Illegal Immigration

Tomorrow illegal immigrants and their supporters from across the nation are planning to boycott businesses, schools and work places in order to show congress and the rest of us how important they are to our economy. The are planning to march en masse to prove their solidarity and to demand their rights to be citizens of this country. If the protests of the past couple weeks are any indication, many of these illegal immigrants will be marching under the Mexican flag.

I'm sorry, but am I the only person who has a problem with this? I would have a lot more sympathy if they marched through the streets of town with banners proclaiming: "We love America. Please don't make us leave." Or, "We want to be Americans, too." Shouldn't they be begging to stay instead of demanding their "rights"?

And, by the way, didn't they come here so they could work and go to school and pursue the American dream? So why would they leave their employment, walk out of schools and refuse to shop? Seems to me they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

And marching under the Mexican flag? That bothers me most. They want all the benefits of being an American while proclaiming themselves to be Mexicans?

There may be 12 million of them, but there are far more of "us": people who love America and have pledged our allegiance to America and choose to obey its laws. Many people have chosen to make this their home and applied for citizenship legally. They worked hard to learn our language and culture and history. My great-grandparents came to this country from Poland (Austria-Hungary). They were immigrants. Legal ones. Is it too much to ask that those who want to be a part of this country obey its laws even before they are granted citizenship? If they don't, and if we don't require them to, I fear we weaken our country and America will begin to lose what makes it great in the first place.

I am prepared to go shopping tomorrow. I'm heading to the mall to buy something... anything. I want retailers to know that it is the American people who fuel our economy. I want our congressmen and women to know that, too. Illegal immigrants may contribute, but we don't make our policy and laws to give protections and freedoms and privileges to those who are breaking our laws. Or at least we shouldn't.

Whatever happens tomorrow, I hope it will wake Americans up to the preciousness of this country and cause us to stand together to maintain our laws and ideals. And I hope more than a few of the marchers will realize the privileges they are enjoying are ones others have given their lives for... and that they will be moved to become citizens legally.