People in The United States Illegally

Is it right that American taxpayers should pay for the care and upbringing of the children of people who are in this country illegally?  Should the children of these criminal families receive aid from American taxpayers to go to college, depriving children of legal American families of both the financial aid and the seat at a university or college that has been taken by the children of people in this country illegally, many of whom were not even born in America, thus not able to claim citizenship regardless of the parents status?

There are many questions that need to be asked and answered about the people that have crossed the boarders into the United States illegally.  Do we, the taxpayers, have a responsibility to provide free healthcare, rent assistance, free food, ease in the ability to obtain drivers licenses state identification cards and to obtain employment at a time when American citizens cannot find jobs?

Recently, as a good will gesture, two American hikers were released, along with a third hiker released earlier, by Iran after being convicted of being in Iran illegally.  Their sentence was eight years in an Iranian prison.  Last year two young American ladies, working as National Geographic Magazine reporters were held in North Korea for illegally crossing into their country.  They were released after former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea and allowed photographs to be taken of him alongside the North Korean leader.

Many people illegally enter our country and take advantage, or make a mockery, of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  By nature of that amendment, anyone born within the boarders of the United States is considered a citizen of the United States.  That part of our constitution served us very well for two centuries.  There was always some degree of abuse of the citizenship provision but it was not until after the Great Society laws and provisions granted housing, food, healthcare, education, and other benefits to anyone who showed up and asked for them.  After legal residents began to make noise about the cost of benefits being extended to people in the country illegally, those who were here for a free ride realized that if they gave birth to a child within the U. S. boarders, that child would be a citizen and that would likely guarantee that the authorities would not be so callous as to send the parents back to their home country and allow the child to stay.  Thus, the concept of the “anchor baby” was born.

I have always been satisfied that the U. S. Constitution has served us well and that, with the possible exception, the amendments to the Constitution have been reasonable and necessary.

I think that over the last two and a half centuries, the congress has been very careful in making changes to the constitution through the amendment process.  I think that, perhaps, the Equal Rights Amendment may be an example of one that should have passed and did not.  The people in most of the several states that constitute the United States did not think it was necessary.  There are other proposed amendments that, in my analysis, should never have been proposed.  A couple of examples would be The Federal Marriage Act and The School Prayer Amendment, neither of which served all the citizens of the United States.  One would exclude large segments of the population from the “Pursuit of Happiness” provisions of the constitution while the other would disregard the religious beliefs of large segments of the population.

There is one amendment, which has been proposed but not passed by congress, which I think would serve the citizens of the United States well.  In 2009, an amendment that would deny citizenship to anyone born in the United States unless at least one parent was a citizen or permanent resident of the U S or was serving in the U S Military.

This amendment would remove the tremendous burden placed on American Citizens through higher taxes, increased cost of health care, and employment to persons in the U S illegally willing to work for very low wages.  I would cheer to see this amendment passed, I am sure it would dramatically, the flow of illegal aliens in the U S and eliminate the “anchor baby, concept.

I would like to see laws passed along with this amendment that would place very heavy penalties on employers who knowingly employ people in this country illegally and place harsh penalties on companies that move their corporate offices to a drop box offshore in order to avoid paying taxes and American companies that move jobs overseas to take advantage of cheap labor and the absence of worker and environmental safety laws.

This is just some of my thoughts for this morning.  What do you think about these issues?