Immigration Amnesty: Compassion or Politics?

By all estimates, there are twelve million illegal immigrants in the United States, with more arriving all the time. Obviously, this problem is not going to go away on its own. Sadly, the solution to this problem is about as clear as Hillary Clinton's stand on any given issue: unclear.

George Bush and many democrats have proposed a plan that will offer citizenship to all of these illegal immigrants. Let's put that in perspective. The current U.S. population recently surpassed the 300 million mark. So, making these people citizens would entail a population increase of about four percent. It doesn't sound like much, but let's put that in perspective. It's like adding, overnight and irreversibly, the entire population of the London metropolitan area to the United States. Actually, a few hundred thousand more. It gets worse: instead of the usual proportion of adults to children, most of these illegals are adults. So, that means twelve million jobs lost to Americans.

On the other hand, the economy of Mexico, the largest source of illegal immigrants, has been mismanaged for years and is now unable to sustain much free-market enterprise at all. So, how can we deny them the right to support their families? What's more, the U.S. has always been open to immigrants, and why should that stop now? We object to them coming here illegally, but we appreciate the discount labor they provide.

The whole question is so convoluted that an answer is almost impossible to find. I certainly can't see any way out of this situation.

Does it sound like I'm just giving up? I'm not. I'm admitting, however, that the problem is way over my head. It's in the hands of God.