Illegal immigration is a “slap in the face to every person who has immigrated to this country legally,” said Craig DeLuz, the legislative aid to Calif. Assemblyman Tim Leslie, at the discussion on illegal immigration at noon on Monday in the Orchard Suite of the University Union.

The panel discussion, which was hosted by Associated Students Inc. and moderated by Leonard Valdez, the director of Student Conduct, was titled “Immigration vs. Illegal Immigration: A Question of American Identity.”

DeLuz told the group how his father-in-law immigrated to the United States legally, and people who skip the naturalization process insult the hard work legal immigrants have to go through to become citizens.

DeLuz was a member of the four-person panel that also included Sacramento State junior Felix Barba, Manuel Barajas, a sociology professor and Eric Z. Guerra, the legislative aid to Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles).

The panelists each have different backgrounds, and their views on immigration showed a great deal of variation.

According to Barajas, the borders of the United States were created to privilege a select few and to exclude others.

The borders were one of the main topics at the discussion, as were possible ways to stop the huge influx of illegal immigrants into the United States.

“[The U.S. borders] come from a logic of intolerance for difference,” Barajas said.

“Securing our borders has to come first,” DeLuz said, adding that U.S. employers need to also stop the economic incentive to come to the country by refusing to employ undocumented immigrants.

Another controversial topic that surfaced repeatedly at the discussion was the fairness of the U.S. naturalization process.

“The process treats immigrants from different countries differently,” Guerra said, adding that the United States gives priority based on the immigrant’s home region or family status.

Barajas said things like racial profiling, while technically illegal, happen quite often.

“It’s quite clear to anyone who has experienced it,” he said.

However, not every member of the panel agreed with this.

“Our laws don’t discriminate based on certain ethnic status,” DeLuz said.

While the panelists may not have agreed on every topic at this discussion, they did agree that something needs to be done to correct the current system, and that it will be a difficult problem to correct.

“I don’t know that it will be solved this generation in the halls of government,” DeLuz said.

Cody Kitaura can be reached at [email protected]