Immigration Reform is Simple: Enforce Existing Laws The American Legion's Position on Illegal Immigration By Paul A. Morin The United States Senate spoke loud and clear for the American people - this issue is too important to create new laws while ignoring existing laws. The American Legion, most Americans, and the majority of legal immigrants oppose any measures that sanction or condone coming to this country in any manner other than as stipulated by existing law, whether disguised as "undocumented workers" or "guest-worker programs" or any other wordsmithing that is synonymous with amnesty. Americans understand the meaning of "immigration," but the adjectives "legal" and "illegal" seem to be deliberately ignored by some. The American Legion's official position is simple: enforcement, enforcement, and enforcement. Assimilation into American society by legal immigrants is important to the nation's welfare; however, the failure to properly enforce existing immigration laws divides the nation and manifests both serious racial and cultural turmoil. The message to Capitol Hill is clear: Oppose any great influx of legal immigrants and support immigration quotas set on a moderate and regulated scale in numbers that enable the immigrants to be readily absorbed into the culture and life stream of the U.S. Call for a strong and ceremonially rich citizenship naturalization process. Remain steadfast in the belief that all legal immigrants seeking citizenship should possess a level of proficiency with the English language and an understanding of American history and government. Advocate that a naturalization ceremony should be mandatory and conducted in the English language and in a U.S. District Court. Support legislation that allows legal immigrants who are U.S. military veterans, with less than three years of active-duty service, to seek naturalization if they are injured or their injuries were aggravated while on active-duty with the U.S. Armed Forces, resulting in a discharge under honorable conditions. Before enacting new laws that legalize illegal conduct, try enforcing existing laws. (Paul A. Morin is national commander of the 2.7 million-member American Legion, the nation's largest veterans organization. The American Legion Illegal Immigration strategy paper can be viewed at www.legion.org/documents/pdf/immigrationpaper_0507.pdf)

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