Oviedo Voice

Illegal Immigration

April 2006

Safety First

Every sovereign country has an obligation to defend its borders and enforce its laws.  America can not and will not be an exception.

Although there is a wide range of opinions on the current immigration debate, the one fact that is undeniable is the fact that there are at least 11 million undocumented aliens living in the United States today.  Each of these 11 million individuals disregarded the legal immigration process to come here, and each is a testament to the fact that our borders are not as safe and secure as they should be.  Any legislative solution to this problem must center on measures designed to prevent illegal immigration, and I voted for H.R. 4437 as the way to secure our borders and make individuals accountable for breaking our immigration laws.

So far this year, more than 500,000 illegal immigrants have already been apprehended on our southwest border.  Before I am willing to even discuss any temporary guest worker programs, we must halt the growing tide of illegal immigration.  In order to protect our homeland, we must secure our borders by providing both a physical barrier to illegal entry and an increased number of border patrol agents.  Hundreds of illegal immigrants ignore our laws by crossing from Mexico into the U.S. every day, and some of them are drug runners, human smugglers, and even terrorists.  The United States can prevent another September 11 if we do not allow terrorists across our borders. 

We must send a clear message to those involved in illegal immigration that America's laws must be treated like laws, not guidelines to be followed or ignored according to individual whims. 

Our current immigration policy rewards those who break the law by granting them an immediate place in society, yet those who follow the appropriate legal channels must wait years for their chance to be a part of our country.  There must be accountability for those who break our laws, from illegal immigrants who commit crimes to employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants for low-wage jobs and thus encourage an ever-increasing supply of them.

Illegal immigration is corrosive not only to our border security, but also to our economy.  Our classrooms and our hospitals are overcrowded because they must support the additional burden of those who are not American citizens.  The millions of illegal immigrants in our country do not pay their fair share of taxes, yet they take advantage of our taxpayer-funded social services and so increase our national deficit.  As a proponent of limited government, I cannot support increases in these entitlements, much less to give privileges such as in-state tuition and welfare to those who are not citizens.

Although illegal immigration poses many problems, we cannot have a meaningful dialogue on immigration until we provide for the safety of our nation first. Reform of our immigration system and policy must start with the prevention of further illegal immigration, and that prevention begins at our borders.  I supported H.R. 4437 because it provides the necessary measures and manpower to make our homeland secure, and only when we have built this foundation of safety may we continue the debate.