Illegal immigrants shouldn’t get a pass because of family

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Illegal immigrants shouldn’t get a pass because of family
The Department of Homeland Security posted in an announcement online on Monday that they would be issuing "unlawful presence waivers" to illegal immigrants in order to stop them from being deported. The catch is that the illegal aliens will need to prove they have a family member who is a legal American citizen in order to qualify for the waiver.
So, to be clear, all you have to do is have an association with someone, a "family member," in order to stay put illegally in the country, and that illegal action is approved by the Department of Homeland Security.
I get the appeal though; living in America is quite the hot prospect for people around the world who are oppressed and long for liberty and prosperity. And that's where legal immigration comes in. Our founders understood the importance of such an idea if their new nation was to be a successful one. We invite those who want to better themselves and their futures to this place because it makes us better, it makes us stronger. But what tears us down and throws a stick in the spoke of our wheel are those who disrespect this country by coming here illegally.
It has long been a hot-button issue. Millions of people, from mainly south of the border, illegally cross the border into the United States every year. They come here for jobs, money, and opportunity; it's a testament to how the USA is admired by free-minded people everywhere. However, these millions of illegal immigrants are taxing on the American infrastructure. Emergency rooms to public schools are flooded with illegal children, brought here whether they wanted to come along or not by their parents.
The issue, like many social problems, is divisive according to the media. To me, it's simple to understand. Illegal immigration has been used as a political ploy for decades among the GOP and Democrats. They have no intention of getting anything done concerning the epidemic. It's easier to play politics with humans.
Need I remind those bleeding-heart politicians that our prison systems are full of illegals gone bad, committing crimes against our own legal citizens?
Of course, there is bad in every group. But honest illegals should show respect for our country by honoring our laws and taking their desire to the back of the line instead of breaking our federal laws. There are plenty of people attempting to become legal citizens of America the right way, and they wait in a never-ending line of paperwork and bureaucracy while others waltz right in.
Even more of a travesty is how under President Obama, the Department of Justice had filed legal action against several individual states to stop them from trying to enforce immigration laws because, as they claim, it's up to the federal level, not the state. If that doesn't send the message that the federal government isn't concerned with the invasion of illegals, I don't know what is.
Clearly the states are acting because either the feds aren't acting at all, or they need help. Instead of allowing the assistance, the federal level wastes time and money pursuing legal action against each offending state. That doesn't make any sense.
Unless you're California, then you act in favor of illegals. Like in the fall of 2011, California Gov. Jerry Brown decided it would be the right thing to do to approve the "DREAM Act," a bill designed by the very progressive California state legislature that called for public funding of illegal immigrant students' college education. Yep, giving the money of scarce scholarships and financial aid to law breaking immigrant students over hardworking, legal citizens — so fair! — and in the middle of the state's worst financial crisis ever, as state schools hiked tuition costs at every possible turn.
The rule of law should be held to the highest standard — not some liberal ideology of handing out taxpayer cash to illegal students in order to turn them into "contributing members of society." No one is above the law, and yet the highest government level executive of the state of California spit on the rule of law, without regard to legal, taxpaying citizens. There was no good argument that could justify that bill being signed into law. It is void of any merit because of the underlying criminal act of the immigrants being there in the first place.
There are many wonderful, well-intentioned people in America who are illegal. But they still broke the law. I cannot get past that. We are a nation of laws and those laws should be respected, not phased out by new policies that lack logic by the department we trust to protect us.
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