According to Businessweek, Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who admitted he is an illegal immigrant said: "We're not who you think we are and immigration is not who you think it is".
So just who are illegal immigrants and just what is immigration?
In an article in the New York Times Magazine, Mr. Vargas, who is originally from the Philippines, which is among the most corrupt nations in the world, gives us a candid insight into the lives of illegal aliens.
As Mr. Vargas so vividly describes, illegal aliens are people who build their lives on fraud and deception. They are people who lie each and every day and then expect Americans to adjust to them and to their demands. They are people who may feel bad about using the stolen identities of American children and literally destroying their futures, but they do it anyway because that is the only way they can make a better life for themselves and their families.
Illegal aliens commit criminal misdemeanors when they sneak into the United States. They teach their children to lie in order to hide their illegal status. They quickly graduate to felonies. They may use fraudulently obtained passports with fabricated visas. They illegally obtain Social Security cards. They criminally alter and forge documents. They perjure themselves on I-9 forms and obtain driver's licenses through deception. They recruit their friends to help them further their life of lies and deception and they put their employers in the position of knowingly hiring and harboring illegal aliens.
Illegal aliens even put national security at risk because, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Waldemar Rodriguez, "Document fraud is a national security and public safety concern because the true identity and purpose of those who hold counterfeit and fraudulently obtained identity documents is unknown". In fact, the 9/11 hijackers used fraudulently obtained documents to facilitate their crimes just as Mr. Vargas used a fraudulently obtained Social Security number to pass a Secret Service check for entry into the White House.
So, we do know who illegal aliens are and Mr. Vargas' own description of them confirms it. They are people who lie and cheat, who expect to be exempt from the consequences of their bad decisions, who commit multiple felonies that destroy the futures of American children and then expect to be granted special treatment — including amnesty from their crimes — while leaving millions of Americans whom they have victimized holding the bag.
And he is also wrong when he says that we don't understand what "immigration" is. We know exactly what legal immigration is and we are not confused by disingenuous efforts to combine both legal and illegal immigration under the term "immigration".
Legal immigration is honest people in foreign countries honoring and respecting the immigration laws of the United States even though it means long waits and living in extremely difficult situations. Illegal immigration is dishonest people violating America's immigration laws by sneaking into the United States like thieves in the night or by lying to our consular and immigration officials in order to get into the United States legally and then remaining illegally.
Legal immigration is people exchanging a culture of corruption for a culture that honors the rule of law. Illegal immigration is people bringing the culture of corruption of their home countries with them. It is contributing to a weakening of the rule-of-law in the United States and to a crisis of character.
Legal immigration is people coming lawfully to the United States, being self-reliant, and sacrificing to make better lives for themselves and their children while contributing to making a better America. Illegal immigration is people making a better life for themselves and their children by lying, cheating, and destroying the lives of innocent American children for their own selfish purposes.
Legal immigration is people who would never selfishly ask friends and relatives to help them fraudulently obtain documents required to live and work in the United States or ask employers to turn a blind-eye to their criminal activity. Illegal immigration is people who ask employers, elected officials, public servants, religious leaders, and law enforcement officers to ignore publicly admitted violations of American law and to reward those who carry out illegal acts while leaving victims to fend for themselves.
Legal immigration is people who accept personal responsibility and do not blame others for difficulties they face because of the bad choices that they and others made. Illegal immigration is people blaming others for the bad choices that they and their parents made and then demanding that they be granted special privileges not available to legal immigrants or American citizens, including total amnesty from serious felonies.
So, Mr. Vargas is wrong on both counts. Illegal immigrants are exactly who we think they are and illegal immigration is exactly what we think it is.
Topics: Illegal Immigration