In mid summer 2006, the United States law makers have been bandying around ideas on how best to manage the illegal immigrant population that currently exists within its borders. Several solutions proposed equate to an all or nothing proposal (lock down the borders and send them all back), and an amnesty proposal that would allow a portion of illegal immigrants to stay within the United States to work towards their U.S citizenship.

Did you catch that last option?.

Basically, the federal government is saying that if you've been here a certain period of time, illegally, and you are therefore by default a criminal, you can stay here and benefit from our different social service programs as well as our education system for your children.

Amazing, isn't it? We're rewarding those who are grandfathered in by their own law breaking.

By allowing amnesty to illegal immigrants, the U.S lawmakers are setting a terrible precedent that will allow further degradations to our immigration policies worldwide, not just the Mexico border. How you might say?

Take for instance the Mexican woman who has been here for 15 years and is NOT forced to go back, although she was found out to have no green card or permission to reside or work in the United States. One would think that would provide the impetus to allow other hopeful legal immigrants to immigrate in a peaceful, non-law breaking way, but in reality it will just allow the other illegal immigrants to break the law faster and skirt the border patrol to get into the United States now, so as to become grandfathered in as well so that they can now get in line for Amnesty.

The argument against that is that these illegal immigrants will have to be present here in the United States for a certain period of time before they can become eligible for amnesty. But who are we kidding. If college kids can forge drivers licenses to out drinking at college bars, how hard can it really be for an illegal to say that they've been here for a number of years, working a meaningful job.

It's not very hard, that's the answer.

The only very real answer is to send back everyone who is NOT a valid citizen of the United States. Extreme, yes. Secure? You bet. And to those who decry that all of those jobs will now go to waste, I'll echo what I said before. Read up on your early American history and look at all the ?alphabet corps? that were formed to help this country get on its feet. Able bodies men from all over were used in those programs. Although not done on a conscription basis, we could put some of our youth to good work today to take up the slack of the departing illegal immigrants.