01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 10, 2005

OAKLAND, Calif.

MY WISH for 2005 is that elected officials in Washington gain the courage to drastically reduce immigration, for the sake of natives and legal immigrants.

Numerous recent polls have shown that homeland security, high health-care costs, and the economy were among the top concerns of voters. Yet President Bush's de-facto amnesty proposal for undocumented immigrants would put additional pressure on our infrastructure and labor markets.

The Bush plan would initially grant unlimited numbers of visas to foreign workers, low-skilled and professional, who are here illegally, as well as those who would like to come here, if they can find employers willing to hire them. These "temporary" workers could then apply for U.S. citizenship. And once naturalized, the newcomers could petition for their extended families to immigrate. Thus, and through births, tens of millions of new students, job seekers, and social-service recipients could, before long, be added to America.

Although some immigrants are assets to this country, mass immigration clearly affects homeland security. According to Time magazine's recent estimate, 3 million illegal immigrants entered this country in 2004 alone. CNN also reported in December that stolen passports from countries in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world had been used by many foreign travelers to enter this country.

The war on terrorism cannot be won by spending over $200 billion on Iraq while our own borders are so porous! If both political parties are serious about protecting homeland security and curbing illegal immigration, they should oppose all amnesty proposals -- including President Bush's -- and advocate serious enforcement of our immigration laws.

Aside from adding Border Patrol agents, the president and Congress should send the unequivocal message that present and future illegal aliens will not be given temporary work permits or permanent residency. Provisions to deny all benefits to illegal aliens -- such as education, driver's licenses, and in-state tuition -- should be adopted. Furthermore, Congress must pass a law to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States of illegal immigrants.

Since a number of 9/11 perpetrators were legal immigrants and British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid is no Arab, we should not overburden our already overwhelmed law-enforcement agents with 1 million legal immigrants a year who all need screening. A moratorium on immigration would let America focus on intercepting potential terrorists at our borders and rooting out those now operating on U.S. soil.

Furthermore, continuing record levels of immigration will also make health-care and education reform much more difficult to achieve. Indeed, according to the 2003 Census data, immigrants -- legal and illegal -- arriving since 1998 and their U.S.-born children accounted for 95 percent of the growth of the uninsured population in this country. Furthermore, according to the Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2003, 21 percent of elementary- and high-school students had at least one foreign-born parent. American children are reportedly falling behind in education compared with those in Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and many Western nations, partly because our education system is overburdened with limited-English-speaking students.

Immigration advocates argue that "immigrants take jobs that Americans won't do." But those same positions are held by poor natives in areas with low levels of immigration. In addition, this country still has millions of unemployed or underemployed low-skilled legal residents and able-bodied welfare recipients. Why not give them incentives to take those jobs? Furthermore, more than a quarter of our federal prison inmates are illegal aliens who committed crimes. They are not productive workers.

Our unemployed cannot find work if this country continues to massively export jobs and to import professional and low-skilled workers. A November 2003 poll by the Pew Research Center showed that 76 percent of both Democrats and independents and 82 percent of Republicans wanted stricter immigration controls. May this year teach American leaders a true lesson of democracy: Respond to the will of the American people by reducing immigration.

Yeh Ling-Ling is executive director of Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America. She can be reached at (510) 835-5017.