Compassion?

My heart goes out to the million plus people who have marched this week in protest over potential immigration reforms, these folks have a lot to lose and I admire their initiative and passion.

They are, however, completely misguided.

The poor and working class, which the marchers claim to have compassion for, are the ones that will be most negatively impacted by an amnesty or open borders policy.

It is amazing to me how blinded people are by the simplistic and foolish notion that it is okay to break the laws of this country as a means to a better end. Our current immigration laws are in place not just to protect the citizens of this country, but to protect immigrants as well.

Imagine you are waiting in line for a movie, just about to buy your ticket, and someone comes in and cuts directly in front of you and buys the last tickets available. This is precisely what is happening to the millions of LEGAL immigrants and lower middle class workers today - thanks to an unprecedented influx of ILLEGAL immigrants brought on by a corporatist president and administration.

Jobs, that many Americans WILL take for a decent wage (despite what the president says) are being undercut by desperate people who are here illegally. Our government looks the other way and big business reaps the benefits of this near slave labor. Meanwhile, hard working honest immigrants, like my next door neighbors, get the shaft - as their wages are undercut and unions are weakened.

Our economy works insofar as capitalism fosters prosperity and freedom. To undercut that by bringing in "brown people" to do the dirty work at the benefit of the corporate loving Republicans just churns my stomach. And I can't believe that George W. Bush's biggest allies in this scam are working class liberals. They have been duped, big time. They think they are fighting for the poor and oppressed, but they are actually setting the nails to these peoples coffins.

Encouraging illegals to risk their lives so that they can come here and work for less than minimum wage.

Let me say that again.

Encouraging illegals to risk their lives so that they can come here and work for less than minimum wage.

That's what the marchers are in effect asking for - open borders and complete destruction of the working middle class in this country. They are damning legal immigrants to the same substandard living conditions from whence they came, and they are helping out those of us in upper income brackets by increasing our cheap labor pool. It is disgusting.

To add icing to this disturbing cake, anyone like me who questions the marchers and their misguided intentions - gets to be branded a racist, bigot, jingoist or some other fun slur. Instead of having an intelligent discussion about what to do, I get to have names hurled at me. Sticking to the issue seems to be impossible for the impassioned liberals and big business folk. Anger makes for strange bedfellows indeed.

Well, let me just say, that as a racist bigot jingoist, who actually cares what happens to our Mexican brothers to the south- the current policy can work if it can be enforced. If you are illegally entering this country, you are a criminal and should be deported immediately. I'm not saying you should be thrown in prison as a felon, as some more hard line people are - but there must be consequences. To deny this is to deny Mexicans a fair shake.

Follow me if you can - by not acting when someone breaks the law, we are encouraging the kind of corruption that is common place in their country. We must lead by example, and with tough love in our hearts. We do no one a favor by looking the other way when an illegal alien steals jobs from a legal Mexican resident. We are hurting both parties in the long run, especially the men and women who have jumped through countless hoops to play by the rules.

There are no easy answers now that George W and co. have opened the floodgates. With over 11 million illegals here today, deporting them may be impossible for lack of political will or simple logistics. But we must take steps and secure our borders to prevent further abuses of the law and of human beings.