The New Republic

CNN has a story up on its homepage that speaks to the level of self-righteous outrage that grips the illegal immigration warriors.

The gist of the piece is that some active duty servicemen are facing the unsettling prospect of coming home from Iraq to find their spouses, who, for a variety of reasons, aren't legal residents, deported. (For instance, the featured sailor's wife was brought to this country when she was five years old by her mother, both of whom were granted asylum as refugees from Guatemala. The mother later applied for citizenship for them both, but, because the daughter got married before the application was approved, her application process was derailed and her legal status remains tenuous.)

Anyway, some military advocates favor implementation of a special policy to deal with such cases. (Apparently, it's tough for a serviceman to stay focused on patrolling Baghdad when he's constantly wondering whether the mother of his children is at that moment being hauled off by the INS.) But the illegal immigrant crusaders reject anything that smacks of special treatment. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told CNN:

"What you're talking about is amnesty for illegal immigrants who have a relative in the armed forces, and that's just outrageous," he said. "What we're talking about here is letting lawbreakers get away with their actions just because they have a relative in the military. ... There's no justification for that kind of policy."

Really? No justification? I can actually think of a few reasons why we should grant any number of reasonable dispensations to our military families. These people are serving this country in a uniquely demanding, bloody capacity that increasingly few Americans are willing to subject themselves to. That doesn't make them or their families above the law, but it does suggest that perhaps a little effort could be made to find targeted legal remedies to address such special cases.

At the very least, you could postpone deporting these women until their husbands are finished getting their asses shot at.

--Michelle Cottle

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