It is accepted that there are approximately 10 million people living illegally in the United States. Most of these people are Hispanic, probably a majority of them citizens of Mexico. Most of them are concentrated in California, Texas and Florida. The number of illegals continues to increase despite President Bush’s weak sounding arguments that border controls are improving. The President’s words really mean that there are more hassles of Americans driving back home from Tijuana or Vancouver. It does not mean that criminal entry into the United States has slowed or is being slowed by the administration’s efforts. It’s the same kind of false and unintelligible argument made by Norman Mineta, the nincompoop who runs the Department of Transportation and who is responsible for much of the chaos at our airports and, to some extent, with the airline industry. (Please see: www.nationalspectrum.com/terrorists.html)

There is every likelihood that these illegals will receive some sort of “amnesty”. Political pressure from immigration groups; the Republican Party’s transparent attempts to corral more of the Hispanic vote as a bloc akin to the Democrat Party’s lock on the black vote; the lack of stomach at any level of government to turn illegals over to the deportation authorities and our pusillanimous State Department’s unwillingness to tell the Mexican government to stop sending us your unemployable, uneducated and unhappy citizens. Each of these points mitigates the probability that these people will ever “go home”. Face it: they are “home”.

As has been pointed out in these columns before (www.nationalspectrum.com/illegals.html) the logistics of rounding up 10 million people and marching them over the border is not just unlikely, it is, frankly, impossible: it is not going to happen. Consider, too, that we only have two border countries. Neither Canada nor Mexico is going to allow 10 million people to walk into their country. They aren’t crazy; we are. Canada’s immigration policies may be dumber than ours but not even Canada’s politicians are that level of moron. Besides, Hispanics don’t sneak into Canada. There aren’t enough jobs and it’s cold up there. The Mexican government has an absolute policy of exporting its excess, unemployed and poverty-stricken citizens. It would machine-gun the deportees as they were shoved South of the Rio Grande.

Faced with these realities, what, then, should we do. Or, more precisely, under what conditions should we permit these people to remain in the United States?

The analysis should begin by assessing what we are dealing with. First, like it or not, every illegal alien from any country has committed a federal crime. It is a crime recognized by every nation: sneak in and you have committed a crime. Second, virtually everyone would agree that almost none of the illegals is a criminal or a terrorist. They are simply people looking for a better life; a job; a way to help themselves and their families. Third, and without much doubt, virtually all of these 10 million are uneducated. Moreover, they have grown up in a political, cultural and social environment which is substantially different from America’s. Few have any proficiency in our language. Assimilating them into our society is not going to be easy for them or for us.

The assimilation of the hordes of immigrants in the early 20th century was different from today’s facts. The major differences were first, that there was no immigration to the United States from 1924 until 1965. The doors were just plain shut. Thus, it is more likely that those immigrants didn’t assimilate very well either; their children did. There was, simply, no continuous wave of further immigration as conditions improved in Europe. Second, schools and the press then did a better job of educating immigrants to the American life, society and culture than we do now. Today, there is almost as much criticism of those characteristics as there is praise. If the illegals don’t assimilate, they surely will lead poorer lives, both culturally and financially. They will remain net users rather than net contributors to their country of residence. No country has an obligation to new residents that they may be net users of its citizens’ resources. Such a policy would be wrong and an egregious error as to the absolute duty of the federal government to control who is allowed into the United States for whatever reason. Further, it would be divisive of our nation’s peoples, balkanizing us, not uniting us. E pluribus unum remains correct. Multi-culturalism does not work and has never worked in any country.

The issues denominated above are compounded by the ever present political class’s total pandering to the ever increasing potential Hispanic voters. Whatever rational thoughts politicos may have on the subject of illegals is totally conditioned by their constant pandering to groups or classes for hustling votes. They are like race hustlers, such as those alleged Reverends, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. None ever lets an opportunity slip past which could turn into a vote for their continuity in power.

Suppose, though, that one condition of amnesty was that if you accepted amnesty, you could never become a citizen and thus vote? If an illegal desperately wanted to become a citizen in order to vote for, say, Gray Davis, he could. He would simply return to his native country, file the application papers and follow the procedural path to entry and full citizenship. What’s wrong with that?

There are myriad details in any amnesty program. But one principle should be above all the rest. No reward of American citizenship should be given for unquestionably illegal conduct. This returns the further benefits of a united citizenry and of lessened political pandering to the illegal entrants who became legal residents by amnesty. And last, but surely not least, it returns the honor and privilege of being an American citizen to its singular place in our national pantheon.