A common argument for the current mass deportation policy tells us that those immigrants who have come to the United States illegally must be deported because they “jumped ahead of the line” and that it wouldn’t be fair to those would-be immigrants around the world who have waited for years or even decades to get a legal visa. The reasoning behind this claim needs further consideration. In fact, no line exists, and no fairness issue enters the picture.
The U.S. government fixes the number of immigrants it will admit each year. Our government offers many different types of visas, and the requirements vary. But opportunities for people to come to America legally are limited, and those who are not selected have not suffered any injustice. While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that everyone has the right to emigrate, no one has the right to immigrate to any country they choose. Every country has a sovereign right to select the immigrants it wishes to admit. However America decides to punish or legalize those who have entered our country illegally, it owes no debt of justice or fairness to people it has chosen not to admit.
What to do with the millions who have immigrated outside the law remains a political question that Congress must resolve in dialogue with the public. The latest Gallup poll shows that 73% of people believe immigration is a good thing for our country. As for “dreamers,” 81% of people prefer a path to citizenship for immigrants brought to America illegally by their parents as children. A large majority, 75%, supports “allowing immigrants living in the United States illegally the chance to become citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time.” As for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants back to their home country, only 39% of people support the policy. Voters clearly prefer a legalization process for illegal immigrants.
Why do so many people favor giving otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants a path to legality and eventual citizenship? As an old Texas saying goes, “If you see a turtle sitting on top of a fencepost, you know he didn’t get there by himself.” For the past five decades, America has tolerated a system of illegal employment in which we have had a desperate need for agricultural, construction, healthcare, and hospitality labor, but lawmakers have refused to create adequate legal pathways for introducing those workers to the country. Instead, we made a de facto choice not to enforce our laws, leaving the border unnecessarily and dangerously porous, while effectively allowing employers to accept false documents from job applicants.
Our own infidelity to the rule of law has abetted the problem of illegal immigration and employment. President Donald Trump’s stunning success at border control proves that a determined government could have stopped illegal immigration, but for various reasons, Congress never adopted legal means for managing our labor needs. It is true that illegal immigrants broke the law in coming to serve us, but they had a lot of help from employers and government officials.
The path to legal status for immigrants will nevertheless require them to pay restitution for their misdemeanors. The Salazar DIGNITY Act, the only piece of legislation introduced that would definitively solve the immigration crisis, offers solid proposals that, far from offering amnesty, punish illegal behavior while also providing a path to redemption, though not permanent residence or citizenship. Other plans present harsher punishments with more and less generous outcomes. E-Verify or something like it must become federal law, shifting the onus for legal employment to businesses. Although Congress has yet to show itself unwilling to pass a comprehensive immigration bill, language that will substantially solve the problem has emerged and can succeed if included in must-pass legislation. Though the problem is long-standing, the solutions are reasonable and possible to implement.
VOTERS HIRED TRUMP TO DEPORT DETAINEES. SUPREME COURT SAVED HIS STRATEGY FROM ROGUE JUDGES
Millions of long-term illegal immigrants have established themselves as law-abiding residents, solid employees, fluent English speakers, loving parents, good neighbors, responsible homeowners, creative entrepreneurs and employers of U.S. citizens, college graduates, faithful taxpayers, and needed contributors to American prosperity. The “America First” policy would be to help those immigrants make restitution and keep them here, rather than bringing in untrained, unassimilated replacement workers, pretending to be “fair” to immigrants we previously chose not to admit to our country.
Whatever the partisan composition of the next Congress, voters want to see the issue of illegal immigration definitively solved. It’s time for Congress to act as soon as it returns from the current recess.
Joseph Castleberry is the author of The New Pilgrims: How Immigrants are Renewing America’s Faith and Values and represents the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference as vice president for government relations.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
