Capitol Hill Blue Forums Life and Moral Issues Crime & Punishment Illegal Immigration and Appropriate Penalties

Mellow,

Seems to me that failing to implement and enforce laws (federal and state) that have been in place for many, many years has created a possible legal quandary called "RESIDENT RIGHTS BY ESTOPPLE"...or something similiar.

I made up the term...but the legal key words here are "by estopple".

An example of "by estopple" is:

Let's say that I own property that has a road on it, which is the only means available to allow you to access your property. Let's also say that because of location of your property that it would be impossible for you to access any other way.

I, at some point in time, decided to allow you to access my property to access yours by creating a dirt road made simply by you continously driving back and forth to your property. I let you use that road for years to get to your home.

All of a sudden, I say, "No more, Mellow, you can't use my property to access yours." You say, "But, AR, I can't reach my property any other way and if you don't let me continue to use your property, I'll sue.

I would bet money that I would lose the lawsuit and you'd be allowed to continue to drive on my property to reach yours.

That happens all of the time to persons who build fences on someone elses property...which enlarges their own, but because of inaction, over time to dispute that fence...the land area ownership by one decreases for one owner...and thereby increases to the other. City governments often use estopple laws (rather than "Eminent domain laws" to enlarge easement properties by consuming a private land owners property. It can happen the other way around too.

If you don't use it...you lose it. It's that simple.

I think one major thing the immigrates needs to stop doing, in order to lower the flash point of anger with most American citizens across the country...STOP having mass parades down the city main streets waving their flags of origin and shouting out at all of the disparities committed against them...even though they've chosen to illegally enter the U.S., work and raise families without protection of so many local and federal laws. They do have basic rights under the Constitution's Bill of Rights...but to assume that their long-term lives here in the U.S. are now theirs to enjoy as qausi-citizens via "ESTOPPLE LAWS"...is a mistake on their part. American citizens by-in-large won't accept that. Corporations, on the other hand...they might be more sympathic to that idea.

So much time, resources, and political implications have impacted the way illegal immigrates affect our society...I believe that, by way of the concept of estopple laws (similiar to the old squatter rights laws), we as a society are going to have to begin to re-examine how we need to negoiate our co-existence with the current illegals...and draw a line in the sand...and begin to place serious efforts on future enforcement of the laws across the land. Otherwise, illegal proliferation is imminent.