We need to enforce the laws against illegal immigration. Two competing bills were recently proposed in Congress, one would have made it a crime to give a thirsty man a drink of water, the other would have given amnesty to the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants already living here. I do not support either of those bills. We need to enforce the laws already on the books.

Illegal immigrants are coming to United States because employers are offering them jobs. Current law allows for fines of $1,000 per employee per inspection, and inspections can be conducted each and every day. If the Administration were enforcing this and other laws, we would shut down the magnet attracting illegal immigrants. The current leadership in Washington has chosen not to enforce these laws. A recent raid conducted against one foreign owned company resulted in more citations, in one day, than had been issued in the previous 12 months!

We need congressional oversight to ensure that existing laws will be enforced. If employers knew they would be fined for hiring illegal immigrants, they would stop hiring them. Without that “magnet”, immigrants would lose the primary incentive to enter our country illegally. In fact, many of those here would return to their country of origin.

None of the legislation proposed would do anything but make the problem worse. We need to enforce the law.