 We read about the citizenship rights and privileges granted to citizens of
ancient Rome; no matter where they were in that known world a Roman citizen
maintained his or her rights under the Roman law. They were protected and
revered; they had status because of their association with their country
even if they traveled outside of their local area. Roman garrisons were
established throughout the entire world to ensure those rights of Roman
citizens.
In the United States of America under the Declaration of Independence and
The Constitution of the United States there are expressed in such terms as,
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Then under the
Constitution the Amendments grant rights to the citizens as Constitutional
Laws which ensure those rights not be infringed. Of course it should go
without saying that those rights bestowed by the laws of our land are
extended to the citizens of our country. However, there are some lawmakers
who wish to make policies that would infringe on the citizens of the United
States by abridging those rights under the Constitution.
Earlier in the month the House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to the
Peter G. Peterson Foundation annual economic summit in Washington, D.C.
stated, “As a country, we cannot, let me say, we cannot prohibit a path to
citizenship.” The House Minority Leader was talking about those who have
entered the United States illegally and remain in the country illegally. She
continued, “I don’t think we as a country want to be a country that says,
‘You can do our work, but you can’t have the rights of a citizen in our
country.’” Her sentiment was, “It’s more about who we are as a nation.”
To the House Minority Leader immigration reform seems to represent a change
in the Constitution of our country. She seems to espouse a reasoning that if
a person decides to illegally, through the cloak of stealth, darkness and
misadventure plan an illegal entry across the borders of the United States,
begin to work in the country without proper papers and remain in the country
illegally, that should be a ticket to citizenship because in her words it is
unfair to let people illegally enter the country, work in the country and
then deny them all the rights of citizenship. Again, “You can do our work,
but you can’t have the rights of a citizen in our country?”
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 On the surface of the statements the House
Minority Leader made it almost seems fair and humanitarian. But when
those statements are examined within the context of the conditions
in which she speaks them and the ramifications of the negative
effect the outcome of her policies would have, it becomes clear she
is not thinking from the perspective of protection of the citizens
who legally reside in America. Of course people from all over the
world want to come to America. Many world leaders and many peoples
in the world castigate America for many reasons. Nevertheless,
millions try to do everything in their power to leave those
castigating countries and make their way to America. With the laws
already in place for legal immigration people from all over the
world have achieved their dream to arrive on the shores of America
and build the American Dream for themselves and their families.
Neither our laws nor our people deny those who follow the laws of
the land in their attempt to enter legally.
For the life of me, I cannot understand the beating cry of the
liberal persuasion that insists that even those who enter the
country through a porous border made that way by a tepid enforcement
policy from the federal government should have all the rights and
privileges of citizenship bestowed on those who break the law coming
in, break the law with less than legal papers to find jobs and break
the law by remaining in the country illegally. That disservice
extends not only to the United States citizens who are born in this
country and have citizenship rights under the Constitution, but it
does a disservice to those who are waiting in line who have come
legally and are moving through the process of becoming citizens
legally. Further, it does a disservice to all those throughout the
world who have a dream of someday being able to migrate legally to
the United States to follow that dream of freedom.
Most importantly, however, the liberal persuasion of lawmakers like
the House Minority Leader does a disservice to the actual
Constitutional form of government established in the United States.
In order to bend the laws or refute them in favor of circumventing
them to include those who are lawbreakers from the very beginning of
their entry into the country, seems to negate the power and
effectiveness of the Constitution by opening the borders to all who
would enter with motives other than gaining their freedom to live in
a country established on freedom.
If the House Minority Leader insists on wanting to extend the rights
of citizenship to those who have broken the laws of the land and
continue to break the laws of the land, perhaps her position of
being a lawmaker in this land should be questioned.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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