Sorry, Newt.

You just lost my vote when you said you would, in effect, grant amnesty to millions of immigrants who entered our country illegally. I will not vote for you. Period! And I was a big Newt suppporter before your utterances at the November 22 Republican Presidential Debate. I feel betrayed.

I suspect there are millions of other conservative independents like myself who share the view that our nation’s immigration policy, while seriously flawed, is not so flawed that we should surrender it to lawlessness by allowing those who entered our country illegally to remain, or be given a pass because there are so many of them.

You want me to feel guilty if they are told to leave. Mr. Gingrich, I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty. I feel much more empathy for those who are waiting to enter this country legally than I do for those who not only violated our laws, but show contempt for America by continuing to violate them.  

Illegal immigrants know what they did. They snuck across our border and simply occupied where they landed with the support of others just like themselves. Worse, they have formed large communities of silence that shield other illegals.  They use our lergal system and, for a large part,  are completely unrepentent for violating our national sovereignty. La Raza is their voice, and America, while a convenient place to work, is not their coutry — and we should not deceive ourselves otherwise.  They don’t recognize that our nation has a lawful claim to its borders or a right to enforce its borders against illegal intrusion.  They brazenly take to the streets to say: we’re here and you won’t get rid of us.

They live in public housing, collect public benefits, drive illegally and overload our health care clinics with new cases of Tuberculosis and whatever other diseases that follow them from their poverty-ridden countries. Our immigration policy is supposed to ensure that the secondary “benefits” of lax enforcement don’t saddle our nation with new strains of old diseases that were long ago eradicated in the United States.  Many don’t speak English and when they speak of their home, America is not it. (I know immigrants who have become American citizens who, when they speak of their “home” or their “country”, refer to where they came from not where they are. How’s that for pride?) 

With few exceptions (those who serve in our military) they must be told to leave, get in line, and come back  legally.  I would welcome them just as you would. Allowing them to remain, however, mocks our laws, tramples on the rights of those who seek legal entry and offends the basic spirit of fair play that is what being an American is all about. The fact is, there are countless people who are waiting to enter this country legally who want to call this country their home. Many live in countries that are poor; some live under the threat of persecution, and others just have a sincere yearing to be law abiding Americans.  They want to learn our language, adopt our culture and be Americans. The American dream they yearn for, you have just sold out.

The American dream I served to defend, is not the dream you articulated. Our nation has borders, a language, a culture and a sense of fair play. Your nation is an “occupied” nation that is diminished and divided by culture and language, and a sense of lawlessness and disrespect for national sovereignty that is a cancer on any society.

While you say you can’t imagine any fair-minded American arguing that we should send these people back to the country from which they came, Mr. Gingrich, I’m a fair-minded American, a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran,  and  that’s exactly what I think should and can happen quite easily.

Indeed, every other nation  on the face of this earth, has immigration laws. We, too, have laws, and we should enforce those laws against private employers and state and local governments that violate them. It’s that simple. With few, and very narrowly drawn exceptions, jurisdiction should be removed from federal courts to hear deportation cases where the government can demonstrate that the person being deported is not supposed to be here in the first place.  The courts, like the rest of government, must understand that their job is to enforce our laws, not obstruct them because they don’t think those laws fair.  

I say, enforce our immigration laws like every other nation does to address the issue of illegal immigrants on their shores, and the illegal immigration problem will resolve itself without us having to engage in a national deportation effort. Take away the benefits that are due American citizens and the magnet will be neutralized.  Those who violated our laws can be welcome back; but welcome as legal immigrants. Mr. Gingrich. you apparently have forgotten the distinction and your policy as articulated at the Republican Presidential Debate amounts to nothing less than a war on America.