The problematic and chronic issue of illegal immigration finally crystallized for me in May 2006, while I was the mayor of Hazleton, Pa. Resident Derek Kichline, working on a pickup truck in his driveway, noticed someone he thought was a drug dealer lingering in the vicinity. Mr. Kichline, a father like me, exchanged words with the young man and, for his trouble and concerns for the safety of the neighborhood, received a bullet between the eyes.
The suspect, a reputed member of a notorious street gang, proved to be in this country illegally, despite having been arrested more than a half-dozen times. While we had already experienced problems related to illegal aliens in Hazleton, this episode tipped the scales. As mayor, I shepherded the passage of two groundbreaking ordinances: one suspended the licenses of businesses that knowingly hired illegal aliens, and the other provided similar sanctions against landlords who rented property to them.
The American Civil Liberties Union objected to our common sense, and the case is still pending in the courts.
Some years later, we are now told by many that the best strategy to combat this problem is to provide the estimated 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. with a pathway to legal citizenship. This is a bill of goods Americans were sold before. In 1986, we were assured that there were about 1.5 million illegal aliens here, and once we granted them amnesty we would be rid of the problem. The truth was that once we willingly ignored our borders, the numbers seeking sanctuary swelled to more than 3 million. Do we now think that the result would be any different? We will have waved a carrot to the world, tempting any and all who would come here to continue to break our laws.