Amnesty will help Mexico, not the U.S.

YEH LING-LING

President Bush and many Congressional leaders of both parties are determined to achieve de facto amnesty in 2006 for possibly more than 12 million illegal migrants. Since more than half of the illegal migrants came from Mexico, Alabamians should not ignore the potentially very severe impact of continued mass Mexican immigration.

In 1995, Henry Cisneros, former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, publicly declared: "As goes the Latino population will go the state of California, and as goes the state of California will go the United States of America. My friends, the stakes are big. This is a fight worth making."

If naturalized, millions of amnestied migrants could add tens of millions of potential voters to the U.S. through births here and through immigration of extended families. Children born in the U.S., even of guest workers, are also American citizens and could vote at 18. Our recent national elections were very close. What would be the impact of such an amnesty on future elections?

Although many Mexican-Americans are patriotic and most Mexican migrants have no political agenda, many newcomers can be mobilized by Mexico to vote according to Mexico's interests. U.S.-born Juan Hernandez, while serving as a member of Fox's cabinet, stated: "We are betting that the Mexican-American population in the United States ... will think Mexico first." Indeed, in recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in many parts of the U.S., with many protesters waving Mexican flags. Their positions on immigration are identical to Mexico's. They opposed the immigration legislation passed by the House of Representatives last December to secure our borders. They also demand citizenship for all illegal aliens.