Miller Newsletter May 30

Letter

Miller Newsletter May 30

No, No, No! Why can't the Senate hear the voices of the American public? Could it be that they are so engrossed in pontificating that they can't hear the very people that elected them? Or, is there another reason?

The Senate's "grand bargain" on immigration isn't a bargain for anyone involved, especially law abiding Americans. Since last week, my offices have been inundated with calls from outraged constituents expressing opposition to the proposal.

Amnesty pardons those who have broken a law. Ignoring the fact that illegal aliens are working in the United States illegally, and making them eligible for legal status and citizenship is de facto amnesty. And if past is prologue, it is clear that this amnesty proposal will encourage even greater numbers of aliens to enter our country illegally. Simply put, we cannot continue to allow our immigration laws to be violated and ignored-- illegal aliens are by definition criminals.

I'll give you a mere three reasons showing that the Senators who drafted the bill do not have the interest of the American people at heart. Besides giving general amnesty to all the illegals, the bill specifically grants amnesty for gang members and for fugitives who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge, but have refused to leave. There are over 30,000 illegal-alien gang members in over 33 states, who would only have to sign a "renunciation of gang affiliation" to be granted amnesty. These are the same folks who are destroying our neighborhoods with the use of guns, drugs, and other violent means. Do you want them as your neighbor?

Second, the Senate bill allows the government only one business day to conduct a background check to determine whether an applicant is a criminal or terrorist. The federal government does not have a comprehensive, searchable database with all the treacherous people in the world that it can quickly reference for background checks. The whole point of immigration laws is to know who is coming into our country. It is important to remind folks that it was just during the 1986 amnesty that Mahmoud "The Red" Abouhalima was granted legal status upon forged documents. He became the terrorist leader in the 1993 terrorist attack against the World Trade Center .

Third, the bill allows states to offer in-state tuition to any illegal alien who obtains the new Z-visa. While out-of-state American students must pay double to triple the price of in-state tuition, illegal aliens would be receiving tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer tuition subsidies. To top it off, legal aliens who have gone through the lengthy immigration process to obtain a student visa would not qualify for the same education subsidy.

Concisely, any proposal that does not require immigration offenders to leave the country and reenter through legal means will not reside well with legal U.S. citizens. As patriotic Americans, we want to see the laws of our nation upheld. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. We do not need immigration "reform." We need to allocate more resources to enforce the laws already on the books.

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