Both sides of the illegal immigration issue struggle with reality and clear thinking.
On the pro-immigration side, the “illegal” in illegal immigration is euphemized as a matter of missing documentation, sort of like the dog ate my homework or the documents got lost in the mail. The terminology — “undocumented immigrant” — is decidedly disingenuous.
The Mad Hatter logic one must embrace to argue that illegal immigrants are not guilty of violating law is brazenly exemplified by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. At a recent CNN town hall on the issue of sanctuary cities, Pelosi defended illegal aliens as “law-abiding citizens.”
You don’t need to be Mr. Spock to find her statement highly illogical. By definition illegal immigration is, well, illegal.
U.S. immigration laws were established to regulate immigration by specifically prescribing who, how many and by what process foreign nationals can enter and reside in the United States. People who skirt these laws to enter and remain here have committed a crime, ergo they are not law-abiding, nor, by the way, are they U.S. citizens simply by managing to hang out here.
In an ostrich-like denial of reality, Pelosi went on to contend that “in our sanctuary cities, our people are not disobeying the law.” However, once in the United States, illegal immigrants typically must commit other crimes in order to stay and work here including the following:
» Using false documents to be employed
» Making a false statement on a Form I-9
» Misusing a Social Security number
» Making a false claim of resident alien status
» Using false documents with intent to defraud the United States
» Possession of false U.S. documents
» Aggravated identity theft
Given that these crimes carry penalties ranging from five to 15 years in federal prison along with very stiff fines, they are serious infractions.
Moments latter, Pelosi offered the stale sophism that sanctuary cities enhance law enforcement by allowing illegal immigrants “to be there without being reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in case of another crime that they might bear witness to.”
Who is committing the crimes that illegal immigrants won’t report for fear of deportation? Might those crimes be committed by other illegal immigrants?
Creating safe havens for lawbreakers not only disavows and disrespects the rule of law, it fosters more crime. If the illegal immigrants were not here to begin with, the issue of crime among them and whether they will cooperate with law enforcement would be moot.
On the other side, those opposed to illegal immigration, most prominently President Donald Trump, believe it can be stopped by constructing a physical “great wall” along the southern border.
And, because Trump insists that Mexico will pay for the wall, the huge cost won’t add to the gargantuan national debt that has long been a major concern of Trump’s adopted Republican Party.
Great walls may have been effective for a while in ancient China and Rome, but are highly improbable defenses against determined trespassers today. For many reasons, Trump’s Great Wall is a boneheaded approach to stanching illegal immigration.
Massive deportation of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States is also part of Trump’s plan. The many critics who say that rounding up and expelling that many people is ludicrously impossible, overlook history. Hitler did it. Stalin did it. Queen Isabella of Spain did it.
It is quite doable, but who wants to add their name to that list? Trump? Maybe.
The rational approach to stopping illegal immigration is not great walls or mass deportations; it is taking the current out of the economic magnet that is drawing and keeping illegal immigrants here. That can be done.
All employers must be required to verify the resident status of all applicants and, initially, of all current employees. This can be done by accessing the national E-Verify database. Currently, Senate Bill S-179 would make that mandatory.
Where legitimate, verifiable labor shortages exist, there are or can be legal procedures available to import that labor on a seasonal or extended residency basis. No need for a free-for-all at the border.
Absolutely no taxpayer-funded benefits, including public education, should be given to illegal immigrants.
Money earned in America by illegal immigrants and sent back to their home countries should be intercepted and confiscated.
Additionally, birthright citizenship should be limited to children of U.S. citizens. This might require a constitutional amendment. Breeching your mother’s womb on this side of the border shouldn’t make you a citizen anymore than a cat having kittens in an oven makes them cookies.
There are billions of people who would love to emigrate to the United States. Unless Americans democratically choose to have open borders with unrestricted entry in unlimited numbers, immigration laws must be enforced, which means there must be consequences for illegal entry, not sanctuaries to shield them from the law.
— Randy Alcorn is a Santa Barbara political observer. Contact him at randyalcorn@cox.net, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.