Conservatives Support Immigration, Just Not Illegal Immigration

"Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules." --Thomas Jefferson

By Douglas V. Gibbs

One of the keys to the success of the United States has been our rich tradition of receiving immigrants.  President Obama, in his speech in Las Vegas, said that this is not an "us versus them" thing because we used to be them.  Mr. Obama, however, is trying to compare apples to tangerines.

The part about immigration that makes this nation flourish is when the immigrants desire to become Americans.  To do so it means they are willing to learn English, and assimilate completely into our society.  This nation isn't about groups, but about how individuals earn success, and make the country greater because of it.  But to accomplish those successes, the federal government must get out of the way.

Now, we are hearing about amnesty, and "being fair."

Reagan, we are told, supported amnesty, after all.

Ronald Reagan did not support amnesty.  He thought it was a bad idea. However, Reagan believed in compromising.  He made the liberal democrats promise border enforcement, and that this would be the only time we granted amnesty.  As with the tax hike versus spending cuts deal, they lied, and now here were are with amnesty knocking on our door again.

The problem is politics.  The democrats want amnesty for more voters, and the GOP believes the liberals when they say the party is done if they don't capitulate on amnesty.

Instead of politics, why not look at the Constitution.

For example, amnesty grants citizenship to people that have been hear illegally, retroactively.

Retroactive law is ex post facto law, which according to Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution is forbidden. The federal government cannot make ex post facto laws.

I am against amnesty, I am against rewarding illegal aliens for breaking our laws, and I am for enforcing the existing laws.  A nation that does not protect its borders, and is willing to accept more than just the ones willing to assimilate, will destroy itself.

My wife was an immigrant.  She was here with a resident alien card, making her a legal resident.  She naturalized in 2007.

Amnesty is a slap in her face.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary