This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE    5/25/06

           What would you do about the illegal immigration problem?

           We find a sharp division of opinion not only around the nation, but also in the Congress itself.

I’ve talked to people who say….Let’s deport all of them….they’ve broken our law and now expect us to make their lawless acts legal.

Others are more sympathetic and feel that some sort of legality should be available at least to those who may have been here for a certain period of time.

Congress is struggling with the issue.

The House wants them all to be deemed here illegally and be subject to either a jail term for committing a felony or at least deported back to Mexico.

The Senate is also somewhat divided…..some want a measure of legality available to most of the latinos….but draw the line at such programs as the guest worker program, feeling that’s only another term for amnesty.

The President has outlined how he feels.   In his view there would be some means of identifying those latinos in our midst who have been working, paying taxes and desire citizenship.   He strongly promotes a guest worker program that would enable as many as 250,000 migrants to enter the country, work for a certain period of time an d then return to Mexico.

All agree on one thing…..first...securing the border against continued illegals.   The President took the initiative to allocate 6,000 National Guards to the border to serve while 6,000 additional border guards are trained.  They would do such jobs as build fences, report the illegals they see...and take care of other menial jobs that border guards now have to do.

So what would you do if you had to make the decision?

A few weeks ago my recommendation was that a period should be set aside for those illegals to register….giving their name, address, number of people in their family and their ages...where they work an d other facts.

They would have to prove when they actually came here.

           Those who fail to register would, when discovered, be jailed and then  be deported.

           Such action would at least give us an accurate account of how many are here….where they live...an d where they work.  Now, it’s purely guesswork as to how many are illegally in this country.

Those that register would receive a forgery free green card unless they have a criminal record. 

Those that have been here for a certain length of time….say five years….would be offered an opportunity to apply for citizenship over a five or six year period….providing they can speak English….have a working knowledge of our Constitution and know something of our national history.

I also feel that a guest worker program  could be worked out that permits crime-free individuals to work in this country for a limited time...say two years….and then return home.  It would be a closely monitored program and those would abuse it would be sought out, jailed and then returned home.

That’s my view…...what’s yours?

The debate will rage for some time….and I plan to get my views to my Congressmen…...I hope you will do the same…..whether it agrees with mine or not.   The problem is one that threaten s the fabric of our nation’s future.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.