"Illegal immigrants are ruining our country! We should deny citizenship to babies born from illegal immigrants."
A line of "illegal" immigrants waiting to leave Ellis Island around the turn of the Twentieth Century. They were just inspected and granted citizenship.
It seems every presidential election cycle, this is one of the tent-pole arguments conservatives want to harp on and on about. Obviously, this is a tactic to shore up conservative base support before the first primary elections are held. The only way to win the Republican primary process is to go extra hard-line conservative.
Sure, our nation has an issue with illegal immigration; I readily admit that. But the problem doesn't exist with the immigrants... it exists with our nation's muddling and inadequate immigration policy.
I take great issue with conservatives, the so-called protectors of liberty and limited government, trying to place qualifying restrictions on childbirth. This is one of those 'give an inch/take a mile' scenarios. Let's play it out, shall we?
First, citizenship will be denied to the children of illegal immigrants, even though they were born on US soil. Then, they'll edge even further into the murky waters of citizenship. You'll have to be of a certain race. Then you'll have to be of a certain religion. Before long, you'll have a nation where only a select few are allowed citizenship from birth. For everyone else, they'll have to earn it -- enlist in the military, become a civil servant, etc. All others will be considered as outlaws and bound for deportation. Of course, they'll tie the right to vote to this matter. Eventually, we'll have a nation cherry picked for conservatives and by conservatives.
No one wants that reality, do they? Well, other than conservatives.
Let's look at another perspective in this immigration debate. How would the United States, both strategically and morally, deport defenseless children and infants? Besides being a regulatory nightmare, we'd knowingly be sending innocent children into war zones. Effectively, to the rest of the world, we'd be saying our children are more important than your children. I might not be a religious man, but I know that's flat out wrong.
I would never say that our nation's immigration policy is perfect -- it is far from that. An endless wall of bureaucratic red tape prohibits most immigrants from ever attaining citizenship. Those lucky few immigrants whom have the time and resources to jump through all the hoops to becoming a citizen truly do not represent the masses. Many immigrants, especially those coming from Mexico, Central and South America, are fleeing from lands of violence and death. They don't have years to wait for citizenship -- they're just trying to survive. America, that shining beacon upon the hill, is their last and best hope for a future.
Look at it this way -- millions of people are dying (literally) to join Team America. They love our nation and our way of life. Why wouldn't we want them to join up with us? That's more voices in our corner; more support when we need it. More Americans to do... well, what America does.
I'm not saying open the doors and let everyone in. Yet, we assuredly need to expedite the immigration process and cut the red tape. The Republicans are fans of cutting red tape and limiting the power of the federal government, or so they try to convince us.
Or maybe... Republicans are just a bunch of xenophobic, regressive crybabies.
If they're good enough to tend to OUR fields and harvest OUR food, shouldn't they be OUR neighbors?
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