Beyond the economic concerns of immigration are security problems. Mixed in with those who simply want to make a better life for their families are some dangerous people. When immigration laws are flouted routinely, terrorists and drug traffickers find it easier to engage in criminal activities. What’s needed, James Carafano suggests in another Heritage paper on immigration, is for policymakers to enforce laws that bar employers from hiring illegal aliens.
“Research by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the SSA Inspector General suggests an alarming degree of collusion between illegal workers and employers who intentionally turn a blind eye to hiring individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States,” Carafano writes. “This collusion helps to fuel a burgeoning population of undocumented workers and encourages unprecedented levels of illegal border crossings.”
To reduce those crossings, we need a smarter way to secure our borders, Carafano says in a separate Heritage paper. We need “enhanced and secured infrastructure, appropriate screening, inspection of high-risk cargo and people, persistent surveillance, actionable intelligence and responsive interdiction,” he writes. “Combining these instruments into effective border security requires not just integrating assets at the border, but also linking them to all activities involved in cross-border travel and transport, from issuing visas, passports, and overseas purchase orders to internal investigations and the detention and removal of unlawful persons.”
Do these concerns mean that Americans should shun immigrants? Certainly not. Ours is a country born of immigrants. But immigration reform is long overdue and must emphasize work incentives, not welfare incentives; keep current US citizens safe from terrorists and thugs who enter under the dark of night; and include measures to make sure those legally entering our country are willing to contribute to society and become U.S. citizens. Patriotic assimilation is crucial, as Matt Spalding explains in a paper for Heritage’s First Principles Series. “The American theory of citizenship necessitates that the words immigration and assimilation be linked in our political lexicon and closely connected in terms of public policy: Where there is one, there must be the other.” Spalding points out that assimilation must include an emphasis on acquiring English, learning about our history, political principles, civic culture and establishing primary allegiance to the United States.
If we do not enact wise reform measures that protect our American way of life, there may one day be no recognizable American way of life left to protect.