Turning almost 12 million illegal
immigrants into felons will aggravate
the problem and solve nothing

From the Houston Chronicle editorial board:

AFTER an intense debate that saw an unusually high level of Republican infighting, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected proposals that would have turned the 11 million or more illegal immigrants in the United States into felony fugitives. Members of the U.S. House, however, did not flinch: They passed a similar proposal by a wide margin last December.

Should such a large segment of the U.S. population be turned into criminals, how would their arrest, imprisonment and deportation be accomplished? The draconian antidrug laws passed in the 1980s should serve as a warning example.

Click here for the rest.

The Chronicle is absolutely right to observe that criminalizing illegal immigration will result in packed prisons along with ruined lives and families. I might also add that, because US prison conditions are racist and violent, such a law will also serve to create real criminals who did not previously exist. What this essay is missing, however, is the strongest argument that can be used against this bill: it's just plain wrong. The flood of illegal aliens into the US exists, by and large, because the federal government refuses to prosecute the crooked capitalists here who violate immigration, labor, and tax laws when they hire cheap workers, while at the same time doing business with and giving support to numerous corrupt crony-capitalist governments south of the border. We could end this issue right now without passing a single law--all we need to do is enforce already existing laws and inject some good sense morality into our foreign and economic policies. These poor, vulnerable people are being exploited, back at home where US supported government policy makes their economic prospects grim, and here where they are preyed upon by exploitative businesses. They're not criminals; they're victims.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$