Illegal Alien Amnesty Plan – Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Statement by U.S. English Chairman Mauro E. Mujica

Congress should reject any Bush administration proposal to grant amnesty to the estimated eight million illegal aliens living in the United States. Such efforts would be an insult to the millions of Americans who have gone through the legal immigration process and make a mockery of our border laws.

As a legal immigrant from Chile, I must question why the government is interested in legalizing millions of non-citizens, even as our citizens are subject to orange alerts and other anti-terror procedures. For a nation grappling with budget deficits and service cutbacks, efforts to grant amnesty to lawbreakers appears misplaced. One must wonder whether this belated Christmas gift is designed to secure votes in November.

Our two-faced method of dealing with visitors to our nation – fingerprints and procedures for those who announce their arrival, amnesty for those who dash across the border – will only exacerbate our economic and security problems. We should all hope that it will not take a repeat of September 11 to convince our political leaders that one instance of lax security is one too many.

The United States has long been a nation of immigrants – legal immigrants. Instead of doling out amnesty, it is time for our government to make a commitment to those who have abided by the law and continue to work toward the American dream. These newcomers go to great lengths to respect our laws and learn our language so that they may continue the proud tradition of earlier generations. They work tirelessly to support their families, flock to English classes and center their children’s future around education.

By granting amnesty, we turn our back on these pillars of American society. We ignore those we have invited into our nation in favor of those who have crashed the gate. If, as Miguel de Cervantes wrote in Don Quixote, “Honesty is the best policy,” policy-makers who favor amnesty are sending a terrible message to our children, to our legal immigrants and to all Americans.

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.