OPINION:
The politically correct object to the use of the term “illegal immigrant.” They are correct. Those who are in the United States illegally are not immigrants at all and should never be thought of as such. When you think about it, they are really thieves. They have stolen something intangible but very valuable: the chance to live in the United States. If we ever decided to auction off this great privilege to the highest bidder, I think it could easily be sold for $100,000 per person.
By viewing illegal aliens as thieves and not as immigrants, the issue of amnesty becomes much clearer. Charging those in this country illegally a $2,000 fine but allowing them to stay is like allowing someone who has stolen $100,000 from a bank to keep the money and just paying a $2,000 fine.
If a parent steals this sum for himself and another $100,000 for his child, would we allow the child to keep the $100,000 stolen for him by his parent because the child did not commit the crime of theft himself? Of course not. Yet this is exactly what some propose to do. Why would we ever agree to reward thieves by allowing them to keep what they have stolen? Charging them $2,000 is in no way comparable in value to what they have taken.
The kind of people who should be granted the right to live here and have a path to citizenship are the kind of people who would never think of stealing something of great value and then demanding to keep it. Justice is not done until thieves are forced to disgorge what they have taken. This could be accomplished with no profiling of any kind by simply forcing every employer in the United States to fire any employee caught using a fake Social Security card. This would free up 8 million jobs for Americans, 23 million of whom are unemployed, underemployed or have dropped out of the work force. Why do illegal aliens have jobs in the United States when so many Americans are out of work?
DOUG WILKERSON
Hanahan, S.C.
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