I Don't Get It

CQ looks to be moving toward some form of compromise on illegal immigration. But I don't get this as a legitimate rationale for initiating an amnesty.

... we are a nation at war. For our own national security, we need to identify the people who have crossed illegally into our country as soon as possible. Waiting years for the numbers to decrease to a level where we can hope to perform effective investigations of illegal aliens isn't really an option. The US has to provide some incentive for the twelve million of illegal status to self-identify in a short period of time, accept identification papers while they work towards normalization, so that we can then focus on those who truly wish us harm.

If we were not at war, if terrorists did not target us for attack, this would not be necessary. However, we need to proceed realistically and figure out a method in which we can deliver some punishment for illegally entering the country while incentivizing the illegals to declare themselves -- and that is predicated on border security and much more robust enforcement.

I've never gotten the impression from our government that they have stripped away resources from fighting the WOT domestically to pursue Mexican laborers here illegally. And I doubt your average illegal Mexican is hanging out on Friday night with your average radical Islamist, so it's unlikely a coming forward will have any intel value, or make rooting out potential terrorists easier somehow.

And if the argument is purely resource based, it's going to consume a significant amount of immigration resources to process and track millions of immigrants who come forward to be part of any path to citizenship program, assuming the program is actually going to be managed to anything like an effective standard.

Consequently, from both a fiscal and manpower perspective, a citizenship program is actually going to drain vital resources, not free them up at a time when we are at war and attempting to root out any potential enemies already here.

I'm not opposed to compromise for political purposes. But I'd rather say it's for political purposes than attempt to rationalize it on shakey ground. Besides that, it ignores the actual point -  an amnesty program is going to be a drain of government resources and probably a net minus as regards the possiblity of employing additional immigration personnel in the fight against the threat from domestic terrorism.

Ultimately, the domestic terrorism threat is a better reason to avoid a citizenship program for illegal immigrants, than pursue one right now. Yet, sealing the border is a sound and necessary measure on both fronts.

Comments

[Draegn]

Yes seal the border, it worked very well for the East Germans. It's an ugly necessity but a necessity none the less.

[annie]

Yes, that's right, because after the West Germans saw the influx of cheap labour flowing in from the East, they were wishing it was back up!!