A take on immigration from OWB. Cross posted from elsewhere.
–
The current problem that we face is complicated. No doubt about that fact. Illegal entry into this country has been ignored, obfuscated, and purposefully been made into the situation we now see.
There are two main issues which we can address immediately that will help us sort through the confusion and chaos. We can and must stop adding to the problem and concurrently remove the incentives which contribute to the problem.
Just as we lock our household doors, not to keep out our friends, but to make access more difficult for whatever bad guy out there might or might not try to enter our home for unfriendly reasons, a sovereign nation has not only the right but the obligation to provide the same for the country. Our front doors are substantially made with heavy locks to control who gets into our homes. Why should our borders and other ports of entry be different from our homes?
Lefties tend to repeat the mantra that our borders should be open. Perhaps in some ways that is true. But, they should only be as open as we are willing to maintain our homes. If I leave my front door open and people I don’t know take up residence in my living room am I really obligated to invite them to dinner? How many rooms should I add to my home to accommodate the strangers now living in my home? By securing the perimeter I can avoid having to deal with any of this.
But what about those folks already living in my home? How do we get rid of them? One thing the lefties do get right is saying that deporting the multiple millions of illegal aliens would be expensive and nearly impossible to accomplish. Can we somehow get them to remove themselves?
Eliminating the rewards that people receive when coming here illegally will cause some of them to self-deport. Perhaps many will do so. Maybe even most would. We do not know how many will leave on their own, but we know that at least some would prefer to be at home with their families than in a foreign country with no rewards for remaining. However many that is, it reduces the number of illegal aliens with which we must deal later. Every one that self-deports us saves us money immediately.
None of us can say exactly what is needed much less how much it will cost to solve the illegal immigration problem. Anything we can do to make it a smaller problem should be a priority. But first we need to keep it from becoming worse. Better yet, reduce the scope of the problem as we are developing ways to get rid of it altogether. Too many people have been killed by illegal aliens. Too many illegal aliens are being paid with our tax dollars for things they have not earned. It is past time to lock down the revolving door.
No, I don’t care who they are, where they came from, or with whom they associate. Until we control entry into this country we have no national security. Since that is one of the few legitimate functions of our national government, it would be nice if they did their job.
The dirty secret in the middle of all this is the drug trade. It will never be seriously addressed until our national security is taken seriously. Drugs have weakened our ability to defend ourselves individually and collectively. They are perhaps nearly completely responsible for the lawlessness we see on streets and country roads across the country. It is a national disgrace, one which could be corrected if we had the will to do so. But it will never be fixed with porous borders and other ports of entry.
The time for hand wringing is long past. Many around the nation have finally awakened to the reality of this and other problems too long ignored as is evidenced by the election of a political neophyte as our president. With the pace of his work this week toward fulfilling his campaign promises, it would appear that President Trump will come closer to solving this and other serious issues than has anyone of the political chattering class. We can only hope that he succeeds. With our help, he just might do it.
