The Observer, April 14, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 24
Illegal immigration can be dealt with easily
Immigration is becoming the biggest issue in American politics. Millions of protestors have filled dozens of American cities – apparently they aren't hiding in the shadows. Every opinion columnist and television pundit seems to have an idea on how to deal with the estimated 12 million illegals running around the US. The Senate is deadlocked. Most polls show that Americans are deeply divided over the issue. But immigration reform is easy.
First, can we all agree that illegal immigration is illegal?
This seems to be a silly and ridiculous statement, but it is clearly lost upon much of the elite media and Washington. Even the president and the usually reliable Wall Street Journal are on the wrong side of this issue. If 12 million people are breaking federal law the way to fix the situation is not to change or eliminate the law. In no other area of society would we deal with lawbreakers by erasing the law. Enforce the law.
Has anyone else wondered why INS hasn't sent a few hundred agents to all of these rallies? I'm guessing a decent percentage of the protestors who favor illegal immigration are in fact illegal immigrants.
Put up a really tall wall.
I don't understand why this is controversial; other countries do it all the time. Saudi Arabia just announced the construction of a wall along its border with Iraq. Does anyone expect mass demonstrations in Riyadh? In no way does vigorous enforcement mean that we are anti-immigration. Personally, I'm a big fan of immigration. My grandmother came here only 50 years ago. I simply want the immigration process to be organized and designed to protect the nation's interests.
Prosecute employers who employ illegal immigrants.
Mexicans come here illegally for one reason: jobs. If we make it harder for them to find employment illegally it will create incentives for them to go through the legal immigration process. Guess how many employers were prosecuted for employing illegals last year. Four. That's unacceptable.
Will someone at the state department tell the Mexican government to shut up?
I don't think we need to listen to lectures from Vicente Fox on how to treat immigrants. By their own national constitution, Mexico is no haven for immigrants. According to an analysis by The Institute of World Politics, the Mexican constitution bans immigrants from public political discourse, denies them basic property rights and equal employment rights, allows for their expulsion from Mexico for any reason without due process, and allows private citizens to arrest illegal immigrants. President Fox needs to fix his own country before he starts lecturing the president on how to run the United States.
Sadly, illegal immigration is worst for poor Americans. Liberal economists have acknowledged that it has only one effect on the American economy: lowering the income of the least educated Americans. In a recent column Paul Krugman cited a Harvard study that estimated that illegal immigrants have lowered the income of American high-school dropouts by up to 8 percent. The assertion that illegals are doing "jobs Americans won't do" is dumb. Of course Americans would do those jobs, they just wouldn't do them for two bucks an hour.
Most frighteningly the U.S. Senate has absolutely lost its collective marbles on the immigration issue. A recent compromise bill failed – thank goodness – that would have allowed any illegal immigrant who has been in the U.S. for more than five years to pay a fine and then jump onto the fast track to citizenship. Illegals who have been in the States for two to five years would have to go to a "point of entry" and then could jump onto the fast track. What does that mean? A quick Rapid ride over to the International terminal at Hopkins Airport? As John O'Sullivan asked, "If this is a compromise, what on earth would a surrender look like?"
Perhaps the best criticism of the idiotic musings of the U.S Senate was put forth by the writer of a letter to the editor of The New York Times. David Strickland wrote, "Question for all those geniuses on Capitol Hill discussing a five-year waiver for illegal immigrants: If they're illegal and undocumented, how will you know if they've been here five years or five minutes?" Good point.
Let's face it. 12 million illegal immigrants running around our cities is a problem. The only way to solve this problem is to make it more difficult to enter with better border security and to decrease incentives by punishing the employers of illegals. If the U.S. Senate no longer cares about enforcing federal law, our nation is in trouble. It's time for all of those geniuses to join the American people and embrace the enforcement of our laws.
