Musing on…Immigration Limits

It’s funny…whenever there is legislation pending in Congress about immigration, sides almost always polarize into the "secure our borders" and "immigrants are our lifeblood" groups–as if they were on different sides.

I’m no expert on the latest legislative immigration brouhaha, nor do I want to be, but it seems like things get made too complicated sometimes. The problem has never changed, and the "solutions" (from what I can see) have pretty much remained constant as well.

The basic problem is illegal immigration. That’s the key distinction. The United States gladly accepts people from all over the world, and has through much of its history. It’s a land born of immigration (yes, the "native" Americans included). Many of our best and brightest came from other shores. The fact of the matter is that the US has been the happy beneficiary of people’s desire to relocate here.

Here’s the rub: a country can only manage to absorb a certain extra amount of people in a given amount of time before the seams start to strain. That’s why there a laws on who’s allowed to move to this country permanently (most, if not all, other countries has similar restrictions). People desiring to come here often must jump through a number of legal hoops and wait a bit (sometimes years) before they are granted a green card. America has no intrinsic problem with these new residents–they’ve played by the rules, asked to be part of our little group, and we’ve said, "Sure. Come on in. Set [sic-"sit"] a spell. Take your shoes off."

Refugees take a different route. They flee their land (often at great hardship and risk), and arrive on our shores and borders asking for help. Often, the government will say that they were, indeed, persecuted, and the only humanitarian thing to do is to accept them. These "wretched refuse" aren’t trying to hide their intention. They show up saying, "Please accept me." They can’t jump through the legal hoops for that only puts a target on their backs. America does provide for that on a situational basis.

Then there are the rest. You know who I mean. The ones who breach the border, hoping to disappear into the blob of humanity. That they wish for a "better life" isn’t really a factor. That the United States shuns immigrants is so silly that it doesn’t merit serious discussion. The reality is that while the "land of the free" is a melting pot (or stew pot…depending on your metaphor preference), it most certainly isn’t a bottomless pit able to absorb all of the world’s desperate.

Illegal immigrants are an insult to those who did everything the proper way. They enter the country thumbing their nose at the laws of the country. They know they won’t qualify as refugees, and so have chosen to live at the margins in the hope of the elusive "better life." If they birth children while in-country, then so much the better, for the children are automatically US citizens.

I, for one, am tired of it. In my lifetime there have been one or two amnesty programs designed to allow persons here illegally to become legal. And there is now talk of another such program. Doesn’t this send the wrong message? One of: oh, just break into the US…after a few years you can become a citizen because they want a quick solution to their immigration problem. No hoops. Just cash.

Enough. The purpose of the previous amnesty was to say, "After this, no more US-nice-guy." Thing is, it looks bad on TV to have dirty families with crying children being horded onto transports and deposited back into their countries of origin. Politicians might not mind so much if it’s in someone else’s electoral district, but not in their state. And what of the newly-born American citizens? Do we just keep them so they can have their "better life"? Or, do we shove them on the transport with their parents? Again, the makings of great TV.

It’s time that the US actually decides that an illegal immigrant is, by definition, ILLEGAL. While they are not to be denied their human rights, neither should the system be beholdin’ to them to provided services they haven’t legally earned (and yes, I’m including schooling for non-citizens as well…it’s harsh, but lines do need to be decided on). Do illegals (for the most part) do useful work? Yes. Do they do work that many Americans are loathe to do? Definitely. Do they then deserve the full rights of Americans? No. They are criminals. They may work hard and for little pay in sweat shops and in the fields…but the solution isn’t to bow down every generation or so and say that’s alright. Close the sweat shops and hire American migrants to husband the fields. The criminals need to be returned to sender.

(Oh. And to the governments that provide information to their citizens on how to get through the US borders without legal papers…shame on you.)