A blog post from U.S. Sen. John “Dr. No” Boozman on immigration reform indicates he won’t be going along with any plan that provides legal status to people in the country already. Or, if he does, he’s done a good job of cloaking it.
The reality is this problem exists because we have immigration laws on the books that are not being enforced. After years of extreme neglect by the federal government, our nation is facing an immigration crisis. Federal laws go unenforced, leaving cash-strapped local and state governments to fend for themselves and use resources they do not have to absorb millions of illegal immigrants. Adding more rules to the books without enforcing the ones we have will do little good in the long run.
One thing is certain: if the President insists on amnesty we aren’t going to get very far. Amnesty is a non-starter. We must not reward people for breaking the law. I will continue to oppose amnesty proposals and I remain committed to working towards a real solution that addresses the crisis at our borders.
Don’t bother to forward Boozman any of the growing stack of research that indicates immigrants are a financial plus to the U.S. They work. They pay taxes. Because they lack legal status, they often don’t receive services for which their taxes would otherwise qualify them. See, for example, Arkansas high school graduates with exemplary records denied Arkansas college scholarship support that a Texan can receive. Someday, their U.S.-born citizen children will outnumber the John Boozmans of the world.