By Tiara Etheridge

There’s a dark horse in the Senate, and he would like to purge the bipartisan immigration bill from existence.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, made a stealthy move, proposing a bid that would bar felons, including immigrants court-ordered to be deported, from legalization.

Referred to as the “Trojan horse amendment to kill the bill,” it was passed over by the Senate Wednesday in favor of the Democratic rival measure that would bar a more limited amount of criminals, such as gang members and sex offenders, from legalization.

Sen. Edward Kennedy said Cornyn’s proposed amendment could “exclude hundreds of thousands from the benefits in this bill and undermine the bipartisan compromise that we worked so long and so hard to produce.”

But the bill isn’t out of the crossfire yet. Sen. Jim DeMint, R- South Carolina, told a crowd last month he would “definitely” filibuster the Senate immigration bill when it reached the floor. All the American people can do is watch as our deeply divided Senate argues a bill to death that would have attempted to address a long-neglected, but important issue.

Amnesty equals tax surplus

OK, say all the qualifying illegal immigrants are legalized — approximately 12 million people. Although the thought disgusts conservatives who claim illegal immigrants mooch off our country’s tax-funded programs like healthcare and welfare, immigrants who are legal can receive legitimate checks with state and federal taxes withheld, in addition to sales tax they pay alongside legal citizens. Translation — legalizing illegal immigrants means a dramatic surplus in tax money, which can be used to benefit this county with better roads, better health care, better education, etc.

This is good for us in the short-term, but what about the home country of these immigrants?

If poverty, stagnant wages and a static social hierarchy persist in Mexico, then one can logically deduct that immigrants will continue to flee to America for jobs and opportunities their home country does not provide.

If you don't address the cause of illegal immigration, the band-aid approach will eventually dissintegrate and compound into different, further problems.

Skip the band-aid approach, address the problem

We need men and women in our government with vision and the ability to devise solutions that address both problems in the short-term and the long-term. What we need is an effort to work with the Mexican government officials toward stabilizing their government and strengthening their education system and any other opportunities that would provide mobility in what is currently a static financial hierarchy. it is important to build up the middle class and a comfortable standard of living in this country. (It is pitiful when poor citizens, who compose the majority in Mexico, have to stop eating corn tortillas because the demand for ethanol has driven the price up.)