Is this a nation of laws?

By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff  May 21. 2012

Lord help us if we don’t learn from the case of Hugo Diaz. But it appears many will not.

The Columbia County illegal-alien building contractor got 15 months in federal prison last Tuesday for harboring illegal aliens himself. Diaz had managed to ensconce himself here illegally in a very nice multimillion-dollar house and build up a substantial contracting business on the back of other illegal immigrants – using the cheap labor to leverage an unfair business advantage over legal contractors who abide by our laws.

Yet, Diaz had considerable local support in the courtroom – otherwise sensible business people who somehow thought this guy was getting a raw deal.

To heck with the rest of Columbia County and their silly rules! What in the world are these people thinking? That it’s a victimless crime? Someone innocently pursuing the American dream? Hardly.

This guy was a predator scamming the system and cheating those who follow the rules.
Moreover, get this: Of 23 illegal aliens the Diaz family harbored, 21 of them managed to get arrested in Columbia County – for such things as driving under the influence; 21 out of 23! What are the odds of that?

Those who supported this kind of lawbreaking – openly, in one of our federal courts – ought to be eternally ashamed. And those who enabled Diaz ought to be arrested themselves. Let’s hope Diaz provided prosecutors with the information necessary.

“There is no way he could’ve pulled off what he pulled off without some enabling going on,” one knowledgeable source told us.

How did he get business licenses, building permits, bank accounts, new vehicles and more? How can an illegal alien just set up shop on a golf course in the middle of a community without aid and comfort?

This isn’t being anti-immigration; it’s anti-crime. Not all immigration is created equal. Don’t skip over the word “illegal” when it applies, because there’s a world of difference between the two. Ask anyone who’s been naturalized.

Nor is it humane to encourage law-breaking. This country’s unforgivable indecision on whether it wants to recognize – i.e., secure – its own border is causing this mess. We’re sending a message to people who are naturally disinclined to following rules that there may not be any here. When we wake up and occasionally decide otherwise, it’s a shock to some folks.

Let’s decide, one way or another, whether we’ve got a nation of laws here or not. In this case, for once, we got it right.