Immigration
There will probably be a long debate about US immigration policy over the coming weeks. One side of the debate wants to increase border security and leave it at that. The other side wants to create ways for the many million illegal aliens currently in the country to earn citizenship and to create a guest worker program to ease the legal flow of foreigners into America. The politics of this issue are simple yet uncommon. Immigration is probably the only issue where there is a genuine conservative revolt within the Republican party. House of Rep. Republicans have blocked the President's proposals (focusing on a guest worker program) for over a year. Whether anything gets done on this issue is entirely an issue of getting more than a marginal minority of republicans to support a proposal beyond simply increasing border security.
I, as a conservative, am deeply split over this issue. I fully endorse in principle the concept that a country with relatively open immigration laws, when compared to Europe, should not reward illegal immigration by granting any legal recognition or benefit. Besides breaking the law, this open border policy would be an easy place for foreign trained terroists to enter. That being said, there is a matter of practicality here. If there are 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, which is a number I frequently hear, how can we realistically deport them all even if we found them? My brother-in-law is police chief of a small town in Iowa. He found and had the chance to arrest a single illegal alien, but chose not to because he knew INS would not come out to deport one person and he would just end up taking up a jail cell. 12 million/300 million is 4%. 4% of the inhabitants of this country are illegal aliens. A country cannot realistically expel or jail 4% of its population in an efficient way.
What would I do? I would tighten the border significantly. It can be done... it just a matter of money. I often joked with people that one 50 caliber machine gun every 1/4 mile and personnel to fire warning shots would probably cost only a matter of millions and solve lots of problems. Although a democratic country would never do that, the point is the border can be reasonably tightened. Second, I would significantly ease the legal requirements for work visa and citizenship immigration to undercut the incentive to jump the line by coming here illegally. America is a country of immigrants and the boat-loads of Irish, Italians, Polish, Germans and others only helped the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why should we assume Central and South Americans will be different provided they assimilate into American culture and learn English? Third, I would provide no relief to current illegals. Although there are downsides to not embracing this population, I still agree that legitimizing their presence would not solve anything. In the 1980's Reagan gave amnesty to illegals and it only encouraged more. We are a country of laws and tossing aside the law en masse for a politically expedient exception does harm to our institutions.
Unlike some who share similar views to mine, I am fully pro-legal immigrant and free trade. I do not believe immigrants somehow "take jobs" from Americans. Without immigration America would have a shrinking population, which is the first step to a nation dying. Our national birth rate is less than 2 per couple. All practical realities aside, we cannot forgive illegal immigration, regardless of whether it is done at once or if it is "earned". A nation of laws must live by the law. To undercut them will do more harm than continuing our current immigration/border policy could ever do.
As a side note to this discussion... CAFTA (CEntral American Free Trade Agreement) and economic policies like it should help this problem by creating economic opportunities in those countries. If someone already has a job he doesn't run across a border. How many Americans do you know run illegally to Canada besides to dodge the draft or smoke weed?
I, as a conservative, am deeply split over this issue. I fully endorse in principle the concept that a country with relatively open immigration laws, when compared to Europe, should not reward illegal immigration by granting any legal recognition or benefit. Besides breaking the law, this open border policy would be an easy place for foreign trained terroists to enter. That being said, there is a matter of practicality here. If there are 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, which is a number I frequently hear, how can we realistically deport them all even if we found them? My brother-in-law is police chief of a small town in Iowa. He found and had the chance to arrest a single illegal alien, but chose not to because he knew INS would not come out to deport one person and he would just end up taking up a jail cell. 12 million/300 million is 4%. 4% of the inhabitants of this country are illegal aliens. A country cannot realistically expel or jail 4% of its population in an efficient way.
What would I do? I would tighten the border significantly. It can be done... it just a matter of money. I often joked with people that one 50 caliber machine gun every 1/4 mile and personnel to fire warning shots would probably cost only a matter of millions and solve lots of problems. Although a democratic country would never do that, the point is the border can be reasonably tightened. Second, I would significantly ease the legal requirements for work visa and citizenship immigration to undercut the incentive to jump the line by coming here illegally. America is a country of immigrants and the boat-loads of Irish, Italians, Polish, Germans and others only helped the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why should we assume Central and South Americans will be different provided they assimilate into American culture and learn English? Third, I would provide no relief to current illegals. Although there are downsides to not embracing this population, I still agree that legitimizing their presence would not solve anything. In the 1980's Reagan gave amnesty to illegals and it only encouraged more. We are a country of laws and tossing aside the law en masse for a politically expedient exception does harm to our institutions.
Unlike some who share similar views to mine, I am fully pro-legal immigrant and free trade. I do not believe immigrants somehow "take jobs" from Americans. Without immigration America would have a shrinking population, which is the first step to a nation dying. Our national birth rate is less than 2 per couple. All practical realities aside, we cannot forgive illegal immigration, regardless of whether it is done at once or if it is "earned". A nation of laws must live by the law. To undercut them will do more harm than continuing our current immigration/border policy could ever do.
As a side note to this discussion... CAFTA (CEntral American Free Trade Agreement) and economic policies like it should help this problem by creating economic opportunities in those countries. If someone already has a job he doesn't run across a border. How many Americans do you know run illegally to Canada besides to dodge the draft or smoke weed?