I WANT TO LIVE IN AMERICKA! OLE!

The title, you may recall, is from a song in "West Side Story." With joy and enthusiasm, the young Puerto Rican's expressed not just their desire to become "American," but it also outlined some of the reasons you may not want to be- come an "American."

Today, we are having a national dialogue about people coming into this country without standing in line. I'm not even sure why this is called an "immigration" issue when they are here illegally and "immigration" implies that these foreigners are following some prescribed route to becoming a citizen. They are not; they are illegal.

So, what's the answer? I don't know, I'm not clever enough to understand all the political implications or even how you would return illegals to their native country, but I do know that this is a problem and we need to resort to the law as it is now written. If we are going to continue to grant amnesty to those now in the country, why don't we just let the gates down and let everyone come in. "Give us your poor, your huddled masses!" Isn't that our slogan? Why should anyone be turned away even though they may still pledge their loyalty to their foreign government or seek to retain their national language and not English? What's next? Maybe these new "Americans" will decide they don't have to follow our Constitution or Bill of Rights? Why should they? They didn't have make the same effort and dedication like most naturalized citizens of the 19th and 20th Century.

Please understand I have no problem with foreigners applying for citizenship and declaring that this is the country they want to live in. I think we can afford to be generous and welcome these new immigrants into our communities with open arms. My minister has reminded us that Jesus wouldn't have punished people who want to live here and that is true, but I'm not sure Jesus wouldn't have felt it was fair that these people who are in this country illegally comply with the very light requirement of going home and filling out the appropriate paperwork. Heck, the government could even follow them and help them complete whatever forms are necessary. 1)We need this information to be able to provide the infrastructure to absorb new immigrants and 2) we need to ascertain that these prospective Americans want to follow the law of this country and declare their loyalty to it.

Again, if we declare a general amnesty once again and not take steps to prevent further illegals coming to this country, we are making a mockery of the privilege it is to be an American.