The issues at the core of immigration are not that complicated. You may disagree with one solution or another, but it’s clear that Democrats and Republicans can solve this problem quickly and easily once the political will is there. I believe that after they agree on facts, political will can build, and a solution will follow.
There are many aspects to immigration, but let’s limit this article to the following four issues that represent the core issues driving the debate:
- legal immigration policy,
- controlling undocumented residents (e.g. overstaying a legal Visa),
- controlling non-violent illegal immigration,
- fighting violent criminals within illegal immigration.
First, my opinion just so you know my viewpoint. I don’t care what our immigration policy is so long as our policy is consistent and stops those stoking racism.
1. Legal Immigration Policy
Those that don’t like our immigration policy, and are not racists are mostly concerned with illegal immigration. They may want to tweak immigration law too, but their focus, as it should be, is on illegal immigration.
After all,
“…immigration law can be changed through Congress.”
One of the few problems with legal immigration are the attacks on immigrants themselves. To sow hate, some call them dirty disease carrying criminals that are a tax on our economy. If this fear is true, then we should allow very few immigrants.
That accusation begs the question:
Are Immigrants Generally Good or Bad?
This is an easy question to answer and the facts are settled. All the statistics indicate immigrants create more jobs, commit fewer crimes, and contribute more to our society than American born citizens. It’s a lie to say they bring germs, diseases, crime, and strain our economy. The exact opposite is true.
Where did this stereotype come from?
This stereotype is rooted in racism, but it also has a foundation in reality. Disease ridden Europeans including Pilgrims and Puritans immigrated and invaded Native American lands and introduced smallpox and other diseases. Newly introduced diseases killed 90% of Native Americans before 1700. If the worst plague in the history of mankind had not wiped out 90% of Native Americans, the battle for the territory that is now the United States would have unfolded much differently.
The personal hygiene of Europeans was foul smelling. Europeans at the time thought bathing made you sick and were amazed by the Native Americans interest in personal cleanliness. Native Americans viewed Europeans as dirty and smelly. Contrary to common misconceptions, Native Americans were cleaner, stronger, more athletic, and better looking than Europeans. Native Americans thought Europeans were physically weak, sexually untrustworthy, atrociously ugly, and dumb compared to themselves.
Today we know better. Land-locked humans with unknown diseases do not exist anymore.
Moral Obligation
In my mind “bible verses” and how our ancestors might have arrived here, and when, is not relevant to the discussion. With that said, I don’t understand some religious folks on the right who claim the bible is their authority, and argue against helping others.
Here is a poignant meme floating around social media that seems appropriate at this point of this article:
Bible: I was hungry and you gave me food
Matthew 25:35-40 New King James Version (NKJV)
35: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37: “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Asylum Seekers
Now, what about asylum seekers? First, border officials must listen to those claiming asylum because of international law that is part of the Geneva convention, and the right thing to do. Our American law currently follows international conventions. We can change or tweak our laws, but border officials must follow them until we do. After we listen, we accept them, detain them, or turn them back.
“Border officials must listen to those claiming asylum because of international law that is part of the Geneva convention, and the right thing to do.”
Sometimes, administrations try to change the laws for asylum seekers with an executive order . Under these proclamation, for example, foreigners would still be allowed to request asylum if they present themselves at ports of entry, but might forbid it for those who enter illegally. My personal opinion is that I don’t care about this change. If we as a society wish to change our immigration policy, we can, but it must go through our Constitutional political process.
Another common tweak in recent years was to change the laws around domestic violence victims. My preference is to allow domestic violence victims to apply for asylum, but that is not an act of the Government, nor generally an overwhelming threat like warlords, and cartels. So, if we as a society want to eliminate that, I think most would still support a bill. I think the same is true for smaller local gangs.
Strong Border Wanted By All
About 63% of voters oppose a wall. It’s expensive and ineffective so broad political support for it just does not exist. Experts on immigration say a wall will do very little for both professional criminals, nor undocumented residents.
2. Controlling Undocumented Residents
An undocumented resident is someone who entered the country legally, but overstayed (e.g. overstaying a legal Visa). More than 40% of illegal+undocumented are actually undocumented residents that overstayed their Visa. They are NOT breaking any laws so are NOT illegal.
The term illegal alien is more appropriate for when someone illegally immigrates here breaking our laws. All of us are law-n-order citizens. If someone breaks the law, hammer time. However, it has never been illegal to overstay your visa, which is why the undocumented resident term is needed. There is no civil or criminal penalty for overstaying a Visa, or even for physically being in America without documentation; non-citizens without a current Visa cannot be incarcerated or fined. They can be deported, and prevented from getting another Visa, but that’s all.
“An undocumented resident is someone who entered the country legally, but overstayed…The term illegal alien is more appropriate for when someone illegally immigrates here breaking our laws.”
Careful what you ask for!
We can pass a law to punish non-citizens without a current Visa, but please think hard about this before you advocate for this.
Right now, ICE authority extends 100 air miles from all borders including the coasts. That encompasses about 2/3 of the population. They can question anyone. They have guidelines in the form of reasonable suspicion for detaining and questioning you, but their authority is not part of the follow-up immigration status hearing. Right now, ICE officers do not need probable cause to detain you and hold you over for an immigration status hearing where the only question is are you an American citizen, or do you have a current Visa.
If we want a law for undocumented residents and illegal aliens, we can pass one, but I think it’s correct now. If we had such a law, you would need reasonable suspicion to detain and question someone. You would need probable cause in order to make an arrest. During the trial, reasonable suspicion and probable cause would be adjudicated. The arresting officer can either prove probable cause or not. If we change the law to make undocumented residents illegal, a police officer would have to have reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed.
E-Verify: The Undocumented Residents Solution
Most agree that undocumented residents should not be allowed to legally work. That will be fixed with eVerify Enforcement which is something both parties say they support. Once the political will is in place, eVerify enforcement will pass easily. Many believe the time for eVerify is coming. Gradually pressure is mounting and perhaps will be passed by 2026.
I personally believe you’ll know politicians are serious when they implement eVerify enforcement either by itself or as part of comprehensive immigration reform. That’s the ONLY thing needed to fix the undocumented resident problem. And, it’s not very expensive. Think about it. If someone arrives legally, overstays their visa, or comes here illegally, they cannot work! You might have a young child, aunt, or grandmother living in the home of legal Americans, but so what. No harm, no foul. And, they are still an undocumented resident subject to deportation if they get caught. For example, if they break “any” law at all.
Nearly all politicians on both sides know eVerify enforcement would take away all incentive for illegal immigration. Remember 40% or more of all undocumented residents here right now and historically came legally, then overstayed their visa, then slipped into the shadows. Many by plane and boat too. If we do eVerify enforcement, they have very little reason to stay. Problem solved. Taxes collected. No competition for jobs from the undocumented.
“Nearly all politicians on both sides know eVerify enforcement would take away all incentive for illegal immigration.”
You can verify this just by reading about the history of eVerify. For example, because farmers use undocumented workers and their politicians represent them, those politicians, Democrat or Republican, fight against eVerify. Because farmland is mostly represented by Republicans, it appears that Republicans don’t like eVerify more than Dems, but I think it’s more about who they represent and less about the party.
3. Controlling Non-Violent Illegal Immigration
To immigrants, we look better than death. Most of those people are trying to get away from something bad.
Here’s a fairly unknown fact.
We do NOT have an overall border problem.
Did you know…
Obama deported more undocumented than any other president…Canada takes in more immigrants than America both by percentage of the population and by raw numbers!
Did you know we have a net negative immigration flow since 2015?
“Illegal immigration is at a 40 year low. It went from 1.6 million in 2000 down to less than 400k in 2018.”
4. Fighting Violent Illegal Immigrants
The big scary emotional issue is fighting violent criminals within illegal immigration. If we don’t have an overall border problem, is there a problem? Yes, we have a law enforcement problem. Rather than spending $25 to $50 billion on a wall that the true criminals will find a way around, how about we spend a billion a year fighting MS13 and other criminals directly? Most believe it would not take a billion and would work better.
The Solution — American Agreement!
What’s the solution right now? About 79% of Americans want a comprehensive immigration bill that solves problems.
Something like…
1. E-Verify which would prevent nearly 100% of undocumented people taking American jobs,
2. border security better than a Trump-like wall to control illegal border crossing,
3. a path to citizenship for DACA so we don’t have to waste money and cause chaos on a Gestapo-like military force,
4. the rest of the undocumented and illegal couldn’t work and would get deported if and when discovered. For example, if they break a law.
The Freedom Caucus and the Bipartisan Bills of 2006 and 2013
I think no article is complete without discussing the Freedom Caucus and their role in this issue. The Senate in both 2006 and 2013 passed bipartisan immigration bills. Both times, the Republican lead house refused to vote on them. Why? Because they would have passed with bipartisan support, but the far right prevented a vote.
The 2013 bill under Obama even had border security! Obama’s 2013 Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act contained the needed $750 million for eVerify enforcement, and border security including more wall where experts said it was needed. It passed the Senate on a bipartisan 68-32 vote on June 27, 2013. The Republican lead house refused to vote on it because of the far-right Freedom Caucus.
Obama’s bill directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit two reports on border security strategy, including one on where fencing, infrastructure, and technology should be used; authorized the use of the National Guard to help secure the border; called for an increase in the number of Border Patrol agents at the southern border, and other border security measures.
Many, especially on the right, purposely confuse others using disingenuous discussion tactics because they want their way and have no real interest in discussing these issues and learning what the “majority” of Americans want. We live in a democracy and when “we the people” understand this issue with all variables honestly put on the table, they are for tightening the border with recommendations from experts, treating DACA folks similar to citizens and providing them with a path to citizenship, and treating the undocumented and illegal here already humanely and consistent with what other countries do.
Additional Notes and Clarifications
Valid Immigration Questions:
There are many valid immigration questions. Here are a few:
- Are you okay with chain migration if an American marries a foreigner? Trump married a foreigner, then brought her parents over. That’s chain migration. Are you ok with that?
- What about legal immigration chain migration? If someone immigrates here legally, after a period of time and with some hoops, they are allowed to bring immediate family: parents, spouse, and children. Are you okay with that?
- In both cases above, would you be okay with grandparents? Brothers and sisters? Cousins?
- How are you going to handle eminent domain?