Thursday, July 05, 2007

Screwing the Lawful

Much hand-wringing has been staged in the Media lately to alert us to the plight of the illegal Mexican immigrants who, as some claim, are on the verge of being dragged in chains back to Mexico by the millions.

My heart breaks in a different direction. My law-abiding, highly-skilled neighbors from the UK have been waiting, legally, for years for their green cards. They have filled out all the forms, jumped through all the hoops, paid all the money, waited patiently in good faith in the US government and American citizens. One of them has actually been working for free just to keep her hand in. Last week, suddenly, they announced that their time had finally come in the queue. They are near the top, but the queue has been stalled for a long time. The government announced that a number of people were finally going to be granted permanent resident status. Then, a few short days later, this decree was rescinded without any reasonable explanation. Kafka anyone?

I believe strongly in the rule of law. The alternative is the rule of the jungle. If we start to give a nod and a wink to the law, as is prevalent in many Eastern US cities which vote heavily Democratic, then we will increasingly see rule by the strong (Mafia, Russian Mafia, etc.). I don't want to live in Mexico. I want to live in a law-abiding nation. If people are continually rewarded for breaking the law and punished for obeying it, then people will respond accordingly and we can kiss representative democracy good-bye.

Make whatever immigration laws you want. But when they have been lawfully enacted by the people's representatives, then it is time to play by the rules and enforce the laws in a fair and consistent manner.

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