GOP immigration plan fails to please: Your Say
Last week, the GOP unveiled a set of immigration principles, which included a way for undocumented immigrants to stay in the USA legally. Letters to the editor:
One of the clichés used to excuse people who break our immigration laws is that violators are disobeying our immigration laws "to make a better life for themselves." This argument can apply to other crimes. Thieves don't have enough money, so they steal to make a better life for themselves. Murderers kill someone to make a better life for themselves.
Stop trying to rationalize criminal behavior and start enforcing our immigration laws. Our immigration laws aren't broken. The enforcement of them is broken.
Mark Campbell; Millersville, Md.
Sen. Jeff Sessions' point about mass importation of cheap labor affecting unemployed Americans is obvious ("Sen. Sessions: Immigration spikes income inequality").
But increasing our population has other effects that get little attention. Ecosystems are under duress. Strategic resources are depleted, and the costs to governmental organizations in education, health care and law enforcement increase accordingly. Most things are limited. Our ability to absorb millions of illegal and legal immigrants each year should be given more attention.
Richard Pelto; Kenmore, Wash.
Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:
Can you blame someone for jumping the border to give his or her family a better life? Immigration laws definitely need to be reformed, but the whole "kick undocumented immigrants out" mentality is killing the Republican Party.
Most immigrants are hard workers who just want to work for a better life by coming here, not to live off the government. Immigrants are natural Republicans: hardworking and family-oriented. But if people keep saying kick them out, we're alienating a substantial portion of the country, and we'll keep losing elections.
— John J Foss
Republicans can pretend all they want. The reason many are fighting the legalization of undocumented immigrants is so their business buddies can get cheap labor.
— Wesley Nemes