Guy W. Farmer: Obama paints rosy picture of immigration reform

While I liked much of what President Obama had to say in his State of the Union address, I didn't like what he said about "comprehensive immigration reform," which is code for conditional amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.

"Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens," the president said. "Let's stop expelling talented, responsible young people who could be staffing our research labs or starting a new business ..."

That was a pitch for the so-called "Dream Act," which would send hundreds of thousands of illegals to college at taxpayer expense. The Dream Act, championed by Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would cost taxpayers more than $6 billion per year.

Now, along with other Appeal columnists, I recognize that it's unfair to deport young people who are here illegally through no fault of their own, but the fact is that they already receive free K through 12 public education at taxpayer expense even though their parents don't pay their fair share of the cost of that education. Because most illegals work off the payroll and don't pay applicable federal or state taxes, I reject the arguments that illegal immigrants are a net positive for the U.S. economy.

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama painted a rosy picture of "undocumented workers" and said he wants to work across party lines "to protect our borders (and) enforce our laws." He and his fellow Democrats should do exactly that in order to address the illegal immigration crisis, which has become a looming national security issue because of the bloody violence on the Mexican side of the border. More than 30,000 Mexicans have lost their lives in the past four years due to drug-fueled violence. Nationally syndicated Mexican-American columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr. called the border carnage "a fire in our backyard."

The "talented, responsible young people" that Obama mentioned are a tiny fraction of the more than 10 million illegal immigrants who reside in the U.S. Too many of the illegals are connected to the drug trade, and they constitute a very expensive burden on American law enforcement and the courts. Both Carson City District Attorney Neil Rombardo and Sheriff Ken Furlong have publicly acknowledged that illegals are deeply involved in violent gang activity in our area.

And that leads me to the question of whether Nevada needs an Arizona-type law to crack down on illegal immigration. My answer is "yes" but such a law would never pass the Democrat-controlled State Legislature, and that's a shame.

• Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, is a retired diplomat who follows immigration issues.