Should illegal immigrants in the United States have a legal path to citizenship, or should they be deported?

Deport

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by Linda Sunkle-Pierucki

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The illegal immigrant situation is one that gives pause to most caring people regardless of their political orientation. Certainly, no one wishes to arrest and deport millions of families to a land where there are no jobs and they have no hope of improving their lot in life. Americans are a compassionate people; give us a typhoon, a flood, an earthquake, a war-we will be packing up the kids' school clothes and the last can of peas in the pantry to help a stranger through tough times. We are generous to a fault, and in this case, maybe it's OUR fault-at least partly, that we face this dilemma. Because we've behaved with what we assumed was compassion and allowed this situation to go on for far, far too long.

I've heard every dis-ingenuous argument in the book: "We are a nation of immigrants!"-true, what nation isn't at some point in their history? The vast majority of our immigrants have been legal immigrants, however. How many readers can boast the name of a grandparent or great-grandparent recorded in the annals of the ships' manifests at Ellis Island? I know I can. And how many know that controlled, LEGAL immigration has been discussed as a part of government since before we signed the Constitution? It was and has always been an issue of utmost societal concern. Our forefathers were concerned that massive immigration of one particular group or another would be disruptive to the building of a cohesive and strong society. They came by this conclusion honestly; they were familiar with the need that had developed in their homelands for government to control its borders in order to assure lawful and tranquil society and business. This is one nation of immigrants that tried from the outset to avoid the pitfalls of a splintered society due to uncontrolled immigration, only to be undermined by government itself.

"They only do the jobs Americans wont do!" is another lame excuse for the fact we have allowed over 10% of the population of an entire country to sneak in here uninvited. And that's just Mexico! The cold hard fact is, there are NO jobs Americans won't do. Americans have done the farm labor, the domestic chores, the laundry, the landscaping, the construction, meatpacking, dishwashing-all of the jobs we now say Americans won't do. The ugly fact here is we have replaced OUR lower class with another country's lower class-and in the process, put our own poor out of a subsistence job or a skilled trade. In doing so, we have allowed the lowering of wages those jobs should naturally earn in our economy for the benefit of a few. Somehow, all the compassion in the world doesn't seem to make that right, does it?

"Americans who want to close the borders are racist!" That has to be the most dis-ingenuous argument ever. Who is hurt most by rampant unchecked illegal immigration? By far, the jobs held by blacks have been the first to be taken, along with the uneducated, those of lower abilities and the poor. It doesn't escape my notice that those who use this argument are none of the above. Illegal immigration has been used to lower the wages of the lowest-income segment of society. How the tax-supported university professors who support Marxist theory and call us racist justify this paradox in their minds is beyond me. Perhaps they should have given up cannabis when most other people out-grew it in the seventies. Obviously, if they had ever been forced to engage in some hard physical labor in order to eat, rather than suckling at the government teat all of these years, they might have a more realistic picture of life in these United States among those of us they consider so decadent, so corrupt. However, I didn't intend to discuss the corrupting influence of the tenure system.

"Migration is a human right!" Well, yes, assuming you want to enter and the gate-keepers want to let you in! Migration as a human right only exists in the dreams of an utopian society that has never existed and never will. Perhaps if above "scholars" had completed the entire chapters of Plato's Republic, they would realize that even Plato realized this was un-achievable. And even Plato's Republic was a lawful society. Does anybody see a paradox here?

"Our population is dropping and we need more workers!" And, just how many jobs have we lost in the past thirty years to off-shoring? And off-shoring to many of the same countries that are sending their poor here! We no longer have the jobs to keep our dropping population gainfully employed, and corporate greed abetted by government is destroying our overall economy for short-term profits. All the imported workers in the world won't help our fiscal situation, especially at lower wages, as long as Congress considers our tax-supported funds to be their personal piggy bank! It's hard to determine which is the more pressing need; immigration solutions or cleaning house in Washington DC on both sides of the aisle.

All of these arguments, and more, have fatal flaws when they are examined dispassionately. Add to this the current state of the American economy. If promoting social justice requires me to give up my job, my home, my grandchildren's future so that someone else can have the fruits of my labor I'm not in favor of it. Yet, that is what you are asking me to do.

I can easily understand the needs of the 30 million Latin Americans who have sneaked across the border. I also understand the motivation of 500,000 Chinese who have braved long ocean voyages to get here. The other hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens in out midst all have similar tales of hardship and woe. Yet, my standard of living is dropping precipitously simply because they are here. The sad fact is, our own government has caused the mass migration mess that is threatening to overwhelm our society and our social institutions. And, this isn't the first time they have done so-it is only the biggest. Because government, in collusion with business has instituted a system of unseen, undocumented slave labor to solve short-term economic problems of their own creation, they have created a monster. They've done the same before, such as in the big business boom during the Industrial Revolution, before the Great Depression, during WWII and now. And in every case, the back-lash from dis-enfranchised legal citizens forced the government to take the drastic measure of deporting these unfortunate people. Because the availability of cheap labor is such an irresistible magnet for business, the influx this time has gone on far past where it would have naturally ended. And because Latin America's corrupt governments are so incapable of providing for their people, there is no hope it will end voluntarily-unless, of course, conditions here deteriorate until they rival conditions there. That could actually happen if current circumstances remain in play long enough. (see my article: Illegal immigration and the economy )

So, yes, they must be deported. Perhaps not all but certainly those among them that bring drug crime and gang lifestyles with them. And the border must be secured, either by fence or better patrols with actual enforcement authority. And of paramount concern is dealing with the corrupt large corporations that have made an immoral financial killing at the expense of both citizens and immigrants. It is THEIR fault these people have come-and in some cases, they have actually gone to recruit them. If corporations were to follow ALL immigration laws, with a clear penalty of prison time, not just fines, many if not most, would self-deport. That has been proven in Arizona in just a short time. I personally feel that all corporate criminals in this case should be assessed a substantial fine for each illegal worker as fines for underpayment and lack of overtime, etc, which can then go with the deportee to start his life over in his own country-and perhaps better it from within. We also must end the false birth-right citizenship interpretation of the 14th amendment to end the incentives to come here and reproduce.

After all these measures are in place, then we can begin to deal with the relatively small numbers of long-term illegal aliens who are completely absorbed into the larger society either by marriage or long residence on an individual basis. Certainly we have all sorts of loopholes and special circumstance rules within the legal immigration system that can be used to assimilate these people fairly and honestly. And they should expect to become full United States citizens-no dual citizenship, no divided loyalties. Only then will these people become true members of the United States citizenry. And our economy will have to seek its own natural level with the labor force it has. Given the ingenuity of the American people, I have no doubt this will happen relatively soon, as will the modernization of Latin America's political systems once these people return home with a little cash in their pockets and freedom in their hearts.

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