Jose Antonio Vargas of the New York Times

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times, has admitted that he is an illegal alien. In his story, Vargas talks about how he came to the United States illegally 18 years ago when he was 12. He also details all the illegal and unethical things he and his family have done to stay here.

From what I’ve read, Jose Antonio Vargas is an intelligent, hard-working individual who has accomplished a great deal in his 30 years. He and his family have also broken immigration laws and committed document fraud, and now he is going public with his crimes. This might not be a popular sentiment, but the government needs to act. If it doesn’t, what kind of message is it sending?

I’m also anxious to see what steps the New York Times takes, if any. Vargas mentions that another paper wouldn’t hire him because of his immigration status. By allowing him to remain employed, they’re essentially endorsing the violation of U.S. immigration laws and document fraud. Although, with their liberal slant, I wouldn’t expect Mr. Vargas’ job to be in danger.

I’d like to thank Texas state senator Chris Harris for saying what many people were probably thinking, but were afraid to vocalize due to political correctness. While Antolin Aguirre was testifying against a bill in Spanish, he mentioned through an interpreter that he came to the United States 23 years ago. At that point, Chris Harris interupted.

“It is insulting to us. It is very insulting. And if he knows English, he needs to be speaking in English.”

Senator Harris will undoubtedly receive criticism from liberals and supporters of illegal immigration, but he is absolutely correct. How can someone move to a country, live there for 23 years, and still not be comfortable with the language? Even worse is the expectation that government, and society in general, are expected to accommodate their laziness and lack of identification with their country.

Let’s be honest. There is no way a continued undermining of the English language will not undermine the United States and the national identity of its residents. A society should have a common language to facilitate interactions between its citizens, and ensure its economic and cultural vitality. The failure to recognize this problem will lead to a linguistic balkanization which will result in two (or more types of Americans).

With our overly accepting attitudes and government subsidies (such as interpreters) for those too lazy or disinterested to assimilate to life in the United States, we are fundamentally weakening one of our common bonds. Which bond will be weakened next?

Maricopa COunty Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Senator Joe Arpaio? It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Following the news that Arizona Senator John Kyl is stepping down, a poll was conducted to find out who has the most support. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio led with 21%, followed by Rep. Jeff Flake with 16.8%, and J.D. Hayworth with 16.6%.

This poll should be taken with a grain of salt, since John Kyl just announced that he isn’t running for re-election, the election is almost 2 years away, and there were a large number of undecided voters. Still, it has to be encouraging for Joe Arpaio to see his name at the top of the list.

If Arpaio were to run, I have no doubt he would run a strong campaign. With a national reputation for protecting the border, he would be a strong voice for border security and immigration reform. We need more people in elected office who are willing to protect our borders, while disregarding political correctness. He could be that candidate

French Presiden Nicolas Sarkozy

“It’s a failure,” Sarkozy said of multiculturalism. “The truth is that, in all our democracies, we’ve been too concerned about the identity of the new arrivals and not enough about the identity of the country receiving them.”

I couldn’t agree more. Think about it: By allowing, and often encouraging immigrants to keep their own culture at the cost of assimilation, aren’t we weakening our national identity? If millions of immigrants take up residence in a country, consider themselves to be separate, and raise children to believe the same, how will that country survive? How will its people exist without a shared identity?

Most politicians in the United States would be afraid to make a statement similar to Sarkozy’s. Instead, they would likely recycle the same old line about the United States being a nation of immigrants who strengthened out country. Of course, the elephant in the room is that the immigrants of yesterday did a much better job assimilating than the immigrants of today. Do you need an example? How often do you see signs and documents written in Spanish? Ask a 90 year old if it was common to find signs and documents in Italian or German 60 years ago. It wasn’t, and those people who came hear needed to adjust.

Now, it seems that those from other countries are asked to make few, if any adjustments. While the greater culture is de-emphasized by the politically correct, “cultural diversity” is upheld as a virtue. Gradually, nations will pay a price for political correctness.

Not surprisingly, those on the loony left are already preparing their talking points. Texas State Rep. Mike Villarreal makes this poor point:

“All of the studies have calculated a net positive to our economy,” Villarreal said. “Even considering any services which we provide to our own citizens that they may take advantage of.”

As the National conversation on illegal immigration continues to evolve, keep an eye out on these types of arguments. Those who support illegal aliens say they are a necessary part of the U.S. economy. They point out that some pay income taxes, sales taxes, take the jobs “Americans don’t want”, and their spending helps stimulate the economy.

Well, there’s no doubt that illegal aliens pay some taxes, and spend some money in the United States. The big problem with this argument is that their economic contribution doesn’t off-set the costs of having them here. Consider these points:

* Illegal aliens can pay income taxes, but I feel confident in guessing that most don’t. By the way, if they did, the amount they pay would probably be low, since they often work at jobs with low wages (because they helped drive those wages down).

* It probably costs anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 to educate a child, which the state is required to do. These costs go up for special education or ESL programs. If a family of illegal aliens has 2 children, it might cost $30,000 to educate their children. Do you really think this low-income family generates at least that much in economic activity? I don’t think so.

* There is a massive amount of crime along the U.S./Mexico border. Combating this crime costs both money and lives.

* Finally, we hear how illegal aliens merely want to work here and live a better life. I won’t dispute that, but I would like to add a propensity for law-breaking to that list. After all, they’re trespassing in our country, ignoring our laws, and in many cases, ignoring deportation orders. Do you really want lawless individuals living in your neighborhood?

Passing strict immigration laws makes common sense for economic and security reasons. The United States is a sovereign nation that should be able to control who enters its borders. Of course, to the leftists, our sovereignty and borders are actually the problem. Most of them don’t want to say so, but they don’t feel borders make much sense, they just feel like people should come and go as they please. Of course, there’s more to gain if you’re going from the bad place to the good place. What’s in it for us? Nothing but problems.

Yes, you read that correctly. Essentially, the federal government is categorizing a state law as a human rights abuse, and detailing how they plan to stop it with court challenges. Of course, they probably don’t mention that it merely codifies federal law at the state level, and has the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans. Those facts were conveniently not mentioned in order to make us better fit in with the world community that Barry Obama is constantly trying to appease with apologies.

I have no doubt that Barack Obama and his administration would love to have open borders and essentially gut existing immigration laws rather than merely not enforcing them. Of course, he doesn’t have the nerve to come out and say it. Although, he did come out in support of the Ground Zero Victory Mosque, so who knows what he is liable to say?

Some may argue that this will just push illegal aliens into neighboring states. This is true, which is why other states need to pass laws which make life difficult for those who ignore our laws. So, where will all these people go? I have a few ideas.

After the law was passed, San Francisco and Los Angeles both announced boycotts against Arizona. Perhaps those cities would be good destinations for illegal aliens. After all, these cities don’t mind paying almost $15,000 per year to educate each of their children, or the strain they will place on their city. As a matter of fact, I often hear advocates of illegal immigration and open borders talk about how illegal aliens add much more to their community than they take. If that’s true, we would expect to see an economic renaissance in those cities. Hopefully, it will happen and we will see the true affect of illegal immigration.

The group came into the United States illegally, then started assaulting federal agents. Despite this, Felipe Calderone says Mexico “will use all resources available to protect the rights of Mexican migrants.”

Did I miss something? These individuals crossed the border illegally, then assaulted the men and women responsible for enforcing our laws. Calderone should be happy that U.S. agents showed as much restraint as they did.

Someone needs to tell Felipe Calderone that the United States doesn’t own anything to Mexico. We’re not under any obligation to take their citizens, and we will not have our laws called into questions by foreign countries. Especially when that country has more stringent laws than our own.

The perfect person to address this situation would be the President. Unfortunately, we are currently stuck with a man who seems to favor open borders and has a disdain toward border protection. I still haven’t heard any comments from Barack Obama on this topic, but I’m sure he will find a way to blame the border patrol and apologize to the lawless Mexican citizens.

While gangs, kidnapping, and drug trafficking are running rampant in Arizona, Barack Obama is cracking jokes. Do you still wonder why illegal immigration is such a problem? Mr. Obama and his fellow leftists should just come out and advocate an open borders policy once and for all. After all, his administration is acting like it is already our policy.

Mexico's treatment of migrants has been criticized by Amnesty International

The Mexican government has criticized Arizona for passing a law which would essentially enforce federal immigration laws. Mexico, which often assists its huddled masses in escaping its economic wasteland for the promise to be found in the United States, lacks credibility on the issue. Rather than criticizing its neighbor to the north, it should focus on the serious problems within its own borders.

Amnesty International has referred to Mexico’s treatment of migrants as “a human rights crisis“. According to Amnesty International, many migrants are are beaten, raped or murdered. For those who are victimized, there isn’t much recourse. Here’s an excerpt from Article 67 of Mexico’s population law:

“Authorities, whether federal, state or municipal … are required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country, before attending to any issues.”

I’m strongly in favor of increasing border security and removing as many illegal aliens from the United States as possible, but I find Mexico’s law to be a disgrace to the country. Basically, it gives Mexican criminals carte blanche to victimize foreigners who are in the country illegally.

Is there a bigger hypocrite on the planet than the Mexican government? They don’t want their citizens who are in the United States illegally to be deported back to their home country, yet they see nothing wrong with allowing migrants to be repeatedly victimized by its own criminals. Mexico’s opinions on our immigration policy are meaningless, yet after reading about their treatment of migrants, it has managed to become even less worthy of consideration.