Adrian Pratt is proud to be a part of the “big quilt that is America.” He has not always been a part of America, though. He is an immigrant from Britain, who came to America to attend the University of Georgia. Pratt is currently the publisher of the Centre Daily Times and will become a naturalized citizen on Wednesday, July 2. Over the past 10 years or so, immigration rates have been growing steadily, bringing in mostly Latin American and Asian immigrants. According to the Heritage Foundation, about 10 million illegal immigrants come to American each year. They also say that this number increases the population by about 700,000 people per year. Immigration is a popular topic in the upcoming 2008 election. One major approach that is thought to be key to controlling immigration is securing the borders. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have plans to secure the borders and regulate both who and what comes into the United States. Pratt says that the government should make “enforceable laws and people should follow those laws.” Obama plans to protect the borders through additional customs and border protection personnel, infrastructure and technology. According to McCain, an increase in technology and intelligence could easily help prevent the entry of undocumented immigrants. McCain not only wants to use technology to improve the U.S. borders, but he also wants to regulate the goods that are shipped to U.S. ports. There are many illegal immigrants living in the United States who have jobs, families and exhibit good behavior, but are unable to obtain citizenship. Obama does not think that undocumented immigrants, who are displaying good character, should have to “hide behind the shadows.” He supports the idea that illegal immigrants, who show strong qualities reflecting those on which the country was built, should be able to simply pay a fine, learn the English language and wait to go through the process of naturalization. McCain does not support rewarding illegal immigrants with citizenship under any circumstances. William Ghean, a member of the Americans for Legal Immigration organization (ALIC), agrees with McCain. “Under no circumstances,” says Ghean, “should people who break the law be rewarded with citizenship and turned into voters.” He continued on to say that immigration “laws should apply to everyone, both legal and illegal.” According to the ALIC website, immigration can be best contained by “securing the borders,” and continuing to “enforce the popularly supported immigration laws” that are set in place now. Pratt says that, “a lot of history and culture is based on immigration.”