the estimated 12 million people who are in the nation illegally.

But the federal government can no longer tolerate having so many illegal aliens without undercutting legal immigration and national security.

Congress and President Bush must come to grips with the problem sooner rather than later.

First, the Immigration and Naturalization Service must be allowed to enforce the law.

Securing the borders is essential. The nation should build a fence along the border with Mexico, whose government has encouraged its citizens to break American immigration laws.

American citizenship is a privilege. Those who seek it should learn its history, its traditions and its common language, which is English.

Amnesty should not come without requirements that illegal aliens go through that learning process.

Employers who hire illegal immigrants are breaking the law and should face heavy sanctions.

A guest-worker program would be folly. Such programs have failed in Europe and created a large underclass of people torn between European cultures and their homelands.

Those who want to live permanently in the United States should be allowed to do so only as long as they take steps toward achieving citizenship. Fingerprinting should be required.

Some public services must be extended to legal immigrants, but the rights of citizens must be reserved for citizens. No voting privileges should be extended to immigrants until they become naturalized citizens.

Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito put it succinctly. "I look at it as a fairness issue," she said. "People shouldn't enter illegally and be given the gift of our citizenship without severe consequences."

America has a very long and proud tradition of accepting the huddled masses yearning to be free.

Surely Congress and the president will make that clear in the coming months.