Now that the caravan has arrived at the U.S./Mexico border, the mainstream media have continued their attacks upon our immigration policy in general and on President Trump in particular. There are several good reasons why Trump must stay strong on this issue.
First, this political football has been kicked around for over thirty years. When Ronald Reagan signed the Simpson/Mazzoli amnesty bill in 1986, the problem of illegal aliens was supposed to be resolved. But, of course, it wasn’t. In 2006, Congress passed a bill to build 700 miles of fence across the southern border, but most of the fence was easy to crawl over or under or through. Despite the heroic actions by border agents, illegals continue to pour into America until we now have somewhere between 12 and 15 million (and it could be more). Polls show that a majority of Americans want a secure wall, but nothing happens. The only conclusion that must be drawn is that many members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, have no real desire to stop illegal immigration.
Second, the ease at which illegals come into this country makes a mockery of the rule of law. The word illegal, by definition, describes an act that is contrary to law. So, the first act of a person sneaking into the U.S. is to break the law. Now people can change the word illegal to undocumented in an attempt to hide the reality of an illegal act, but that doesn’t change the reality. You can pour a lot of perfume on a pig, but it’s still a pig. A person who enters this country without the permission of the government is a law-breaker, pure and simple.
Third, for Democrats, the political goals of more illegal immigration are obvious. First, they see them as future voters. Several surveys show that immigrants from Central and South America, legal or otherwise, support the Democrat party and its promise of unlimited benefits. Second, the Democrat party relies upon large numbers of people who will remain dependent upon the government. One need only consider the hold the Democrats have on the black community. No matter how much poverty and crime exists within the black community, and although the largest black communities are governed by liberal Democrats, black voters will continue to pull the Democrat lever in the voting booth. Add several million more dependent illegal aliens to this dependent class, and the Democrats will remain in power forever.
Fourth, the cost of illegal aliens to the American taxpayers is staggering. According to a 2017 report by the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), each year illegal aliens cost American taxpayers $135 billion or $8,075 per illegal family. States pay two-thirds of that $135 billion. Taxes paid by illegals are only $15.5 billion, so the notion that illegals pay their own way is laughable. The federal government pays for primary and secondary education, migrant schooling, uncompensated hospital expenditures, Medicaid births, Medicaid fraud, Medicaid for U.S. born children of illegals, incarceration, border enforcement, ICE operations, meals in schools, WIC, and temporary assistance. Why should hard-working Americans foot the bill for people who illegally enter here? This is a great injustice, yet many politicians on both sides of the aisle apparently don’t care.
Fifth, a significant number of illegals are criminals. The MS-13 gangs from Central America are notorious for heinous crimes such as rape, torture, and murder. Other illegals commit fraud, human trafficking, assaults, and theft. Those who favor open borders point to studies that seem to indicate that illegals are actually more law-abiding than native-born U.S. citizens. Although I question the veracity of these studies, given the open-borders bias of the researchers, let’s just look at this logically.
Suppose there are ten people in jail for murder, seven of whom are native-born and three who are illegals. Obviously, 70% of the murderers are native born, but only 30% are illegals. Thus, as a percentage, the illegals committed less crime than the native-born. Now let’s say that each of these criminals has killed five people. That’s fifty people. But if the illegals had never been in this country in the first place, there would be fifteen people still alive—a thirty percent decrease. So, keeping a criminal illegal out of this country is a net positive for society.
Finally, the open-borders crowd never wants to talk about legal immigration. They want to give the impression that America doesn’t want any foreigners to come here. But the truth is that, since 2000, nearly 20 million legal immigrants have entered the country. That is no small number and puts the lie to the notion that this nation is xenophobic.
Americans are a welcoming people. We should not be condemned for demanding that those who want to enter our home must fulfill one key requirement: they should be invited first. Is that too much to ask?
Amen, Thomas!