Wise words from a couple of wise men

"In political rhetoric, "comprehensive immigration reform" means amnesty up front and promises of border control later - promises that have not been kept in the past and are unlikely to be kept in the future. Anyone who is serious, as distinguished from political, knows that you have to control your own borders before you can have an immigration policy that means anything in practice."

     - Dr. Thomas Sowell

"Probably, the overwhelming majority of Mexican illegal immigrants are hardworking, honest and otherwise law-abiding members of the communities in which they reside. It would surely be a heart-wrenching scenario for such a person to be stopped for a driving infraction, have his illegal immigrant status discovered and face deportation proceedings. Regardless of the hardship suffered, being in the U.S. without authorization is a crime.

When crimes are committed, what should be done? Some people recommend amnesia, which turns out to be the root word for amnesty. But surely they don't propose it as a general response to crime where criminals confess their crime, pay some fine and apply to have their crimes overlooked. Amnesty supporters probably wish amnesty to apply to only illegal immigrants. That being the case, one wonders whether they wish it to apply to illegals past, present and future, regardless of race, ethnicity or country of origin.

Various estimates put the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. between 10 and 20 million. One argument says we can't round up and deport all those people. That argument differs little from one that says since we can't catch every burglar, we should grant burglars amnesty. Catching and imprisoning some burglars sends a message to would-be burglars that there might be a price to pay. Similarly, imprisoning some illegal immigrants and then deporting them after their sentences were served would send a signal to others who are here illegally or who are contemplating illegal entry that there's a price to pay."

     - Dr. Walter Williams

We agree with the sentiments of these two learned men - secure the border first, then we'll discuss cleaning up the mess with which we're already stuck.  The ol' switcheroo of "amnesty first, nothing second" was pulled once on the American people back in 1986; they won't allow it to be done to them a second time.