To the Editor:

Not that it ever ends but the political season is in full bloom as candidates of all stripes do their finest impressions of people pretending to have our best interests at heart. One of the main topic’s of this cycle concerns our broken immigration system and the need for immigration reform. Maybe I’m not fully comprehending the problem but is the system broken or merely unenforced? Politicians seem fond of claiming the system is broken which kind of relieves them from the responsibility of enforcing existing laws. I know if I were a candidate and had the choice of stating “the system is broken” or “I’ve been derelict in my duty to uphold the laws of this nation” it wouldn’t be hard to figure out which way I would go. I’m certainly no legal scholar but I’m guessing we have laws on the books that essentially state that it is unlawful to enter or be in the United States illegally. If we do reform our immigration laws won’t they essentially state that it is unlawful to enter or be in the United States illegally? And if our elected officials are unwilling to enforce existing laws, what gives anyone confidence that these same people will magically enforce future laws?

Once the new laws are written and we know conclusively that it is unlawful to enter or be in the United States illegally, we still have the problem of what to do with those that are already here. I know all of the candidates are concerned, or at least are pretending to be concerned with the dilemma of having millions of (pick your favorite descriptive phrase) illegal aliens, undocumented workers, asylum seekers here in our country. I’m not knowledgeable enough to come up with a good solution, but if I did, like a good politician I would have to evolve and change it in two weeks due to political pressure from some special interest group. The presence or absence of those millions should be determined solely by what best benefits the general population, but something tells me it will be determined by what best benefits the individual politicians and their respective party. For those of you looking to assign 51% or more of the blame to one party or the other, good luck as both share equal responsibility and culpability.

I do try and remain positive and believe there are stalwarts of the Republic on both sides of the aisle that would like to fix our broken immigration system. This is very important to them so that they can move on to the next issue which is “our broken education system” If they work together for the common good I’m confident these concerned individuals could solve these problems in a hurry. If not, I guess they can always claim that “Washington is broken”. You know… I’m beginning to see a pattern.

Jimmy Wike

Mesquite