WELL, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  The trendies now have a new approach to handling the personal problems of illegal immigrants – give them I.D. cards.  The newest municipality to succumb is the university town of Princeton, N.J.:

PRINCETON -- The borough and the township have agreed to a May 22 start for advocates for immigrants to issue community identification cards, according to a report in The New York Times.

The report said at least six city governments across the the U.S. endorse or issue photo identification cards to residents who are illegal immigrants. Similar programs are operating in Trenton and Asbury Park.

The cards will allow illegals to obtain local services.  The practice is spreading.  One illegal told The New York Times:

“When you don’t have a proper ID, they can humiliate you,” said Herlinda, 43, as she waited in the offices of a church where the cards were being issued. “I feel I belong in Trenton.”

That, of course, is the problem.  She doesn't belong in Trenton.  The legal immigrant, who has followed the law, belongs in Trenton and should be welcomed.

Look, we try to be humane.  These are human beings, and we are a Judeo-Christian nation.  I would never for a moment advocate denying an illegal immigrant a life-saving medical service.  We give those services, after all, to convicted murderers.  We may hate the sin but we love the sinner. 

But simply issuing an I.D. card is a feel-good solution that makes no distinction between the illegal and the legal.  This is do-goodism at work, and it encourages illegality.  It shows, once more, the need for a federal solution that upholds the law, yet recognizes the reality that we're not going to deport 12 million illegals.  This is a very difficult issue.  Simply granting more services to illegals does nothing to solve it.

May 17, 2010