On Dec. 25 this paper carried an article from The Washington Post which stated that President Bush will be proposing a plan to allow “immigrants to work legally in the United States.” Bush hasn’t provided the details of the plan but he says it will help “match any willing employer with any willing employee.” At the same time, he says he is “firmly against any blanket amnesty” or “a mass legalization.”

What he’s talking about is illegal aliens. In 2000, the Census Bureau estimated there were 8.7 million illegal aliens in this country and there’s no reason to believe that the number has gone down; some feel there may be as many as 12 million. There are several million illegally employed in the United States.

If Bush intends to match “any” willing employer with “any” willing employee, that’s going to be pretty “massive.” People who have entered illegally, and about whom we know nothing, will be allowed to stay here. And whether you call it “amnesty,” “legalization,” “regularization” or whatever, it still amounts to the same thing. They’ll be rewarded for breaking our laws and those who have obeyed our laws and have waited for a chance to come to this country legally will have to wait even longer.

Although the Bush administration knows a huge majority of Americans don’t want any form of amnesty or legalization, they’re apparently more concerned about illegal aliens and placating the Mexican government than they are about American voters.

John H. Frecker

Baileyville