Watching the local and national news plus keeping an eye on the California recall election I am puzzled by the way most of the media tiptoes around the subject of illegal immigration. It seems that both the Republicans and Democrats are afraid to even suggest that the United States government enforce our own laws for fear that the Hispanic electorate will be unhappy. Why is this so? Do the Hispanic citizens of the United States oppose the rule of law? Will the Hispanic voter punish the politician who believes that the United States has the right to keep its borders secure? I think someone needs to get all this out on the table and shine a light so that we can understand what is being said here.

As a citizen of the United States should I be allowed to assume some level of rights and privilege not afforded to non-citizens? Are the rights of national sovereignty to be ignored for every country or just this one? If I went to Mexico illegally and started demanding goods and services, would Mexican citizens join in protesting for my rights, or would the government down there simply put me in jail?

In California, the Democrat governor, it has been widely reported, in an attempt to keep his job, has signed legislation to issue valid driver's licenses to illegal aliens. There is also a Federal "motor voter" program that automatically registers people to vote when they apply for an automobile registration and drivers license. I understand that no proof of citizenship is required other than checking a box on the voter registration form and the workers are not allowed to question the applicant about nationality. What could be the purpose of this if not an attempt to create a class of non-citizen voters?

Another thing that concerns me is the halo of political correctness surrounding this issue. There is a rather obtuse set of unwritten rules that seek to deny my participation in discussions where members of official hypersensitive groups may be offended. It seems that as a citizen I am not afforded freedom of speech if a non-citizen is unhappy that I point out that they are here illegally. So we change the word illegal to undocumented as if the only problem with their entry into our country is paperwork related. It is as if they were down at the US Embassy filling out the paperwork and it got late in the day so they had to hurry and catch the bus to El Paso. Bureaucratic snafu.

There is a tendency on the part of people who hate the idea of US sovereignty to immediately resort to character assassination whenever anyone has the audacity to suggest the United States should enforce our laws. I am certain that before this day is over someone someplace will declare me a racist because I think we should halt illegal immigration. I guess I must have a case of very selective racism since I have no problem with legal immigrants or various minority groups who were born here.

If I was suggesting that everyone with a last name that ended in a vowel sound be deported regardless of their citizenship status, then I suppose the racist label would be aptly applied. As it is, I only want the illegal immigration halted, the illegal aliens already here deported, businesses that hire illegal aliens fined heavily and some definition and assurance that there are privileges associated with citizenship that aren't afforded to anyone who can manage to avoid the INS.