Well, we're going to find out on November 7th, as Kenneth Wegner, the GOPer running against Congresswoman Shelly Berkley in Nevada's 1st district, has staked his whole campaign on border security - and what he states is Ms. Berkley's weakness on the issue. If support for border security is important, then even if Wegner comes up short on November 7th, he should still do well - if he's blown out, then we can presume that while border security is important, it isn't the galvanizing issue of modern American politics.

Mr. Wegner's actual plan is very strong on enforcement and probably would never get through the United States Congress intact - but I am intrigued by this part of it:

I propose the establishment of an "Ellis Island West" program to deal with those persons who are already illegally living and working in the United States. This would be handled by issuing a "yellow-card" to illegal aliens who voluntarily return to their home country. We would also adopt a policy of "first out, first back in" in processing these illegal aliens who voluntarily leave this country. Illegal aliens who choose not to leave the country within a specified period would not only lose their ability to receive a yellow-card, but would also be fingerprinted, photographed and deported once they were caught. They would then lose their right to ever receive a yellow-card or legally enter the United States in the future. Once our borders are secured and our nine-million unemployed U.S. citizens are working, we would once again be able to allow immigration to take place.

That is something I like - the whole key to border security really lies in providing strong incentives to legal entry in to the country. At bottom, though I'll bet Mr. Wegner would dispute this, that is what President Bush's guest worker program is all about - securing the borders by making illegal crossing unattractive. Regardless of what happens on November 7th, this element of Mr. Wegner's program deserves implementation as part of any border security plan we finally enact.

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Tracked on October 25, 2006 10:46 PM