Wrong Ideas Matter
06/10/2007
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Watching yesterday morning's Washington Journal on C-SPAN left me with a renewed respect for the opinion of average Americans. The topic for call-in discussion was the title of the Washington Times editorial, Where now on immigration?

Many callers said, "Enforce the laws we have on the books!" Some knowledgeably discussed variations of the attrition enforcement strategy. It made me think that the idea of choosing the Congress by drawing names out of a hat is not without its merits!

The unquestioned idea about immigration policy in Washington has been that legislators must meet in a theoretical bipartisan middle and compromise. But that model is plain wrong and inappropriate to what's happening in the world away from the Beltway: the situation is that we have had 20 years of worsening immigration anarchy, and citizens want the lawlessness ended. We have a void of law enforcement, not a political or legislative problem.

There can be no middle ground between chaos and law. Such a thing does not exist.

The House passed good legislation in the last Congress that was all about better enforcement. That approach is the one needed now. Rewarding lawbreakers will simply bring millions more of same.

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