Sunday, July 01, 2007
Opinion

Immigration? No problem

The point that’s gone unnoticed in the immigration debate

Immigration demonstrators display a "Fathers Day" card for President Bush across the street from the White House on June 19 as part of the “Keep our Families Together” campaign for comprehensive immigration reform.
CREDIT: Tim Sloan/Getty Images

By Eric Von Haessler

The point that’s gone unnoticed in the immigration debate currently twisting the 24-hour TV pundits into knots is that the whole problem could be solved within months. There is no immediate need for a fence, amnesty or a combination of the two. There is a solution that would work so fast the whole issue would disappear from national life as if into thin air.

The fact that the obvious solution is rarely, if ever, uttered—let alone acted on—can only lead the inquisitive to believe that actually solving the immigration problem isn’t on the agenda of anyone with the power or authority to do so. This is politics as Kabuki dance and nothing more. Each side is making the gestures it knows must be made, but it’s all for the sake of the dance alone. Resolution of the problem doesn’t even figure into it.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why your government needs to waste time passing new laws concerning activity that has already been deemed illegal? Living as an undeclared citizen in this country is illegal, and penalties for such behavior have long been enshrined in state and federal law. So why the need for new legislation? Why the need for a fence now, when one wasn’t needed for so long? The dance, my friends. The dance.

Backers of a security fence envisioned to run some 700-plus miles along the boundary between Mexico and America claim the non-stop wave of humanity crossing the border
is so overwhelming that only a tall, solid structure can stop the invasion.

Supporters of amnesty argue that the forced and immediate deportation of 12 million souls would tear apart loving families, and that the amount of displacement necessary to pull it off would de facto become a cruel and unusual enterprise on the part of the government. In other words, they, like their opponents who favor a wall, are saying that it’s the overwhelming number of illegal aliens already here or coming here that justifies their opposite, but equally radical, solution to the problem.

If the politicians would stop dancing between constituencies and start searching for clarity, they might just stumble upon the easy way out. Instead of trying to stop the flow of humanity crossing into this country one by one, individual by individual, why not remove the thing they are coming for?

Remove the jobs and you remove the problem of immigration altogether. When applying the law in a situation like this, it is important to apply it with the most force where it will yield the most immediate results. An illegal immigrant, on some level, has already come to terms with the fact that he or she may end up dealing with law enforcement as a result of his or her choices. The prospect of arrest and detention is weighed against the potential revenue stream created if they make it through. Immigrants make a risk/reward assessment that the possible consequences are worth the potential rewards.

The businessperson hiring that illegal immigrant, however, sees the world from a very different perspective. The prospect of a prolonged jail sentence will immediately get the attention of everyone present in every boardroom and construction trailer in America. Of course, fair notice must be given. After all, these people have been doing this with a wink and a nod from the government for years. We can be fair and still solve the problem.

In order to solve the “crisis” of illegal immigration, the federal government need only announce to business owners and CEOs that they have 90 days to stop using any and all undocumented workers. It further needs to be made clear that after this three-month reprieve, the Feds will begin arresting and prosecuting the most senior members of any business found in violation of immigration law.

It must be recognized that actually “solving” this problem may do more damage than good for the country: A $7 head of lettuce is the most probable outcome of all this. It’s bound to get expensive once immigrant labor gets replaced by unionized workers demanding field masseuses for pickers who suffer lower-back problems. But if you want it solved, it’s solvable.

Send two or three millionaires to jail and the problem will go away overnight. Or just enjoy the dance. It’s up to you. SP

More of Eric Von Haessler’s musings can be found on myspace.com/madpundit.