Contrary to popular belief, the word “immigration” does not appear anywhere in the US Constitution, which raises the question of whether or not the “immigration” issue is an enumerated power of the Federal government, constitutionally speaking.
The term “naturalization” does appear in the US Constitution however, under Article I – Section VIII – Clause IV – which assigns the federal government via the Legislative Branch, the power – “
To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization;” – a legal means and method by which immigrants can gain access to U.S. citizenship via an organized and controlled naturalization process.
In
Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong, 426 U.S. 88 [1976] the US Supreme Court issued a ruling stating that the power of the federal government to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization implies the federal power to regulate immigration.
As we know, federal immigration and naturalization laws exist in the United States, providing immigrants a legal means and method by which to become a citizen of the United States. Entering the U.S. without the expressed permission of the U.S. has at all times in modern history, been a “crime.” This crime has at all times had specific penalties attached, under both federal and state laws.
The INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) exists for the sole purpose of helping immigrants enter the U.S. legally. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) exists for the sole purpose of enforcing U.S. immigration, naturalization and customs laws.
Without secure borders and the right to control our borders, the United States cannot be a “sovereign nation.” All sovereign nations have geographical borders and the right to control who enters the nation, by what means, and penalize those who enter illegally.
Yet in recent years, federal enforcement of existing laws has been half-hearted at best. INS and ICE do indeed search for, capture, detain and deport people who enter the U.S. illegally. However, they have not done so consistently, effectively or with any vigor.
As a result, we now find that our nation has a severe illegal immigrant problem with an estimated twenty-million “undocumented immigrants” living and working in the U.S. illegally. This means that we have an estimated twenty-million “criminal invaders” living among us.
Personally Speaking
Before going any further, let me state that I believe most “illegal immigrants” to be decent, hard working people, simply seeking the many benefits of life in the land of milk and honey. Had they entered our country legally, most would be quite welcome here, as many of them make better American citizens than some legal citizens.
Personally, I’d support keeping all twenty-million illegal Mexicans if we could deport twenty-million whiny Democratic Socialists like Obama, Pelosi and Reid in exchange. Can I get someone to second this motion - please?
But that’s not the options before us as a nation. I wish it were… Our options are to enforce or forget our borders. There is no in-between… We don’t let bank robbers go just because we didn’t get around to arresting them until their tenth bank robbery. They will be held accountable for all ten robberies.
Undocumented Immigrants?
Democratic Socialists refer to illegal immigrants as only “undocumented immigrants.” How does that work? Is illegal activity a civil right in America?
If I drive without a driver’s license, I’m not just an “undocumented driver.” If I try to leave or enter the U.S. without a legal passport, even as a “natural born citizen” of the United States, I’m not going to be stamped an “undocumented traveler” and put on the plane with no further questions. If you or I forget to get a social security number, or file a tax return, we won’t be passed off as simple “undocumented workers,” – we will be labeled “tax evaders.”
The point is this - we are a civilized nation of laws. Some think that those laws are unreasonable, including
Mexican President Felipe Calderón who has condemned the new Arizona Immigration Enforcement law and issued a U.S. travel warning to his citizens.
But shall we take a look at
Mexico’s immigration laws to determine if their laws are more “fair” than ours?
In fact, no nation on earth has more liberal immigration laws than the United States of America. We are after all, a nation of immigrants. We just happen to prefer legal immigrants as opposed to lawless criminals. Still, we are supposed to feel bad for trying to enforce our laws.
The Land of Mental Midgets
We unfortunately live at a moment in history when the land of the free and home of the brave is run by mental midgets and cowardly blowhards. For all of the tough talk about immigration reform and border security, the leftist definition of immigration reform is doing away with immigration laws altogether, and grandfathering in all illegal invaders under the term “amnesty.”
Ignoring our own laws is not a good way to get others around the world to respect our laws, or our way of life. If our laws mean nothing to us, who in the world should pay attention to our laws?
States Rights and Responsibilities
What are the states supposed to do when the federal government fails? Go down with the ship?
Arizona is a border state with a unique stake in the matter of illegal immigration. They have waited for decades for the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws and the federal government clearly has no intention of doing so. In fact, the federal government intends to challenge Arizona’s right to secure their own southern border, asserting that illegal immigration is some type of new civil right.
Since Mexican President Calderón has already issued a travel warning to citizens of Mexico, I’d day that the new Arizona law is already working, before even going into effect. That was its purpose, right? To put Mexico on notice that its citizens could no longer flood across the Arizona border - trafficking drugs, murder and mayhem into the United States, as if illegal activity is some kind of bizarre civil right in America…
The problems related to illegal immigration once only affected border states. The State of California is bankrupt mostly due to the largest population of illegal immigrants in the nation and the high cost of caring for those illegals on the taxpayer’s dime. If it weren’t for federal funding and loans, California would already be a third world country in complete anarchy, most likely fenced off from the rest of the nation.
Today, illegal immigration is bankrupting states across the country, including non-border states like Georgia, which has already announced that it will follow Arizona’s lead on illegal immigration reform. I’m sure other states will follow suit over the coming days and weeks.
The simple fact is - the federal government has failed horrifically in the matter of illegal immigration and the states do not have to sit on their hands and pay the price of that failure. They have the power, the right and a responsibility to their legal citizens, to address the problem.
At the end of the day, if the states fail to do what the federal government should but won’t do, then the people will have the right to do it themselves. I don’t think that’s how we want to resolve this problem… do you?
And for the record, when you have known criminals running loose in the streets, most of them of a particular nationality from a particular country, searching people on the basis of that particular known MO is called “criminal profiling,” – not racial profiling. It’s smart police work, not a civil rights violation.
Good for Arizona… It’s about time they took a stand!
