By Sean Sullivan Lagniappe columnist

Do you ever feel like you’re being set up for an episode of “Punk’d” or “Candid Camera” or stumbled into an episode of the “Twilight Zone?” May 1st did that for me.

The coverage of the illegal immigrant rallies and the commentary of the leaders of the May Day protests have me baffled. I don’t believe there is any other law-breaking group in the U.S. that is as vocal about their status as lawbreakers as illegal immigrants.

People protesting their lawbreaking be condoned by the government that very law they break seems to be a non sequitur. Illegals wrapping themselves in a socialist workers holiday doesn’t seem to be the best public relations move either. May Day celebration? I say mayday, mayday, ...copy? We’ve lost control of the country, repeat mayday!

I’m not immune to the reasons people want to become citizens of this country and the plight of people improving their families’ fortunes is one that moves me emotionally. As a descendant of Famine Irish and German pioneers, the only reason I exist is this country accepted my ancestors. Of course, the Germans were welcomed with wider arms than the Irish but both tragedy and opportunity drew my people here and I believe the same is true of the today’s immigrants. The difference is my ancestors did it legally, as should the current immigrants.

The waves of illegals washing across the U.S.-Mexico border are in good measure the fault of U.S. policy. To look the other way for so long and then all of a sudden “about face” on illegal border crossers is unfair but for illegals to demand recognition when they knew they entered the country illegally is also unfair. One of the protesters at last Monday’s rallies in California said this of the current political climate: “Things are getting worse for our people – more discrimination, less benefits.”

Less benefits? Since when was it the job of the U.S. government to provide benefits to citizens of other countries? Maybe we can get Canada to chip in some money to fix the potholes on Old Shell Road while we are at it.

Back to the blame lis. Here on the U.S. side of the equation, many an administration and the industries that bribed them, have turned a blind eye toward the stream of illegal immigrants coming into this country over the years. The poor souls who risked everything and lost trying to get here to take jobs provided by those companies should haunt the dreams of many a CEO and politician. That still doesn’t mean the U.S. should grant amnesty to an estimated 12 million people who broke a law with their first step on U.S. soil.

It does mean it is time to fish or cut bait as a nation. Either we open our borders outright or secure them and give the enforcement agents the rights and material to enforce border sovereignty. Either way the change will be painful for the U.S. economy. An open border policy will flood the market with laborers, reducing the already paltry wages many illegals already work for. Under this scenario some prices would come down, but come tax time the net cost in infrastructure to support the citizens of other countries would more than negate any price reduction in products or labor.

Some pro-illegal pundits try to shock the American populace with how much the price of goods like produce will go up in an America without illegal immigrants. Hmm, an extra dollar for a head of lettuce or people being boxed up like produce in life-threatening conditions to be smuggled across the border? I don’t know about you, but I’ll throw in an extra Washington for my head of iceberg.

The American consumer seems to be able to come up with enough money to pay the ever-rising cost of a gallon of gas and that isn’t even protecting anyone’s life, unless you are a girl in some OPEC sheik’s harem, and what’s a few concubines amongst friends?

Like so many things in life there is a cost for doing the right thing and we Americans need to steel our resolve to actually enforce our laws and punish those (especially the companies on this side of the border) who break those laws. The short term will be uncomfortable for a country grown dependant on cheap labor, but the long term will save the lives of many and the face and future of our country.

Sean Sullivan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact him at ssullivan@lagniappemobile.com.

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