Tucson Citizen
U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Republican, represents Arizona’s 5th Congressional District.
America’s borders are being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the blame for this failure rests squarely with the federal government.
If America is truly committed to homeland security, if ours is a nation of laws, and if our sovereign borders are to be respected by the world, then the White House and Congress must chart a different course. That course is laid out in the Enforcement First Immigration Reform Act of 2005.
There are those who believe the answer to our problems is amnesty in the form of a guest worker plan. They claim enforcement will never work. But how would they know? Rigorous, consistent enforcement has never been tried.
As the numbers of illegal immigrants grew into the millions, efforts to enforce the law actually diminished. For example, in 2004, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security issued only three notices of intent to seek fines against employers for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
Years of nonenforcement have encouraged those here illegally to stay and millions more to come. We must send a different message: zero tolerance. We will encourage those who are here illegally to leave and discourage others from coming by denying them the opportunity to work illegally.
Posted by Richard at October 25, 2005