It turns out that restrictive immigration policies do not work and do not stop people from coming to a country illegally. On Monday, the UK, which has some of the most restrictive immigration policies in the world, reported that 1,295 boats attempted to cross the British Channel from France on that day alone, a record.
These people are coming despite increasingly aggressive policies from the UK, such as using the Royal Navy to stop boats, and threats to deport people to Rwanda, which faces allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings. The problem is that governments who focus on criminalizing migration are treating the symptoms, not the problems of war and famine. A disproportionate number of these people are fleeing wars such as Afghanistan, Syria, and now Ukraine. As a side note, if the politicians are tired of “illegal immigration,” then maybe they should quit starting or escalating the wars that cause it.
All countries have borders. But the fact is that if people want to migrate to a certain place, which people have done for millennia since the Biblical fall of man, you’re not going to stop them.
The solution is not open borders, but neither should it be the kind of draconian police state tactics that the US decries Russia for using. Many politicians throw up their hands and ask why more people don’t come legally. The problem is that it costs thousands of dollars to get someone into this country legally, meaning only people with plenty of money can afford to do it. We need to enforce our immigration laws, but we have to make it as easy as possible to come to the US legally.
Sure, if people come to this country for the purpose of selling drugs to our kids, plotting terrorist attacks, or committing violent crimes, then they should be deported after serving the maximum possible sentence. But if people come for the purpose of starting a new life, learning English, and playing by our rules, then they should be allowed to come here.
Many of the people coming here include babies and young children. The Supreme Court now says that life begins at conception. So it is only fair that if we are to adopt that standard, we should treat people with dignity from conception to the grave.
One of the most disturbing aspects of our immigration system is the fact that an unelected bureaucracy, with unelected judges, and officers who are not accountable to the people, are the judge and jury. If people are tired of Big Government trying to regulate our farms out of existence, then we need to pay attention when Big Government suspends basic constitutional law that we fought the British in 1776 to win. If they suspend the civil liberties of immigrants, it’s only a matter of time before they do it to us.
Unless one is Black or Native American, we are all either immigrants or descended from immigrants. One of my ancestors was English; another was Polish. All of our families were strangers and guests in another land at one time.
Instead of unelected bureaucrats playing judge and jury, we need to enforce laws already on the books. If someone crossed the border via the Rio Grande, that is federal property and criminal trespass. If someone then crossed into private property without the owner’s permission, that is criminal trespass as well. If someone is stealing identities to give to undocumented immigrants, that is identity theft and should be prosecuted. But let’s enforce our immigration laws the way we enforce any other laws we have – with the right to a jury trial, the right to an attorney, to present evidence in their defense, and to appeal a guilty verdict.
And as for employers who undercut our economy by hiring undocumented workers at subminimum wages, there are laws on the books for that. Prosecute them for wage theft. Require them to participate in e-Verify. Sue them for knowingly hiring undocumented workers for the purpose of undercutting competition.
But don’t create a police state, suspend basic civil liberties for certain people, talk about how certain countries need to become pariah states because they do not follow the “Rules Based International Order,” and expect the rest of the world to listen.
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