Georgia governor signs controversial anti-illegal immigration law – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Georgia governor signs controversial anti-illegal immigration law – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Immigration reform taking center stage in Texas – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Arizona takes controversial immigration law to Supreme Court - CNN.com

Immigration continues to be much in the news. As one might expect the discourse, such as it is, borders on the bizarre. Thee are many sides to the discourse. There are the "legalize the illegal immigrants that are already here/pass to citizenship" promoters. There are the "serve in the military and we'll legalize you" folks. Increasingly there are the "the Federal Government isn't enforcing existing laws so the states will" proponents.

Some of these notions make a kind of sense. Others not so much.

Consider the legalize proponents. The US has had several previous rounds of legalization. The proposal goes something like "we'll legalize the people who are here then have stricter laws that we'll actually enforce." It sounds good. It's humane since we'll not be deporting lots of people. at the same time it's tough on illegal immigration. Of course when it comes to the enforcement side, the Federal government simply doesn't effectively enforce immigration law. The fact that there are so many illegal immigrants that the issue arises speaks to that as does the move by states to enforce existing Federal and new state laws. The common sense bottom line for this approach is that absent enforcement, the proposal amounts to little more that open borders with no control of emigration.

Common Sense finds the "serve in the military" proposals offensive and immoral on their face. The notion that if you are willing to risk your life in military service we'll make you a citizen is in Common Sense's view patently wrong on several grounds. It begs the question of national loyalty. It begs the question of real commitment. It is little more than a crass attempt to meet military requirements by taking advantage of a desperate population.

The "state enforcement" notion is really just a response to states being invaded by illegal immigrants while the Federal government does not actually enforce existing laws.

Common Sense wonders why existing laws aren't enforced? The most likely reason is that it's in someone's economic interest to have a poor disadvantaged underclass that can be taken care of. That speaks to an unjust society, one in which the haves take advantage of the have-nots. That hardly seems American. Moreover, it doesn't make good sense. What happens as the number of have-nots grows as it is doing now. Does it make sense that a country with a significant disadvantaged segment is stable? Is it more likely that such a society would deteriorate to look like many of our troubled South American neighbors? Common Sense thinks so. Common sense dictates that when you when you allow social structures that mirror unsuccessful countries you will soon have an unsuccessful country to live in. It bears thinking about. That's just common sense.