To: President George W. Bush,
Senator Saxby Chambliss,
Senator Johnny Isakson,
Congressman John Linder,
Governor Sonny Perdue,
State Senator David Shafer,
Representative Brooks Coleman,

Hard Work. Family. Faith. These are the values of the Republican Party. They are
also the values of a vast majority of the people who seek to enter this country
illegally. They are religious people who are desperate for an economic
opportunity to earn money to provide for their families.

That is why the current debate in the US Congress over illegal immigration is so
wrong. These immigrants are risking their lives to enter this country illegally.
Many of them die in the process. They are not here for the purpose of breaking
the law. They break the law because it is the only way they can provide for their
families. They are willing to die to protect their families, and I cannot fault
or condemn them for that.

Being a member of the Republican Party, I’ve heard the opposing arguments.
Amnesty is wrong because it promotes illegal behavior. By being here illegally
they aren’t paying taxes while they are using our social services. Illegal
immigrants are a national security problem. Let me take a moment to address these
issues.

Regarding Amnesty, I agree it is a bad idea. We are a nation governed by the rule
of law, and as such we shouldn’t encourage illegal behavior. But we also have a
cultural tradition of illegal behavior. Rosa Parks broke the law when she sat in
the front of the bus. Rosa Parks is also a national hero. She broke an unjust law
and broke the back of an institution of discrimination and prejudice in this
country. When many people are breaking the law, we should look at the validity of
that law.

I’d like to dispute the allegation that illegal’s don’t pay taxes to support the
social services they use. There are three major forms of taxation in this
country: Income, Sales and Property taxes. I argue that illegals pay two of the
three taxes. Just because they are here illegally doesn’t mean that they don’t
need to eat or buy clothing. Likewise, illegal immigrants have to live somewhere.
While they are not homeowners who pay property taxes directly, they are tenants
to whom the landlord passes along the property tax in the form of rent.

I accept that a good portion of their earnings are sent back home, but some of it
is spent here and is taxed here. The portion spent here increases in
proportionally to the number of family members who reside in the US. An illegal
who has their children in this country will spend much more and thus pay into the
educational system more.

Finally, it is a national security problem not knowing who is entering this
country. However, don’t think that by building a wall you’ll keep Al’Qaeda out.
You might reduce the number of people entering the country illegally but you
won’t stop it. Economics dictate where there is a demand for a product, someone
will find a way to supply it. If you make it harder to enter the country, then
people will be forced to pay more to the “coyotes” to get them in. This means we
will see more news stories about families kept as slaves to work off their
“debts”. It will also do nothing to make us more secure. As we saw on September
11th, Al’Qaeda has resources. They can pay the “coyotes” to get them past the
kinks in our armor. All the wall will do is make it harder for us to track
illegals and Al’Qaeda entering this country.

Through out our nations history we have had waves of immigrants and an
accompanying backlash against them. The Irish, Italians and Chinese have all come
to our shores looking for a better life. Each time these ethnic groups have
assimilated into the American way of life, and each time our culture has grown.
Every time we have closed our borders to those seeking refuge we have condemned
millions to death and depravation. Recall that we turned back several boatloads
of Jews fleeing persecution in the late 1930s.

The process of getting a work permit and entering this country is a difficult and
time-consuming process. A father wi
th a newborn can’t wait years for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn while their
infant goes hungry.

The solution to the taxation and national security issues is simple:

  • Reform the immigration process so it is easier to enter this country legally
    and get a work permit. People will naturally follow the path of least resistance.
  • After you reduce the demand to enter the country illegally can you build a
    wall to keep out Al’Qaeda. With people able to enter the country legally, the
    coyotes will be out of business. It will be much harder for Al’Qaeda to penetrate
    our southern border.
  • With our immigration process reformed, all those people who are currently in
    this country illegally can return home and apply for residence and a work permit.
    No need for Amnesty, they can follow the same legal process as everyone else.
  • Finally, we need to reduce the demand for legal immigration too. To do this
    we must continue to encourage other countries to adopt market reforms that will
    spur economic growth. A fair and independent judiciary and a formal system of
    property rights are just two major steps that the US has mastered that we can
    export to the developing world.

Ronald Reagan described the United States as the shining city on a hill. Yet our
party wants to tell the world: “This is our city, not yours. Keep Out!”. We need
to place our light of prosperity so that it illuminates the world, not hide it
under a bushel. We need to open our city and let the downtrodden come and learn
from us so they can eventually return home and build a shining city on their
hill.

That is what a charitable nation would do; it is what a Christian nation would
do, and it is what I expect our elected representatives to do.

Your Loyal Constituent,
Chris Farris

PS. If doing the right thing is not enough motivation to rethink our party’s
disastrous course regarding immigration, consider the following: The majority of
the illegal immigration is from Hispanic nations. Hispanics are also the largest
growing demographic in this country. We can either repeat the mistakes of our
segregationist past or we can embrace this religious, family centric minority
group and strengthen our majority. Do not think the vocal minority of xenophobes
speak for the grassroots of this party. They do not. The majority of this party
are looking for principled leadership, not petty distractions. We look to you to
do the _right_ thing, not the politically expedient thing.