January 27, 2006
On January 27, 2006, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) staged a candlelight vigil outside the Nashville offices of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. People from all over the area, and some from out of state, gathered together to show their support for comprehensive immigration reform. Predictably, those who oppose any action at all on this epidemic problem in America labeled the event “racist.” One opposition leader even called it “dangerous.” What's dangerous is for Americans to sit idly by while their country is invaded by millions of people who have no right to be here.
That's not to say that immigration is bad. This country was built on immigration. The faces in the crowd reflected that. When I gazed out upon the hundreds who gave up their Friday night to hold a single candle in the air in defiance of a crooked and complacent system I saw the face of America. I saw men, women and children. I saw blacks and whites and, yes, Hispanics. There were first generation Hispanics in attendance who came to this country through the proper channels and they were as outraged as anyone that our government has allowed illegal immigration to continue unabated.
Chris Simcox, co-founder of the now famous Minuteman Project, was the keynote speaker. Instead of some wild-eyed, racist vigilante, as many in the media have tried to portray him, I witnessed a frank discussion from an intelligent, concerned patriot who simply followed the instructions of his government after 9/11 when they told all of us to be vigilant and report any illegal activity to the government. “It's amazing what you can do with just a lounge chair, a cell phone and some binoculars,” Simcox told the crowd. The Minutemen took the president's call-to-action seriously and staged the nation's largest ‘neighborhood watch' in an effort to assist – not usurp – our country's border patrol. They have become so successful that the Minutemen have been invited to return to the border by local law enforcement in border states that face the problem of illegal immigration every single day.
A recent report from one Arizona county places the price-tag for fighting illegal immigration over the past six years at more than $60 million dollars. Estimates on the net cost of illegal immigration – after taxes collected from illegals are accounted for – are somewhere north of $35 billion nationally.
Pro-illegal immigration advocates try to tug at our heartstrings by portraying all illegal immigrants as hard-working, God-fearing people who only want a better life for themselves and their families. I'm sure there are those who fit into that category. There are also criminals, MS-13 gang members, those carrying tuberculosis and those who are aiding terrorist organizations. Yet, when those lobbying for open borders are asked if they'd allow a homeless person to break into their house, their response is a predictable “No!” Why? Because it's illegal.
No one disputes that many illegals are trying to find a better life but our country simply can't afford it. Not in dollars spent and not in the toll illegal immigration takes on our country. Two-thirds of foreign workers in America came here legally. All we're asking is that the other third do the same.
Coming to this country legally helps ensure that people are vetted for criminal backgrounds, disease and terrorist connections. That's precisely why we have an immigration policy in the first place.
Perhaps Chris Simcox is on to something. Maybe we should buy our border patrol lounge chairs, cell phones and binoculars. While we're at it, let's buy our president and the illegal enablers in Washington a spine.