Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner thinks 700 miles of fencing will help solve our nation's illegal immigration crisis. As we all know, there is no bigger crisis in Menomonee Falls, Wis., than the flood of illegal immigrants. Mr. Sensenbrenner earnestly hopes to represent the best interests of his district by cracking down on the scourge of illegal workers. This is about fairness above all. And it has absolutely nothing to do with politics.

There is no denying the proposed legislation is nothing more than a political power play by a representative with no knowledge of the issue of illegal immigration. Except, of course, that it might get him a pat on the head from neoconservative groups. Mr. Sensenbrenner blindly ignores the stark reality that this country will have 154 million workers for 161 million jobs by 2008, according to a Bureau of Labor statistics study.

With this proposal, he continues the trend of Republicans scapegoating the fringes of American society for their own shoddy leadership. Instead of personal accountability, they blame illegals for high health care costs. The traditional American family is falling apart, not because of economic policies favoring the wealthiest 10 percent, making maintaining middle class status while raising a family increasingly difficult, but because gay people want to get married.

Does Mr. Sensenbrenner really expect to deport 12 million people with this plan? Has he considered the possibility that taking away drivers' licenses for millions who work to support their families will only lead to more untrained drivers on the road? Will putting a 10 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegals really discourage them from coming here to work in the first place, or will it just mean less food for a family in southern Mexico?

I wonder if Mr. Sensenbrenner knows how archaic it is to charge those who help illegal immigrants with a crime. I wonder whether the moral values he cares for so deeply are truly served by manufacturing a class of lepers. Are our tax dollars better spent investigating and prosecuting Americans who help an illegal immigrant find a warm bed or paying for a child's emergency room visit? Finally, how will we be judged in the annals of history? Will 2007 be remembered as the dawn of an underground railroad, where good Samaritans risked steep fines and jail for assisting their fellow man?

For a crowd that claims to love Jesus so much, they really seem to hate his teachings. But that's okay, right? Jesus never had a chance to experience God's greatest gift: America.

This is a values issue, make no mistake about it. To some, values stop at the beginning of their checkbook. And the only godly deeds are those that won't cause a slight inconvenience. Doing what is right is never easy. It is easy to build a wall, take their rights and kick them out. The problem with this strategy is that it is not a strategy. It would mark the beginning of another drug war, an endless costly struggle to identify illegals, imprison and ship them back to Mexico. The time has come for the country to deal with this issue of simple economics: they wouldn't be here if we didn't need them, and they would not come here if they did not need us. This could easily be the thesis for our country's expansion.

In response to Thursday's massive demonstration in Milwaukee, Mr. Sensenbrenner released a statement reaffirming his views.

"America is a compassionate nation that should continue to be the land of opportunity. But the best way to help illegal aliens is by stopping illegal immigration."

Mr. Sensenbrenner truly believes that denying health care and drivers' licenses, then building a wall and making assistance a crime, is the best way to provide the impoverished masses an opportunity to help themselves. His idea of compassion is persecution and fines. He believes in the economic benefit of removing 12 million workers from the economy and that investing the massive resources needed to carry out this whimsical plan will make us a stronger nation.

I suspect some think tank decided the American people needed another scapegoat for our nation's incompetent leadership while right-wing ventriloquist dummies like Mr. Sensenbrenner act as vultures. He's a mindless political drone more than happy to spend his life picking at whatever carcass his masters offer.

If our country should extract a lesson from the past six years, it is that the Karl Rove approach to politics does not work in governance. At this point, however, it seems things will have to get much worse before they any get better.

Bassey Etim ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.