The immigrants who live in the United States illegally, by and large, work hard, pay taxes, obey the law and have families just like yours and mine. At least in the same percentage as the general population.
They want nothing more than to be here legally. So their children can go to college and join in the benefits of the American Dream.
They do the jobs that no one else want, at wages lower than the going rate, because they are unprotected by the law. They live outside the safety net.
And that does no one any good. Frightened illegals drive without licenses, making an accident more likely. They avoid hospitals, making the spread of illness more likely.
But they take no jobs away from their American counterparts. No one wants to do the work they do; cleaning and carrying and washing. And certainly, not at the wages they are willing to take.
Obama's election was their hope for a better deal. And today he came up with his plan.
Send them back to their own countries to get in line behind the more patient.
This is a great disappointment. And wildly impractical. Good for the airlines. Twelve million people picking up and going south of the border to stand in line? I don't think so. Where would they get the money? How would it disrupt families? Children?
Give them a chance to apply while they are still here. So many of them already have and been faced with the Kafkaesque process that requires money and a knowledge of forms and law beyond the reach of even college graduate. And even when completed, there has been consistent policy that claims the forms are lost or incorrectly filled out, that greets their efforts.
These people have suffered enough. Let's share the American Dream we have been so privileged to experience. After all, how far back to most of us have to look to find the immigrant in our own histories?
Obama, step up. Your father made the crossing. You wouldn't have wanted to travel back home with him to Kenya and get in line. Or to have waited (since you were born here) for years, for him to reach the front of it.
The children, especially, will be hurt by this policy. Whether born in the US or out of it, they will have to live with ruptured families, and the ensuing financial hardships and emotional effects this misguided idea will make inevitable. This policy is just pandering to the worst instincts of a fringe of racist xenophobics. Say no to them and yes to the millions of "almost Americans" in our midst.
We can do better than this.