here we go again

Just when we were getting back on speaking terms with our friends and family members after the divisive health care fight, we are now heading into another battle. Illegal immigration.

Can I just sign up for a root canal without Novocain instead?

I can already hear the cries of racist, bigot and anti-immigrant being hurled at me. The last one is my favorite, anti-immigrant. Sure, on my father's side, I can trace my family back to 1731 in Maryland, and that is pretty cool, but even he emigrated from Ireland. On my mom's side, my great grandfather received his US citizenship in 1932. So as the great grandson of Issauro Vieira Silveira, I am a product of immigration and proud of it. But none of that matters.

If I had just received my citizenship yesterday, I would be labeled a racist and bigot if I dare oppose open borders. That is the way the progressive movement works today, prey upon people's fear of being called racist. It makes your opponent go on defense. That play from the left's playbook has worked for quite a while, but I wonder what will happen this year?

I will admit, the left has a huge home court advantage with the media. Just like the tea party folks this year, those who oppose open borders will be smeared as violent, right-wing extremists, ready to blow up buildings if they only had the smarts to mix the chemicals. I can almost write the script for you now. The nightly news will pick out the most extreme "spokesman" from the crowd and make him the poster-child of the movement.

The networks will do prime-time programs detailing the plight of illegal immigrants here in the US. They will focus on the sad cases of people who just want escape the poverty and corruption in Mexico. They will ask, what do we do with the millions of illegal immigrants here, although they will not use the term illegal immigrant, they prefer plain old immigrants or if pushed, undocumented workers.

To me, this is a simple question, one that must be asked and answered. Do we believe we have a border between our sovereign nations, and do we believe there is a legal process in which to become a citizen? Yes or no.

Even Ellis Island had a process, with interviews, exams, and they turned many away.

As the government of Mexico slowly sinks into a power struggle with the anarchy of the drug cartels, the violence and chaos is spilling over the border into places like Arizona.

I hear a lot of talk about comprehensive immigration reform. If you haven’t figured this out already, and most people have, comprehensive means amnesty and citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens already here in the US. That is what it meant when President Bush introduced it years ago, that is what it means today. Whichever party can deliver amnesty and social spending programs to these millions will have a very loyal voting block for generations to come. This is about votes and political power as much as anything else.

How about this for a comprehensive immigration solution; a nice big fence first. I am willing to discuss some sort of way to deal with millions here, but only when we have secured the border. Don’t we have tens of billions in unspent federal stimulus money? I can hardly think of a better way to spend it. If we are not going to credit it back to offset the trillion dollar deficits, let's put a few hundred thousand workers back to work building walls and fence.

The Democrats are always telling us how much they love the work programs of FDR’s New Deal, let them prove it. We already borrowed the money; let’s put it to good use for a change. Wow, who knew big government was so useful?