A New Priority ??

Bloomberg.com reported yesterday that President Obama has called for an overhaul of America’s immigration laws.  The President stated that a failure to do so would result in more ‘misguided’ attempts by the states (such as Arizona) to fix those laws.

Just for the record, I don’t believe this is by accident.  I think the Obama Administration has been looking for an excuse to go after immigration reform, and Arizona provided it.

Well, hold on a minute.  It seems as if Arizona has a much better picture of the immigration issues than Washington, D. C., would have.  Arizona has been dealing with major crime problems caused by Washington’s lack of enforcement of immigration laws for years.  Last month according to Fox News, a rancher was killed (allegedly by illegal aliens) while working on his ranch.  Last year according to the Washington Times, a rancher was sued by illegals for turning them over to the Border Patrol.  When I grew up, that was called good citizenship.

I am not opposed to legal immigration.  I agree that the legal immigration system needs to be streamlined and reformed.  I do, however, object to the idea of instantly making illegal aliens citizens.  We have people who have been on waiting lists for years wanting to come to this country.  It seems to me that they should be at the head of the line–not the illegals.

My concern with Congress putting together an immigration bill is that it will be used as the basis for registering millions of new Democrats in time for the November elections.  I simply do not trust the current Congress to act in the best interests of the country they are supposed to represent.  I am also concerned that because there are only seven months until the election, something will be rushed through without anyone knowing what is actually in it (sound familiar?).  It’s time to step back and see what the impact of the new law in Arizona will be.  We can watch that for a year or so and then proceed.