Athens Banner Herald
July 10, 2009
Opinion page

Letters

The illegal immigration crisis, now being all but ignored by the media in hopeful preparation for the Obama amnesty scheme, took more than 30 years to develop. It cannot and will not be solved overnight or with the stroke of a pen.

The amnesty-again crowd urges that it would be difficult to deport approximately 20 million illegal aliens in a short period; therefore, its only solution is legalization and citizenship.

We tried legalization in 1986. Amnesty was granted to approximately 3 million illegal aliens. Today, we have approximately 20 million. Amnesty does not stop illegal immigration.

Rewarding criminals with exactly what they broke the law to obtain is not a workable or sensible method of stopping the crime of illegal immigration.

The reasonable choice is to work toward the gradual but steady attrition of the illegal population through enforcement of the laws already in place. It is enforcement of our laws that stops and deters crime, including illegal immigration. Having tried rewarding illegals with a path to citizenship in 1986, it is past time to try strict and fair enforcement of existing laws.

By objecting to any and all enforcement of the law, the open-borders lobby shows us what works at stopping illegal immigration. Enforcement works.

In a 2007 Associated Press report on a then-new Arizona law aimed at employers who hire illegal immigrants, one illegal alien said, “I don’t want to live here because of the new law and the oppressive environment, I’ll be better in my country.”

Local law enforcement’s use of tools such as the federal program that locates illegal aliens who’ve landed in Georgia jails for crimes in addition to illegal immigration works.

Another legalization and a path-to-citizenship program would be sending a message all over the world that to become an American citizen, all one needs to do is break into the United States and wait for the next amnesty.

Inger Eberhart – Acworth

• Inger Eberhart is a member of the board of advisors of the Dustin Inman Society, which advocates for secure borders and the enforcement of American immigration laws.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday, July 10, 2009

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