The following is a letter to the editor from Dennis Galvin. Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the views of WestfordCAT or its Board of Directors. To submit a letter to the editor, e-mail the editor at asylvia@westfordcat.org
State Senator Byron Rushing (D-Boston), the Senate’s Democratic assistant majority leader, introduced legislation to make the Bay State a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. His bill would prohibit the state from denying welfare benefits, driver’s licenses and housing to any person, because of their immigration status. It would restrict state law enforcement from cooperating with Federal immigration officials, unless a Federal court issues a judicial order compelling such cooperation.
The state’s Senate Democrats are offering the citizens of this state a policy of lawlessness in response to the increasingly dangerous and costly immigration crisis.
It is the fundamental right of any nation to define and enforce laws, under which it will allow immigrants to enter, stay and become naturalized. Immigration laws protect the homeland from criminals and terrorists, exposure to disease, excessive drain on welfare resources and from the destabilization of wages paid to American workers.
Elements within both political parties have worked for years to undermine our immigration laws, creating the crisis we now face. The Republicans have blocked reform to protect the supply of cheap labor for American business. Democrats have blocked reform in order to expand social dependency on Federal and State welfare programs to increase their constituent base. Both parties have cruelly chosen to make millions of desperate and unfortunate people pawns in a ruthless game of opportunistic politics.
Mr. Rushing’s proposal will not improve the situation. It will exacerbate it. His proposal is irresponsible at best and subversive at worse. It would essentially commit our state to a policy of “nullification” with regard to Federal immigration law. This approach has been used many times before in American history. One of the most notable was when Governor George Wallace of Alabama, declared the nullification of Federal civil rights laws, in his fight to support racial segregation. Our constitution does not give us the right to cherry pick the laws we will obey. There is no right to ignore a Federal law because it falls short of expectations. The moral questions that arise from our current Federal immigration system are dwarfed by the moral imperatives that arise from the pain and suffering created by the chaos resulting from our failure to enforce them. Our state legislature should reject Mr. Rushing’s proposal.
