Criminals - or- Illegal Immigrants

Following is a letter I've sent to my Senators.  If you want to use it you may certainly copy and paste it and edit it to suit your tastes in communicating to your elected officials.  (If you need to look up your senators or representatives you can do so here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm  - or here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/  )

Dear Senator _____,

I urge you most strongly to resist any urging to allow illegal immigrants that are currently in our country to stay.  Put simply, they are criminals.  They have broken the law.  They must leave.

I have friends who entered this country legally and some that have even become citizens.  They also do not appreciate those who have arrived in our country illegally.  My grandfather came to this country legally.  It's not hard to do.

Instead, these criminals need to go back to their country of origin and apply to enter the U.S. legally.  If they did so, I would even be in favor of setting aside the fact that they broke our law by being here in the first place when considering their application.

There is too much at stake.  Those unemployed and those no longer looking for work deserve better chances.  Allowing criminals to take and keep jobs that citizens might be able to do weakens our economy.  Anything done to weaken our economy also weakens the country's strategic security.  Anyone supporting such actions are working against the best interests of our country and its citizens.  Some might even call that treason.

While a few of the provisions in the proposed reform bill do make sense and would help improve the security of our country that does not give license to harm it with the other damaging provisions.  I believe in helping "...your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,...." but charity begins at home.  We must first rebuild a strong nation and help others help themselves.  A strong economy will better enable the U.S. to help others.  It is a far better thing to return an educated person to their home country and build a strong economy their instead of keeping that person in the U.S.  The former would create markets for our goods and improve the human condition overall.  The latter merely squanders the potential of the individual for a short term return.

I would also encourage strengthening or eliminating immigration loopholes such as women arriving in the U.S. in the late stages of pregnancy in order to have their baby automatically gain citizenship.  That is gaining advantage via fraud and must be stopped.  There should not be long hearings and appeals for those over-staying their visas before they 'might' be deported.  It is really that simple.  Strictly enforce the laws that already exist.

To sum up: as your constituent I am asking that you do everything in your power to stop ignoring criminal activity.  Please take action in that direction.  Thank you.

Respectfully,

James Riddell