A Thought On Immigration & Illegal Aliens

"Rep. Debbie Riddle":http://debbieriddle.org/ of Tomball is going to "introduce immigration-check legislation in Texas":http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100428/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_texas that is similar to Arizona's newly passed law requiring law enforcement to question people about their immigration status. Even "people in Ohio are thinking about implementing it":http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100427/NEWS01/4280359/.

Aside: Yahoo! News, of course, would have you believe that these bills are "anti-immigration." However, their editors forgot the "illegal" part of the phrase (anti-illegal immigration, for the curious). Should be expected from them, but it's frustrating nonetheless. After all, if you put the phrase out there like it should, be, their whining seems a little silly.

First off, while I am in favor of this for several reasons, it seems that it could be possible for some harassment of legal immigrants (or even citizens) to occur under this law. It can be hard to tell what exactly who is and isn't an illegal alien just by looking at them. Most legal aliens, though, know that illegal immigration hurts them just as much as it does this. So they might very well be willing to put up with this. Which leads me to my thought...

Why not just require English from everyone? Why not make that the litmus test of being American. Speak english. For purposes of stopping illegal immigration, it would probably be very effective. If you want to work in this country, learn English. Indians, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabs... they all come here to go to college and they know English. Would it really be that bad?