“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there.  May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16-17, New Living Translation)  This is one of the first immigration stories found in Scriptures (the first being Abraham) and the first voluntary migration that God did not personally direct (Joseph was an immigrant but it was not voluntary).

There was an interesting lecture delivered by Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas that was delivered on July 30, 2007 as part of The Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Lecture Series”.  While I found that the presentation serves as a good foundation, I wanted to lay out something first.  I believe that the political strategy implemented by President Bush through the national Republican Party has effectively left anti-amnesty Hispanics without an outlet to express their views.  Hispanics who are in favor of protecting our borders and not granting a legal status to illegal aliens have no national outlet to express their views.  I am certainly not implying that Hispanics with this viewpoint are in the majority, but I also know anecdotally that I am not the only one. This is one of many reasons why I felt compelled to start this blog.

Now back to Congressman Smith’s presentation.  Many Americans of Hispanic descent who are against porous borders and illegal immigration would agree with one of Smith’s themes that: “Legal immigrants play by the rules, wait their turn, and come in the right way.  Others cut in front of the line, break our laws, and enter illegally.”  Their inability to find a national forum to express their views has resulted in allowing those with an agenda of prejudice a free ride to express their negative views on everything Hispanic. This has increased the “chilling effect” on Hispanics who are anti-amnesty from speaking out.

Smith mentions a poll that said: “... [A]lmost half the residents of Mexico said they would move to the U.S. if they could.” I believe that.  I also believe that the Mexican government uses illegal immigration to the US as conscious political plan to maintain the status quo in Mexico.  A status quo where the overwhelming part of Mexico’s wealth is concentrated in a very small upper class and policies that develop a middle class workforce under a capitalist model are discouraged. The US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (of which I was once a member) is or should be aware of this, but will not speak to that issue when they engage in the immigration reform debate.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that when I was actively engaged in the practice of law in New Jersey, I represented many injured workers who were illegal aliens in workers compensation courts.  My experience was that once they were injured doing their job, their employer should not be allowed to have a “free ride” and workers compensation insurance coverage should be provided.  I was especially aware that many employers knew or should have known that these workers were illegal; and, that these employers actually wanted the illegals because they could pay them less and intimidate them to be silent.  Based on this experience, I agree with the Congressman that: “Illegal immigration will never be brought under control as long as the easy availability of jobs remains such a strong magnet.”  We must make it “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” possible for employers to know when a prospective employee is legally able to work; and, punish with civil and criminal penalties those employers who continue to employ illegals.  Congressman Smith along with Congressman Peter King (R-NY) have introduced the “Secure Borders FIRST Act” that keys in on the employer as a key element of America’s recapturing control over immigration.

There are other points of the Smith presentation and its description of the Secure Borders FIRST Act that I find need tweaking, but those points are for another day.

By the way, once the Border is secured by electronic and physical fencing, a beefed up enforcement mechanism is in place against employers who hire illegals, and a “Marshall Plan” is put in place to return illegal aliens to their country of origin, the US should streamline legal immigration and increase the number of “legal immigrants” who can enter on an annual basis.  Many legal immigrants are the “Ruths” of today; and the Ruth of yesterday was part of the ancestral line that produced Jesus of Nazareth.