Quehubo,
Whew! I think you want to rethink your statements:
"I second that motion, the INS and local police should be banging down doors and getting the illegal aliens out as well as legal ones from certain countries. No trials ifs ands or buts, just get the hell out."
That's not the way it works. First of all, for illegal aliens, they are to be accorded procedures in accordance with Dept. of State and INS regulations concerning visa violations and/or illegal residence here. There is no reason why such procedures (deportation hearings) should not be held on an expedited basis and there is no reason why certain hearings (illegal aliens from Sudan, Yemen or Saudi) might not go to the head of the queue. Then, assuming a visitor has violated the status of his invitation, he should be escorted to the nearest port of exit and put on an airplane, boat, etc. back to his country of origin with a big ugly stamp in his passport: DEPORTEE.
As for legal aliens, no matter which country they are from, on what basis do you think you should violate the terms of their status? Because we're frightened? I don't think so. If investigations turn up associations and ties with terrorist networks then the legal alien's status should be revised and the alien deported, rapidamente. Most of us at one point or another were legal aliens in this country; in my case it goes back 7 generations, in my wife's case, zero generations (she's naturalized); we need to take the risk of having legal aliens here, much as we take the risk of having citizens among us (Tim McVeigh comes to mind, as does David Koresh, and David Duke, and Ruby Ridge).
Finally, going forward, there will be no damage to the Constitution or our nation if we are very careful in admitting visitors in the future who may be or are likely to be a threat to this normally generous and open country. For example, Abdullah, a 22 year old from Yemen, wants to come to SUNY Buffalo to study electrical engineering. So does Hiroshi from Kakegawa Japan. Well, Abdullah may just have to have a much thicker file, with affidavits from schools accounting for all his personal history time (we don't want to find he has a 4 month lacuna where he was training with Emir OBL, do we?) as well as personal and financial sponsors. These burdens may cause Abdullah to decide that the University of Cardiff in Wales or the Universite de Toulouse is where he will pursue his education. Tant pis.
Hiroshi on the other hand may be able to come to SUNY Buffalo waving only a letter of acceptance from the university and an acceptable TEFL score.
It may not seem fair to Abdullah's parents, and it may not seem fair in a perfect world, but since 9/11/01 our illusions about living in a perfect world have been shattered, so Hiroshi gets pretty close to a free pass to study most places in the world while Abdullah gets the shunning treatment that his region, his satrapies and sheikdoms, have earned via 35 years of terror and anticivilization. This is not about racism (Hiroshi is a different race, Abdullah is not) or religion (a Turk may get as free a pass as Hiroshi) but about state misbhavior. Japan (and maybe Turkey) is a state member of the civilized world; Yemen (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) apparently is not.
Que, as for citizens and legal residents, whether via green card or temporary visa, I see no reason to rip out what we have in the name of fear--here I would worry very much about what we are left with in the aftermath.
Regards,
Kb |
