But I canÂ’t help but think we should see more of this in the United States.

The clicking of dozens of news cameras drowned out the sobs of the 13-year-old girl, but her face explained what was happening in the departure hall of Japan's Narita International Airport.

Noriko Calderon, wearing her school uniform, was being forced to make one of the most wrenching choices of her young life: To stay in the country of her birth rather than join her parents being deported to the Philippines.

The scene was the emotional climax to a story a decade and a half in the making -- one that has tugged at heartstrings in Japan, but ultimately failed to sway unyielding bureaucracy.

The problem, of course, is one that we face on a much grander scale in this country – illegal alien parents with a child (or children) who are citizens. How does a country deal with such situations, when enforcing the law means splitting children and parents – or when keeping a family together requires rewarding the illegal conduct of parents?

We don’t, of course, have any problem splitting up parents and kids when mom or dad (or even mom and dad) gets shipped off to jail for an extended period of time. We acknowledge that it is but one more sad consequence of a parent’s decision to violate the law. I frankly see no reason to treat immigration law any differently – exactly the decision that the Japanese government has made in this case. Rather than blame the government, why can’t we put the blame on the shoulders of the ones whose initial decision to violate the law is truly the cause of the problem? And if we are going to reward with legal status every set of parents who manage to get an anchor baby, then how can we be said to really have control of our nation’s borders?

Does my heart break for young Noriko Calderon? Yes it does – just as it would break for every youngster faced with the same decision if we truly enforced our nation’s immigration laws. But while I sympathize with the child, my anger is directed against the adults who created the situation rather than the government that is merely enforcing reasonable laws.

Posted by: Greg at 06:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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