Blog 8

In their latest blog entry, Lone Star State: Then and Now references The Dream Act, which is legislation aimed at giving the children of illegal immigrants the chance at an education and an opportunity to gain citizenship through graduating or serving two years in the military.  Now while I agree that something must be done to improve the immigration process in this country, I think that rewarding breaking the law in any way is a dangerous step to take.  I think that first we must secure our borders and then come up with a process to make citizenship a reality.  I don't think it's fair to the people who have spent thousands and hired attorneys to move here legally to give another group legal status just because they've avoided detection.  My great-grandparents came from Europe in the early 20th Century, and they had to go through many challenges but they did it legally and assimilated in a timely manner.  We still hold many of our ancestors traditions dear, but we are Americans first.  I don't think that many of these "undocumented" Americans intend to assimilate or even stay in this country for an extended time.  Much of the money these migrant workers make goes back to their country of origin and not to our economy, not to mention they don't pay taxes.  The children of these illegals are unfortunately caught in the middle of the circumstances.  I wouldn't like to penalize them, but I would probably vote no for the measure until the border is secure and a more efficient immirgation process has been enacted.