Illegal immigration is illegal!!!

Our government, and my political party, are both ignoring the very laws that they have written.

Democrats want to let illegal immigrants in and keep them poor, because poor people vote more often for Democrats who give them my tax money.

Republicans want to let illegal immigrants in because they work cheap and lower business costs.

For the Democrats, buying votes with taxpayer money is normal.

For Republicans, to do so is shameful, to say the least.

Every poll says that 70 - 80% of the American people want something done about all of the illegal immigrants who are here and that they want to stop the flow. That is the vast majority.

And for Republicans to ignore what the vast majority wants is no better than the Democrats telling us that they know what's best for us. And, like Democrats, they are telling us that they believe that rules and laws are only valid when it's convenient for them.

President Bush speaks of an "immigrant worker" program to let the 20 million illegals who are already here work legally, but he never mentions how he's going to keep the other million who will sneak across the border every year out. That means that we'll have 20 million, legalized workers and, in 20 years, we'll have another 20 million illegal aliens here.

That sickens me.

* * *

Now let's talk about how illegal immigration affects you and me.

I should be making about $5000 per year more than I am making now. There aren't many illegals who could do what I do, but the wages at the low end of the scale reflect what's being made at the top end, at least in the blue-collar world that I live in. The people who are doing basic production are making an artificially low wage, so those of us who have years of learning, schooling and experience are also kept at a lower wage than would be normal.

With all of my knowledge and experience, there's no reason that I should have to struggle to support my daughter. Yet I do, every day.

* * *

Yesterday, as I was driving home from work, I came up on a person doing 50 MPH in the left hand lane on a 65 MPH highway. When I finally squeezed into the right lane and got around her, it was very obvious that this woman wasn't from around here.

And this happens every day. Whenever I get around the car that is backing things up, it's almost always someone who has obviously never driven anything more complex than a water buffalo.

They don't know the rules of the road, because those rules are written in English and they're not required to know English to drive on highways where every sign is written in English.

The time that I spend behind these people is time that I don't spend with my daughter.

* * *

I live in Minnesota.

Ten or fifteen years ago violent crime and gangs were almost unknown in the small communities outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Now, a day doesn't go by that you don't hear of a murder, assault, kidnapping, drug lab or other gang-related crimes in rural areas. And the people who are arrested always have names that are suspiciously Spanish. Always.

Last year, the story of Dru Sjodin made national news. She was kidnapped and murdered by Alfonso Rodriguez.

Last week a guy named Juan Manuel Alvarez left his SUV on the train tracks and killed 11 people.

I could cite hundreds of examples here in Minnesota alone.

* * *

What we need to do is seal our border with Mexico. No more nod-and-wink chicken wire across our Southern border. No more token arrests of illegals, whom we send back to Mexico to try again.

We need a large, steel wall built across the entire Southern border. Yes, that may sound expensive, but we could cut the ineffective INS by about 90% to make up for it. They're not doing much anyway.

And, for the few who would sneak in anyway, a good 10 year sentence in a Federal penitentiary, and deportation when they get out, would put an end to that.

We could put an end to this any time that we wanted to. The vast majority of the American people want to put this to an end. If we truly have a representative government, we should make these politicians represent our wishes.