Comment on: "Civil Rights Movement for Illegal Immigrants??"

My classmate makes a very profound argument against the rights of illegal immigrants using the burgular metaphor, and I agree that illegal immigrants do put a burden on our government. Many of the 12 million citizens to be will qualify for foodstamps and other government assistance. So with taxes benefitting these people, it is easy to throw out the age old robin-hood excuse that "the rich are paying for the poor".

But one cannot oversimplify the situation. Cheap labor can be good for our economy. These hardworking, struggling immigrants are more like construction workers, fruit pickers, maids, and gardeners who break into a house and work for scrap than inconsiderate burglars wanting a piece of the property.

Terrorists at Sea, But Long Range Solution Only on Land

With Captain Richard Phillips held hostage by Somali Pirates, the world asks again for a solution to piracy. An online post on the New York Times opinion page regarding the issue reads, “ I am 80 years old and think I have lived too long. Pirates in 2009? ”. The woman who posted this (she calls herself Jane) as well as many others are flabbergasted that such an age old crime like piracy exists in the same world as satellite missiles, the U.N., and the United State's maritime military power. But unlike mobs of lynch hungry vigilante cowboys in Wyoming, piracy is not a time washed crime. And though the pirates are terrorists, a solid solution to the problem lies in reform on land, not guns at sea.

The pirate problem is not new. Since the formation of this country, "freedom of the seas" has been a rallying cry of presidents, congressmen, and civilians embarrassed and fed up with terrorism on the ocean. The War of 1812 was fought primarily to stop the British Navy's impressment policies. Torpedoed civilian ships led Americans to support entering The Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. Historically, Americans have highly valued the neutrality of seas.

The Somali men who took Phillips hostage are terrorists. They are using terror, crime, and human life as bargaining tools to make a few million bucks. When caught, these men need to be either tried and prosecuted in American courts (for their crimes are against Americans), or even better in International Court. Not only will justice be served, but perhaps due process of law and imprisonment of the criminals will discourage some of their counterparts from further attacking American ships.

But putting a few pirates in prison or shooting some bullets in the water will not solve this escalating problem. There has not been a functioning government in Somalia since 1991. American does not need to, and should not, pull a Panama-esque revolution in the African country to put a more pro-America/freedom of seas regime in power. Somalian structural, political, and economic reform can come from within it's borders or with some U.N. aid. Although a severely complicated and difficult task, reform must come to the Somalian government before the pirates can be effectively controlled. This is a long range, possibly Utopian, measure. But reform on the seas cannot last without reform on the land.