Immigration & Deportation Oh My!

Immigration is a touchy subject. We are a nation of immigrants, both legal and illegal. Many of the illegal immigrants do jobs "we" would never do for wages "we" would never accept. (As a side note, depending on what one of those jobs actually was, this member of the collective "we" would consider doing it, especially if it were under the table). They get treated like animals by those that employ them and typically work in inhumane conditions. Not always, but sometimes. The thing is, this country has always functioned on the labor of legal and illegal immigrants (and in the not-so pleasant says, the labor of slaves, who were kind of like forced immigrants rather than voluntary immigrants, or something like that).

The program they're talking about in the article, sending illegals who are arrested back to their countries of origin, even for minor offenses, really isn't all that unfair. In fact, its not unfair at all. I sympathize with the situation. You're an illegal who can't get a driver's license, so you drive to work without one. Then you get pulled over for speeding or running a stop sign and when you have no ID, they arrest you, fingerprint you, and when your fingerprints come back as those matching the prints of an illegal alien, they deport you. That sucks. It's tough luck. But there's an easy way to avoid that situation. Don't speed and run stop signs.

I'll be the first to admit, mistakes get made. I got busted for blowing a stop sign once that I didn't even know was there and got a ticket for it. That shit is going to happen. And when it does, you have to deal with the consequences. If you happen to be an illegal immigrant, the consequences might be that you get deported. It sucks, but that's life. The decisions we make have consequences.

So in all honesty, this program really doesn't upset me. If you're in this country illegally and breaking the law, even if it something like possession of a marijuana cigarette or speeding, then deportation isn't unjustifiable. With underfunded education and welfare systems and overcrowded prisons, it makes a lot more sense to kick illegal foreign nationals out of the country when they get arrested for doing illegal things.