Alienable rights
By Adam Brand, Staff Writer
“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.” This is an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. Nowhere does it say that these rights apply only to American citizens.
The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act makes a travesty of these high ideals. The bill, which went into effect Nov. 1, is the toughest bill concerning illegal immigrants in the country and it is certainly too tough. If it were not for overly strict guidelines on work visas, illegal immigration would not be such a problem.
Because of economic constraints, citizens of Mexico cross the border to take advantage of the rights Americans have to find a job. Because the number of Mexicans wishing to gain employment exceeds the maximum disbursal of work visas, many resort to living and working in America illegally. These illegal aliens are mostly honest and hardworking human beings who want their children to live a happy life.
A great deal of the bill is obviously designed to fight terrorism. If people want to filter out the terrorists from the immigrants, the filtering should be done in the immigration process, not by persecuting all illegal immigrants and all those who harbor them. More money should be allocated to the Immigration Department and let them handle the problem. There is no need to make criminals out of honest people. The number of immigrant and work visas should be increased. The restricted number of visas granted is creating more problems than it is solving.
The bill makes a mockery of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness apply to all people, not just Americans.
Rep. Randy Terrill hopes to revoke a policy that subsidizes prenatal care for pregnant illegal immigrants, resulting in the insufficient care and delivery of babies while likely increasing the infant mortality rate.
The bill must be revised substantially. Future immigration policies need to be more compassionate with consideration to children and keeping families together.
The deportation of illegal immigrants is turning into a modern day witch-hunt, esteeming them with the same status as vermin in the sewers.
When did we start deciding who deserves freedom and who does not? How is it that we are so zealously creating democracy in Iraq by way of military force but denying the rights of liberty and happiness to other residents of this nation? This bill makes clear that the inalienable rights stated in the Declaration of Independence are in fact alienable.
