February 19

Editorial about immigration entirely wrong

Letter to the Editor

The recent Washington Post editorial "GOP immigration 'compromise' plan is really no plan at all" (Feb. 9) is entirely wrong.

The editorial says that illegal aliens are here to stay. This is simply not true. If we adopted a policy of mandating that employers use electronic verification to prove that their employees are here legally, penalizing those who employ illegal aliens and enforcing our laws, the rest of the illegal aliens would self-deport rapidly. It is called "attrition through enforcement."

The editorial also says that the only possible issue about which compromise is possible is how long it will take illegal aliens to get citizenship. I would think that even allowing those who came here in violation of our laws to stay would be a huge concession.

I've also heard it said that the economy needs illegal aliens. Given the large number of unemployed and the larger number of those who have given up seeking employment, this is ridiculous. Far from being an economic stimulus, these aliens are taking most of the new jobs being created in our economy, leaving America citizens unemployed.

The editorial also states that Republicans will alienate Latinos if they do not support legalization and full citizenship, and that their only reservations come from fear of the word "amnesty."

Nonsense. Nothing in history or polling indicates that immigration reform is a particularly important issue for most Latino citizens, or that the GOP's position on amnesty would affect a significant number of Latino votes. And the GOP certainly has reason to fear a policy that likely would increase future immigration in an underemployed, overpopulated country, particularly the immigration of a group almost guaranteed to be overwhelmingly Democratic.

I hope that future editorials about immigration will be more sensible.

Michael J. Jose

Augusta

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