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Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket
I hear what you are saying. But we were weak in the past about enforcing the rules. How then can we suddenly get all up in arms about the people who got through? Well, how did they get through? Shoddy border security. You can have a tougher presence now and make it harder for people to get in illegally now. However, it's hard to say 'Okay, now that we're paying attention, everyone who we didn't see get in is a felon.' ???
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Yes, we have been weak on this issue but if I rob someone and don't get caught, haven't I still committed a crime? If they find out about it years later, they surely aren't going to say "Well, we were a little lax when you committed the crime so, even though we now know you committed it, you are free to go". A crime was commited and there should be a penalty, even if the person isn't caught immediately.
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Personally, I find someone who floated here on a raft to be pretty courageous. That's moxie. We should include those people who would do that to get here. My friend goes to Harvard. Her family floated here from Cuba when she was 6 or so on a freakin' raft. What are we supposed to say? 'Darling, you didn't fill out the right forms. You must take your raft and go back?' My friend is an undergrad at Harvard now. She's going to be a brilliant professor in biochemistry someday. Her family busts their butts to pay her tuition... They are legally American now, but initially they weren't. But they were so unhappy with their country that they came here to make a change and they did. To me, it's patrotic to say, 'If you would risk your life to be here, then you should be here.'
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You know what? I see the courage in these acts as well, and I am well aware that these aren't necessarily bad people who are doing this. I sympathize with them and were I in the same situation, I very well might take the same course of action. I don't fault them, I fault the mexican government and I fault ours for letting this situation get so out of hand. Still, replace the kind family you mention above with a rapist and tell me it's no big deal that they didn't go through the proper channels (which might have prevented it). Most people that come into this country are good, hard working people. Some are absolutely not though and we have no way of determining whether a person who snuck across the border wants to work, or detonate a dirty bomb at Disneyland. The legal process can determine if someone that wants to move here has a prior record and they can be prevented. Illegally crossing the border means that we have no idea what your background is. That is a major problem.