Letters To The Editor: In Response

By Lou Sansevero Ferron

Editor,
While I respect Ms. Hanson’s opinion and her right to have an opinion I feel I must point out some inaccuracies in her statements. The people she is talking about and against whom illegal, immoral, and draconian actions were taken were U.S. citizens or persons who had immigrated to the U.S. under the immigration laws that existed and whose only “crime” was practicing an unpopular religion. Moreover, the Extermination Order was issued specifically against Mormons not immigrants.
The people who are affected by the “Missouri Solution”, and by the current call by the majority of Americans to have our immigration laws enforced, have entered the United States illegally. In simple terms they are criminals by the very definition of the term criminal.
The United States is a sovereign nation entitled to control immigration into it; crossing the border without authorization is a crime. The statute reads: ‘Any alien who enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers…shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 (of the U.S. Code) or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.’
My ancestors, like millions of other legal immigrants who built this nation, including those described by Ms. Hanson, came to this country legally…they were forbidden by law from being on the public dole, they learned English, they were net contributors to their new country not net detractors. In short they complied fully with the immigration laws as they existed at the time of their immigration. The people today described as “illegal aliens” deserve no more consideration than does the burglar in the night or the armed robber on the street.
Let me make this point clear…I, as I am sure do the majority of Americans, welcome all legal immigrants; their cultures, their hard work, their innovations, their respect of our laws, and their contributions are what made this nation great. Those who are here illegally are just plain criminals and should not be afforded the rights of citizens nor the privileges and benefits extended to those here legally but are deserving only of the punishment afforded to any other common criminal.
Contrary to what bleeding heart liberals, left-wing, one world proponents and opponents of enforcement of immigration law would have you believe, illegal entry into the United States is not a “victimless crime”. At the least, in Utah, these illegal aliens cost the taxpayers approximately $450 million a year while only marginally contributing to the overall economy of Utah. Many of those here illegally resort to identity theft to acquire social security cards in order to receive employment and then, using these stolen social security numbers, compound their criminality by various additional criminal acts such as obtaining credit using that social security number thus endangering the legitimate social security account holder’s financial well being.
A common ploy employed by the liberal left and those opposed to enforcement of our immigration laws is to hurl charges of racism or xenophobia in response to any call for secure borders or enforcement in an attempt to muddy the waters and confuse the issue.
The truth is that the focus today is on Hispanic illegal aliens (or as Ms. Hanson describes them “brown skinned with Spanish accents”) only because that group makes up the vast majority of illegal aliens with an estimated (by the government’s count) 12-14 million of them in the United States and not because of their race nor the color of their skin as Ms. Hanson implies. If there were that many illegal Irish immigrants with brogues in this country the focus would be on illegal Irish immigrants with brogues.
The discussion is, in fact, national origin, color, and language blind since our current immigration laws apply neutrally to all nationalities and is wholly concerned with individuals who are in this country illegally.
Let me pose this question; If society can selectively choose not to enforce a law against one class of criminals how can that society then claim the moral authority to enforce any law against any other class of criminal?
In closing let me say that no rational person would seriously suggest that a solution to the illegal alien problem would be to “exterminate anyone with brown skin or a Spanish accent” and that there is nothing in either my letter to the editor nor what Missouri enacted that could be construed, by even the wildest stretch of the imagination, to suggest such a hideous and revolting idea.
Ms. Hanson’s associating of today’s Missourians’ solution to the illegal alien problem with the horrific actions of anti-Mormon Missourians of some 160 years ago is as offensive to me as someone associating Mormons of today with the horrific actions of the Mormons who committed the Mountain Meadows massacre.
I hope Ms. Hanson will continue to participate in the discussion of issues important to our community as such participation is vital to a free people remaining free.