Re-defining "Illegal"

It would be a great disservice to us all should those wishing to redefine the word "illegal" succeed. Yes, I am talking about offering "amnesty" to certain illegal immigrants. I want to be clear- I firmly believe that we are a nation of immigrants and we owe all that we are to being the children and grandchildren or those people who wanted to make a better life, and were willing to cross an ocean, often alone, penniless and with only the clothes on their backs in order to make a new life in America. We are descended from the best, the brightest, the boldest and the visionaries, and we need to keep welcoming immigrants who truly seek a better life. But they MUST be legal immigrants.

Now perhaps the laws are inadequate, broken, or simply wrong. Let's change them. But they are what they are and we allow them to be broken at our peril. What other laws should we deem OK to break so long as businesses make money from them? That IS what we are talking about, make no mistake. Many businesses- big and small- make a lot of money exploiting illegal immigrant labor. And thee businesses are big donors to certain politicians- by coincidence mainly those who want to keep allowing illegal immigrants to work. George W. Bush has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from just a handful of businesses that will have to pay millions of dollars more in wages should they lose the illegal immigrant workforce. Boiled down to its basic question, the debate REALLY is: "How much money do you have to donate to the President's campaign in order to be allowed to ignore a federal law with impunity?"

Once we start in this direction- allowing the law to be broken or rewritten to suit the financial interests of political backers- WHERE DO WE STOP? This is a precedent we DO NOT want to set. Illegal IS illegal- period. Maybe this is similar to Prohibition- maybe the law is simply wrong and we need to revisit the entire issue. But no one suggested granting Al Capone amnesty for bootlegging.

Yes, let's debate overhauling the immigration laws. Yes, let's certainly keep our doors open for legal immigrants. But let us not walk down the path of rewarding ANYONE who breaks our laws to be rewarded . Whether it be an immigrant, a CEO or a politician.