A blog post, provocatively entitled “How Do You Kill Millions of People”, mentioned one of the first things that the Nazi’s did to deal with “the Jewish problem”:
“Initially, the government erected fences around the communities, telling the Jewish people that it was to protect them from the Russians.”
A fence? Are you thinking what I am thinking?
“We’re from the Government and we are here to help. We will build this fence and this fence will protect you from … illegal aliens, the Mexican drug cartels, and terrorists.”
Of course, in our case, it is not the government that is pushing the fence idea, but people that are clamoring for it. However, once a fence is built, it doesn’t matter how it got built or who asked for it; it traps in those on the inside as well as it keeps out those on the outside. Do we really want fences that can be used against us later?
Far better than a fence is a sensible immigration policy.
The first thing we need to do is ask the question: “What ought our immigration policy be?” Decent republicans too often sound like democrats when avoid that question and instead say that we just need to enforce the law. Our heritage as Americans and as republicans is that we know that rights come from God; justice is defined by His rule; and good law corresponds to His revealed will. It is the opposing point of view, a democratic, an atheistic or deistic, philosophy that replaces God-given rights with entitlements, justice with due process, and law with majoritarian rules.
Current immigration policy is a travesty. It is an unhappy medium between incompatible desires. Mindless enforcement of stupid law is not the solution. We need to revamp our policy entirely.
One of the key problems here is that immigration has become a pocketbook issue. Anti-immigration conservatives are reacting to money issues. They fear that immigrants are lowering wages and taking our welfare money, their fear trumps the question of right and wrong. These pocketbook-driven conservatives remind me of my morally decent neighbor that vote Democrat, despite concerns over that party’s atrocious social positions, because the Democratic party supports unions, which in turn benefit working families by supporting higher wages. Both the pocketbook-driven conservatives and the wage-driven liberal act selfishly. Such selfishness is a major contributor to the decline of our nation.
What is the solution?
First, open our doors. Permit large numbers of immigrants. Screen out criminals and militants; let in the rest. Take fingerprints, DNA, photos, names, relatives’ names. When someone wants to settle in the US, we provide the process.
Second, offer a remedial process for illegal immigrants. This is not properly called amnesty because it is not a crime for people to travel to a better place to live. It is both natural and right. When these people, often poor, uneducated, and oppressed, do not understand complicated legal procedures or fear the result of dealing with government agents, we should not be surprised that they skirt the approved process. We need to stop arguing that migration is a crime. Folks that are in the US illegally—either on their own volition or when they are discovered—are screened and processed just like brand new immigrants.
Third, criminalize coming to the US after failing a screening or being barred. Criminals and militants that come over here in defiance of just banishment are prosecuted for breaking a just law and subject to fines, jail, whatever.
Stop with the fence already. It’s not a solution.
Related articles
- A Response About GOP Immigration (rightonlife.org)
- A Policy Without Sowell: Gingrich on Immigration (rightonlife.org)
- Lawmakers Say They’ll Build Border Fence (myfoxphoenix.com)
- Arrests of illegal immigrants along U.S. border down for 6th straight year (nj.com)
- Crying Wolf (economist.com)
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