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CLEAR Act Can Be Beneficial or Disastrous
The CLEAR Act (Clear Law Enforcement for criminal Alien Removal), sponsored by Congressman Charlie Norwood of Georgia, has been hotly debated since its inception in 2003. This law, if passed, would give local law enforcement the authority to enforce Federal laws by arresting illegal aliens that they may encounter in the performance of their official duties. While researching this piece of legislation, it became clear that there was an even divide as to how various groups stood on the issue. While both sides have some valid points about their opinions on this issue, the reason for Norwood's legislation being introduced is based on legitimate concerns that truly affect us all. Norwood's solution, even if passed into law, would not completely eliminate the situation concerning the number of illegal immigrants in our country. These numbers continue to rise steadily and if left unchecked will certainly cause severe stress on an infrastructure that already seems fragile at times. We are faced with a difficult situation.
On one hand, we must be careful about perceived messages that we might send to the rest of the world, which could be interpreted as a closed border mentality. While there are those who truly do believe that we should seal our borders completely, without exception, this philosophy is not of the majority. The majority of Americans do not seem to oppose an open arms policy, within reason. This has always been the standard for our country. Without rehashing a point that cannot be refuted, most of us came from somewhere else. The sentiment that I have heard that deals with security issues is that people feel that if we do not monitor our borders and have more of a checks and balances, in place concerning our immigration policies, that we will be setting ourselves up for another September 11th. There has been much said about the security improvements that we have seen since September 11th. If you have traveled since then, it should be obvious to you that things have changed as to the way that we are handling our security at the airports. Furthermore, the communication gap and lack of information sharing among our law enforcement agencies has undoubtedly improved. But, the fact remains that is still relatively easy for a person to enter this country, illegally, and to do so unchecked by authorities.
We worry about terrorists entering our country and try to monitor those areas where we think that they may come from. However, our borders to the South (Mexico) and our North (Canada) remain completely porous. How long do you think that it took for terrorist to see how easy migrant workers were slipping across the borders from Mexico? How difficult do you think that it is for terrorists to study travel patterns of narcotics dealers who make regular trips across the borders all around us? The tightening of our illegal immigrant population is not because we no longer desire others coming into our country; it is simply a matter of national security. We can no longer afford to ignore the obvious fact that allowing illegal immigrants to enter our country causes us to be vulnerable to attack. Immigrants, who wish to come to our country, when done in a legal process, should be welcomed just as our forefathers were and "legal" must be the key word.
The Federal government has stated that they do not have the manpower to monitor illegal immigrants who are in our country. If this is true, then we must look at ways to monitor these activities by alternative measures. The CLEAR Act will allow those law enforcement agencies, on a local level; to have the ability to take action against those who fall into the category of illegal immigrants should they be located in this country. Many groups, who cater to the needs of immigrant populations, are concerned that this new law will create an atmosphere of harassment, profiling, and almost a "police state" for immigrants. These concerns should not be taken lightly. The violation of rights to anyone in our country, on the part of the police, should be investigated swiftly. Furthermore, when these complaints are verified, those officers who are responsible for those actions should be prosecuted immediately. While we all should be concerned about our nation's security, security is not achieved by measures that fall below the line of decency, respect for law abiding citizens, and the overall professionalism that must be expected of all law enforcement officers. If this Act is put into place, and becomes a tool of unaccepted police practices, we are no better than the activity that we are trying to prevent.
The CLEAR Act, may not be the cure-all for our nation's problems regarding how we will monitor those persons who enter our country illegally. But, if not this, it must be something. We no longer have a choice.
For further information, visit www.voice4victims.com
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