intolerance

I've worked with a nice woman who did an excellent job at her work. I saw the fear and panic in her face after she was called into the office. I saw the fax from a family in California with the photo of an elderly woman, asking if this was the Sandra with her social security number at our workplace. This elderly woman, who had her identity stolen by an illegal immigrant who needed to work, suddenly had earned too much money in the last year to keep receiving her government medical insurance and payment for her nursing home. "Sandra" disappeared, and was later seen working at a restaurant in Wake County, most likely using and abusing someone else's social security number.

I do understand and sympathize with people who are so desperate to work that they will do almost anything. But when the desperation crosses the line of the law, then according to many, I become "intolerant". I guess I've seen and heard of so much abuse from people who have no respect for our country and its laws but yet want to benefit from its privileges that I'm one of the few who applaud the state of Arizona for actually trying to do something about the illegal immigration problem. When a drug pusher gets arrested for selling drugs, we don't stop and sympathize with the person because they have children and need to work. We look at the harm they are doing to others and society and hold them accountable for their "job". Why should our stance on illegal immigration, which does greatly impact our society in numerous negative ways, be any different?

I understand our immigration system has a lot of flaws and needs a lot of work. We need to change it, without a doubt. Our education system also needs work, but students who simply drop out of school because it's too much of a hassle and then falsify documents on job applications and college applications are considered to be horrid, delusional people. So why should we treat people who ignore the immigration department and falsify even more important documents as less so?

Go Arizona.