The Doggy Diaries... gone to the dogs!

OpEd on the Real ID Act

Courtesy of the Billings Gazette (Billings, MT) comes the following opinion column authored by Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT).

Guest opinion: New law will help curb illegal immigration
By DENNY REHBERG
U.S. Representative

The good news is, since 9/11, federal officials have rightly beefed up security at our airports. The bad news is illegal immigrants continue to find an opportunity along our porous borders - so much so, that those entering the United States illegally this year will out-pace lawfully-entering immigrants three-to-one.

"No one knows how many illegals are living in the U.S., but estimates run as high as 15 million," Time Magazine recently reported, adding, "the number of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. this year will total 3 million."

Affront to legal immigrants

Counting conservatively, that's more than triple the population of Montana. It's troubling when you consider that an estimated 250,000 of those who will wash in with this year's wave of illegal aliens will come from countries other than Mexico, including many from nations hostile to the United States. They slip in on foot, or in cars or trucks, over rural roads, in avoidance of airport terminals.

Why does this matter? To begin with, what they're doing is unlawful, an affront to those who come here legally. All the while, it's the honest residents of this country who must pay the tab rung up by illegals, who compete for wages while paying no income taxes. Or consider the counting of illegal immigrants by the Census Department, which produced inflated census figures in states like California, costing Montana billions of dollars in federal revenue. Illegals also strain local emergency services, putting a burden on rural hospitals that are strapped for funds, and crowding county jails.

A recent police raid in Washington state produced piles of cash, computer equipment, and special paper stock used to forge hundreds of birth certificates, driver's licenses, Social Security cards, and even work permits. How are small businessmen supposed to survive against competitors that employ illegal aliens? Should honest taxpayers be asked to continue subsidizing those who skip taxes at an annual cost to the U.S. treasury of more than $45 billion?

Montana-Canada border

The international border shared by Montana's 11 northernmost counties add up to nearly 500 miles of mostly wide-open territory, too large to patrol with conventional means. Montanans have a right to be concerned about the potential harm illegals bring to our communities, economy and national security.

It was out of that concern that Congress and President Bush convened an independent, bi-partisan "9/11 Commission" to study the security lapses leading up to 9/11. In its final report issued late last year, the panel stressed the need for the U.S. to control the movement of foreign nationals in and out of country. Their report added that "sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists."

Incredibly, the 19 terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 had accumulated a total of 63 driver's licenses, which also allowed the terrorists to open bank accounts, obtain other official documents, and board airplanes.

Turns out 11 states issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Shouldn't states be compelled to require proof of citizenship before issuing a driver's license, registering voters, and handing out welfare checks?

I sure think so; and so did the 9/11 Commission, which recommended the government "set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver's licenses."

Fortunately, Congress recently approved legislation to fix some of the problems, requiring state governments to bolster standards for the security and integrity of driver's licenses, reforming the asylum process, and providing for the deployment of 1,500 new border patrol agents.

However, let me just add that I will never support any scheme that would create a new national identification card. Preserving the individual liberties of our own lawful citizens must come first.

Yet, it is with those liberties in mind that I intend to work with my colleagues, over the next several months, on additional common-sense legislation to fortify our borders and crack down on illegal immigration. We simply cannot rest or do enough until our borders are secure and the tide of illegals is turned back. Americans, and those who immigrate here legally, deserve nothing less.

Denny Rehberg of Billings is Montana's sole representative in the House.