Illegal immigration and the efforts to accommodate it have come about from
either bureaucratic prerogative - under pressure from employers and ethnic
lobbyists - or court decisions. In contrast, polls, referenda and
legislative action all reflect a public desire to reduce illegal immigration
and close the borders now. In fact, in a June Rassmussen poll, 70 percent of
the public supported an immigration bill that does that - and only that.
If the American public wants the border closed first, and discussion of
everything else later, is that really such a bad thing?
Were the government to enforce laws already passed - fine employers for
hiring illegal aliens, actually build the approved fences, beef up the
border patrol, issue verifiable identification - we would then soon be
dealing with a static population of illegal aliens. And that pool would
insidiously shrink, not annually grow.
Some of the 12 million here illegally would willingly return home. Some with
criminal records could be deported. Some would marry U.S. citizens. Some
could be given work visas. Some could apply for earned citizenship.
The point is that our formidable powers of assimilation would finally catch
up and have time to work on a population that would be at last fixed,
quantifiable and identifiable. As aliens were more readily integrated with
the general citizen population, Spanish would evolve into a helpful second,
not a single alternate, language. Wages would rise for workers already here
- many of them soon to be Mexican-American citizens - without competition
from a perpetual influx of illegal aliens who work more cheaply.
Mexico would be forced to deal with rather than export its own problems.
Billions in earnings would stay in the United States to help our own
entry-level and legal immigrants from Mexico, not be sent back as
remittances to relatives.
In short, a savvy public is neither racist nor hysterical in wanting the
border closed now. It's the only comprehensive solution to the present mess
of illegal immigration.