On Wednesday June 27, 2007, the Senate shot down a proposal, created by Senator Hutchinson, that would require illegal immigrants to go home in order to qualify for permanent citizenship in the United States. This proposal would have caused 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens of the U.S. pending background checks, fines, and fees. Conservatives believed it was too lenient toward illegal immigrants. Liberals felt it would destroy families and leave workers open to exploitation of employers. Senator Jim Webb believed that the return home proposal was unrealistic and impractical and should be shut down. Republican framers of this bill are proposing their own less burdensome requirement for illegal immigrants to drain any support of Hutchinson's amendment. Voting on amendments continues Wednesday afternoon to try to overcome conservative foes. There will be a critical test-vote bill this Thursday.
The issue of illegal immigration is one that I personally believe is not as important as other issues going on in the world. I think that the border should be more open to immigrants seeking citizenship. There is a history of immigration in this country being the country of immigrants. Who are we to say who can go through a process to become a citizen or not when we ourselves are not true native Americans besides those Native Americans. Though we are the ones who created the government of this country, I believe that for us to decide the fate of immigrants, we should go back and look at the way our own immigration into this country in history had occured. Maybe then can we decide on what do to that is fair to illegal immigrants and what their needs would be.
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Personally, I don't hold a positive view for the current illegal immigrants. Back when many of today's "Americans" were first immigrating to this country, the economy didn't have nearly as many problems as it is having now. The places these immigrants are settling in are becoming increasingly overcrowded, and it makes me agitated to think about the havoc they are wreaking on Social Security. But, as a realist, I have to agree with Senator Jim Webb: the proposal in unrealistic and impractical. For all the trouble they cause, illegal immigrants actually keep the economy running, doing the jobs others aren't inclined to do. Things would crumble without them. Not to mention all weak prior attempts to contain the problem failed immediately.
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