Friday, July 18, 2014

Parallels ( a post about illegal immigration)

While talking with my husband on the subject of illegal immigration I told him about a story I had read recently online.
 1,500 people were shipped to New York by the government. The government requested that these 1,500 people be given food and lodging, and that all expenses be paid for by the local government. New York utterly refused, and the 1,500 were left on their vehicles. Now this may feel vaguely familiar to anyone who is up to date on our current dilemmas with our southern border, but it should feel very familiar to anyone who is familiar with the history of  our nation.
In this story the 1,500 people were British soldiers. The government was parliament and the British King, and the vehicles were ships.
SOLDIERS VS. CHILDREN
The fact then is they were soldiers. I think any person would start feeling a little prickly if their government started to station troops around their homes and places of employment. The fact now is that with so many of these people coming across being children it makes the matter feel far more complicated. A soldier is intimidating a child usually is not. It makes it harder to say no. No sane person wants any child to suffer. It breaks my heart that these children and their families are finding themselves in such a desperate situation, but the fact of the matter is that I will choose to take care of my children and my family first over taking care of someone else. My family is my responsibility, just as the citizens of the United States fall under the responsibility of the United states government. I am not encouraging everyone to be living on government welfare, our current system of government is not built to support us (or anyone else ) in this manner, but there are a lot of US citizens that would be benefited by the money that is being squandered to take care of these people.

LEGAL IMMIGRANTS VS. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Another fact of the matter is that in 1765 the British soldiers being pushed upon the colonists were British citizens. While the colonies were extremely uncomfortable with their presence and all but one colony (Pennsylvania) refused to comply with the Quartering Act, the soldiers did have a right to be there. These illegal immigrants do not have the right to be here. They attack our people on Border Patrol (who by the way do not get enough credit or support for all they do) They damage property. They take jobs that our citizens should have rights to. They pull money out of circulation in our economy to get more illegal immigrants here. Illegal immigration is a very large source of income for countries south of the border. These countries are the ones who should be responsible for the care of these people. Going back to the comparison of families I don't expect my children to be taken care of by someone other than my husband and myself. I also expect that if my children break the rules in my home, or in someone else's home, or even the law that they will be held responsible for their actions. If they are not old enough or otherwise incapable of being held responsible I as the person in authority over them must do what I can to make things right. The first thing an illegal immigrant does in this country is break the law, they need to be held accountable for their actions. The accountability should be falling to the countries that these children are from for their illegal actions, as well as for their welfare.
Those who come into this country through the legal way are and should be welcome here. It is not fair to those people who commit their own time, resources, and funds to do things the right way when anyone can just cross the border illegally and find themselves supported by our government. There are people who sacrifice to get here the right way; In many cases they wait for years, they leave family and loved ones behind, and some are in situations no more desperate than the ones of illegal immigrants. These are strong people. They deserve our admiration and respect for doing things the right way, and valuing our laws.

WHO'S PAYING THEN VS. NOW
The party charged for paying is the same now as it was then, the citizens. In 1765 it was immediately obvious as to who was carrying the fiscal load. Parliament very clearly said that the colonies were required to provide for these soldiers. The food and housing for them was to be contributed by local authority. The burden was shouldered by the citizens of the colonies in their local communities. Now it doesn't feel quite so obvious. Billions of dollars have been requested from congress for the support of thousands of people. If this money is granted we may not feel the pinch  immediately, after all we will never see that kind of money coming from our own pockets, but the money has to come from somewhere. This money will be going to people who have broken the laws and can do nothing to contribute to our communities. For a nation with a very high national debt this would be a financially irresponsible decision.

I can't pretend that this situation has an easy fix, it doesn't, and I won't pretend to know what the  big solution is for this crisis. There are things that we as individuals can do. We have to take a stand to support our own laws, and to remove anyone from office who does not. If we just allow the lawbreaking this time we will soon be overwhelmed by a lot more people coming illegally through our borders. We have already seen this.  Giving one group of illegal immigrants a free pass will basically be a signal that we don't care about our own immigration laws or our borders. We have already seen this with how poorly the borders have been managed in recent years. Stand up, support our Border Patrol and elect leaders who will do something about keeping our borders protected.




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