Illegal Immigration: Answer Not Comprehensive

The below letter to the editor that ran in the Seguin Gazette (TX) is by George Rodriguez, one of our State Coordinators in Texas for Tea Party Patriots. 

From The Seguin Gazette –  

The battle over immigration reform has started and at the center of the debate is whether it should be “comprehensive” or “piecemeal.”

Liberals and conservatives both agree about the need to reform the immigration laws and process however the argument is about how to do it.

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary the adjective “comprehensive” means “including many, most, or all things.”

Another online dictionary defines it as something “so large in scope or content as to include much.”

When talking about “all things” in immigration, we need to consider the enforcement of the laws at the border and in the interior of the nation.

We need to consider the immigrant’s length of stay and the purpose of visit, whether they are tourists, students, workers, or refugees.

We need to consider their background and whether they are a security risk to our nation. We need to figure out what do with the children of illegal aliens and those brought here as minors. We need to determine what to do with aliens detainees when their country of origin does not take them back. In short, there are many issues and considerations related to immigration.

Having worked at the U.S. Department of Justice on immigration issues, including the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, I can tell you from personal experience that each issue has its own special interest group pushing it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been lobbying for a guest worker program, while liberal Hispanic groups have been lobbying for amnesty and pathway to citizenship. Conservative groups want enforcement of the laws first before there is any discussion of other issues.

But the main fact is that we cannot follow the ObamaCare approach to immigration reform.

We cannot have a “comprehensive” immigration reform bill that no one reads, debates, or understands. Any proposed legislation must be properly reviewed and vetted point by point, issue by issue. Immigration is too complex to be rolled into a neat package by liberals and presented as an absolute solution.

We must learn from the Obamacare experience that a “comprehensive” legislative approach to anything is a car-wreck in action. However Hispanic liberals have mounted a campaign to sway the public by using the race card. Liberals and the mainstream media are promoting the idea that immigration is a Hispanic issue, and anyone delaying or opposing comprehensive reform is a “racist.” Even some Republican Hispanics in Texas are scaring their own elected officials over the “Hispanic vote.”

As I have stated before, immigration is NOT a Hispanic issue, and all Hispanics are NOT the same. My family has live in south Texas for five generations and my father opposed the hiring of Mexican illegal aliens because they depressed wages and competed for jobs with Mexican Americans. There are many second and third generations Hispanics who view immigration as only a border security issue.

Will Republican legislators turn tail and run on this issue as many did on ObamaCare? I believe that conservative Hispanics must come to the front on this issue and not let the liberal race-baiters win. Immigration reform is needed, but not comprehensive legislation.