They're illegal!

Ana Hernandez Luna is a Texas State Representative. She made an emotional speech to the Texas House this month after the House approved a bill outlawing sanctuary cities.

Poor little Ana came to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents when she was a small child. They had visas, but they forgot to go home or reapply when their visas ran out. She said her family "came out of the shadows" when she was 9 when a law was passed that made it possible for illegals to step forward without prosecution.

She went to high school in Pasadena (courtesy of legal U.S. taxpayers). She graduated from the University of Houston and earned her law degree from the University of Texas (I wonder who paid for all that).

She choked up during her speech. She later told a news columnist that she was aware that her family was illegal because they could not go freely back and forth across the border to see their families. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her because she was hiding from the law?

The columnist, William McKenzie, praises Luna. She has "risen up to help decide laws for the state of Texas" he exults. I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Hernandez Luna says that she gave the speech because some of her colleagues have a "certain perception of illegal immigrants." Well Yeah! They're illegal, aren't they?

McKenzie says that Hernandez Luna's story raises this question: "What do we do with people like Ana Hernandez Luna, ambitious and eager to assimilate into American life?" I don't think he really wants an answer, but how's this: We have them abide by the laws governing entrance into the United States and take their chances along with all the others who desperately want to come here. We tell those who are here illegally that they have forever forfeited their chances of a legal residence in the United States and give those spots to those who are legally waiting in line. We should not reward lawbreakers at the expense of those who are law-abiding. And we certainly should be ashamed of ourselves for electing flagrant law-breakers to public office.

"The Ana Hernandez Luna Dilemma." The Dallas Morning News; May 17, 2011; p. 11A.