GOP Voters Need A Reality Check On Illegal Immigrant Issue

According to some forum posters, Newt Gingrich stepped into it big time in the last debate when he revealed his position on the illegal immigrants already here. Fickle former supporters shouted, "Newt is for amnesty," and we now wait to see if the first place GOP presidential candidate will fall like Rick Perry did after his first debate. Mr. Gingrich is not my first choice to be the GOP nominee for president but it is disheartening to watch another Republican crucified on this highly complicated, sensitive issue. I'm rather tired of hearing individuals spouting simplistic edicts on how to handle "the illegals; the undocumented; the unwanted; the anchor babies or the scourge on the nation." Call it what you will but it is not a simple matter.

I interviewed a distinguished black conservative a few years back and he asked me what I thought about the illegal immigration issue. I answered that as a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican ancestry, it didn't affect me personally but that I believed it was a very complicated issue. "No it's not", he said, "It's very simple. They broke the law and we need to kick them out. It's very simple."

Our ensuing battle of words never got heated, but was emblematic of the divide among conservatives. I'm not very glib and suffer the same tendency as Pres. Bush to mangle syntax. My friendly opponent was quick with ready repartee and was a veteran guest on 'The O'Reilly Factor' and other cable talk shows.

However, when I asked if he knew any illegals personally, apparently he did not, and I went on to explain that not all illegal immigrants came here illegally. One woman I know came here as a child under the sponsorship of a relative who died suddenly, leaving her family from the Dominican Republic stranded here, unable to return to the D.R. even for funerals. My sparring partner scoffed at this tale and more or less branded me - me! - A bleeding heart.

I am against social services for illegals: when it comes to our national security, I do believe in racial profiling. I say this as a person likely to be subjected to it by the color of my skin. I do not support bilingualism in public schools. But when I suggested to my companion the practical difficulty in dealing with illegals that have been here for years, he said, almost cavalierly: "We need to get rid of them. Malaysia did it and so can we."

That country has a serious illegal immigrant problem but frankly, I was astounded that any sane person could suggest that we follow the example of an Islamic country with a known anti-Semitic history. Malaysia's mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of illegal Indonesian and Filipino immigrants resulted in riots and bloodshed. Workers and their families are still perishing in border camps. I hardly consider Malaysia's policy one to emulate in dealing with possibly more than 12 to 20 million illegals in our country.

There are no easy answers. Nevertheless, you do not give illegal immigrants driving licenses. You do not provide them with easy access to social services that only foster dependency. You allow the police to use whatever means possible to put hardened criminals away for good. You encourage English in the schools to facilitate their entry into our society. Multiculturalism only breeds resentment of our traditions. It does not create good American citizens.

Our original immigration laws set certain standards but our immigration policy has been lopsided for years. Besides the carrot of benefits held out by several States, why do many Hispanics come here illegally? It's because the process to come here legally is well-nigh impossible. A friend of my daughters from El Salvador waited 12 years to become a citizen. Many of her family members are still waiting for their green cards. On the other hand, my daughter-in-law's friend from Poland came here on a visitor's visas and within a month had her green card and is now working as a nanny. We are still giving out visas to visitors from countries with radical elements and we are not following up on student visas that have expired.

The issue of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens already here can wait until we have adequate enforcement personnel, technological upgrades of computer databases, and the ability to do thorough checks for duplicate social security numbers as rapidly as we do instantaneous credit card approval checks.

My favorite Internet forum is Lucianne.com. I read it faithfully every day. However, the recent negative and downright nasty comments I read there about Rick Perry because of his in-state tuition stance and Newt Gingrich for suggesting that massive deportation of the people here is not going to work is disturbing

The word "amnesty" seems to provoke the most ire, but we sure are grateful if the government offers it for back taxes, as does the library for lost books. How about amnesty for draft dodgers during the Vietnam War? President Carter accepted Cuba's criminal element in the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and never got as much heat as our GOP candidates.

This is where I stand on immigration: America is a great country, but it's not a cafeteria. If we don't want people snacking off it, then we need to set firm guidelines and enforce them. Trespassers sneaking across the border should not be entitled to any benefits.

Mexico is an oil-rich nation that guards its own Southern borders judiciously but facilitates the exit of its neediest citizens. It's immoral for Mexico to do so and downright stupid for us to enable this exodus.

The problem is not that illegals are taking jobs away from Americans. There is a dwindling work force because Americans, like Europeans, are breeding themselves out of existence. Muslims, who have little intention of assimilating, have inundated Europe.

But our immigrant invasion is predominantly Christian and could be an asset, provided that they are inculcated with the values of America's founding fathers. Most immigrants instinctively know that this is the greatest country in the world. It's too bad that our president doesn't share that view.

What we should primarily be looking for in our candidates is their position on closing the border not what we will do with the millions of illegal immigrants already here. That problem will take years to resolve and we have only one year to choose the best person for the job.

What Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich are saying is no different than what Sarah Palin is advocating which is the need for reform of our immigration system. On FoxNews she said, "If you are here illegally and you don't follow the steps that at some point through immigration reform we're going to be able to provide, and that is to somehow allow you to work. If you're not going to do that, you will be deported, you will be gone."

That makes more sense than the blanket deportation that Obama is now implementing for political purposes only.

Will Sarah now get thrown under the bus with Rick and Newt?

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com