In the 1850s, my ancestors bravely immigrated to Central Illinois from England.  I have tremendous admiration and empathy for people willing to leave their homes for a foreign country in an effort to improve their lives.

I received an e-mail from a lady about immigration asking me how I feel about the issue. This is the e-mail that I sent to her.

Dear Ms. Smith,

Thanks for your inquiry. Immigration is an immensely complicated issue that’s going to be in the news, probably for decades to come. I’m going to touch on just a few areas that concern me.

Basically I’m a people person. Immigrants, illegal or legal, are people who have basic human rights regardless of their citizenship. One being the right to not be exploited and abused by anyone, anyplace. We need to protect that right.

My heart goes out to the people who are so desperate for a decent life that they are willing to risk incredible hardship by leaving their homeland to come to America. We need, as a long range goal, to do all we can to improve their standard of living in their own countries.

In the short term we need to do more to keep jobs in America. More good jobs in our country will lessen the conflicts that occur between all workers, as there becomes more and more competition for fewer and fewer jobs.

We need to secure our borders so that illegal immigrants will understand that there’s no need to leave for the USA because it’s highly unlikely that they’ll safely enter our country.

Additionally, we need to severely penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants.

I hope this gives you an idea about how I feel about this complicted issue.

Thanks,

Steve Waterworth