Senators Allen and Warner on illegal Immigration

The divide in the debate on illegal immigration is embodied in the two Senators from Virginia. George Allen in his first term in the Senate sees the issue as one of legal principle while John Warner, who has been in the Senate for 27 years, is interested only in the politics of the issue.

U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., a potential presidential candidate in 2008, is against legalizing unauthorized immigrants.

"Ultimately, I think they're going to have to go back to their country and reapply," he said last month.

U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., has said Allen's approach would harm businesses.

Warner is firmly entrenched in the group of Senate fossils who value the process over principle. Senators both Democrat and Republican are more concerned about buying the Hispanic vote than serving the citizens they supposedly represent. Allen on the other hand is facing reelection or as some speculate, the nomination to run for president. Like the House, all of whom are facing reelection this year, Allen knows the citizens want the law upheld. In the past he has not taken the issue as seriously as he does now, but neither has anyone else in Congress. The difference is Warner and his ilk will never understand the issue because they value the process of making law more than the law they make. They give names to bills that sound like what people want but accomplish very little or make matters worse. Take campaign finance reform for example. It has not effected the flow of money to campaigns, only changed the direction it flows from. Neither has it simplified campaign finance, if anything it has made it more complicated. All the hand wringing over the failure of the Senate to pass its immigration reform has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the legislation as much as the desire to pat themselves on the back for getting something passed.

The upcoming election is crucial to the future of our nation. Illegal immigration has become an effort to colonize the US. If any reform is needed it is with the Mexican economy. Unfortunately the trend toward extreme leftist governments in South and Central America bodes ill for the election in Mexico. If we can't secure our border soon, a greater flood of economic refugees will come north to escape the economic morass that will be a more socialist Mexico.