Why we need to seal our borders

Nearly 50 years ago, in a class entitled, "Major Countries of Latin America," George Blankston, a political science professor at Northwestern University, astutely described the ambivalence shared by Mexico and the United States regarding illegal aliens.

He said that both nations generally "looked the other way" whenever immigrants entered this country illegally. The unwritten policy was, let the "illegals" in and they will work cheap while learning a job skill they can take back to Mexico to help bolster that nation's economy. At the same time, our economy benefited from cheap labor.

Somewhere along the line, however, undocumented workers stopped going "home". Life was better here, even under the most adverse conditions. Consequently, millions of U.S. citizens are incensed that these millions of undocumented workers are here illegally and have avoided the "naturalization process" that they or their ancestors went through.

However, like the rest of us, the overwhelming majority of undocumented workers have made positive contributions to the American Experience and deserve a process that allows them to gradually achieve citizenship. Even so, citizenship must remain an "earned privilege," not a "gimme."

Consequently, members of the U.S. Congress, should act in the best interests of the country on this matter rather than force states like Arizona to take action. To say America has enough problems in the world today is an understatement. To rationalize this dilemma as a reason for not effectively addressing the immigration issue, which is resolvable, is a tragedy.

Equally important, we need to effectively shut down our borders. This problem goes beyond preventing individuals from seeking a better life. Tougher border measures are vital because of terrorist threats and the drug trade.

Dean Dranias

Aurora