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[eagle243]

If Tom Ridge really believes this, he should be immediately fired.

Anyone -- especially the Homeland Security Secretary -- who believes that Homeland Security (whatever the heck that is) would be enhanced by legalizing the illegals ... is just nuts!

Comments

[fishsupreme]

I disagree.

Now, simply declaring "all legal immigrants are now legal" would not be a good idea. However, it is inherently dangerous to have a large group of people who are living in fear of deportation. The vast majority of those people simply want to live and work like the rest of us -- they're neither criminals nor terrorists.

However, their illegal status can make them dangerous anyway. Illegal immigrants are necessarily going to avoid contact with proper authorities (even if they know of an impending crime or terrorist action), be vulnerable to blackmail, and disrespectful of law (it's impossible to respect the law when you know your very existence violates it). Allowing people who are already de facto residents of the United States to become de jure residents will fix these particular problems.

This would of course require a process, not a simple act with no supporting procedure or investigation. However, our current immigration policy is ridiculous for a supposedly free country populated almost entirely by descendents of immigrants.