Immigration: Up vs. Down, Not Republican vs. Democrat

National Review ^ | Feb 19 2015 | by Mark Krikorian

[11th_VA]

My colleague Jon Feere appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this morning opposite Crystal Williams of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and what struck me was the callers.

C-SPAN offers three call-in numbers, for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, and I’d guess on issues like taxes or guns or abortion that yields a variety of views.

But whatever you might think from watching the Senate battle over funding of Obama’s lawless amnesty decrees — where every Democrat has been voting for amnesty and against enforcement — out in the real world support for enforcing our immigration laws is not a partisan issue.

So whatever phone line people use to call in to C-SPAN, my experience from being on the show has been that most callers are pro-enforcement. On today’s show every caller was pro-enforcement (except one who was off-topic and another who was unintelligible).

Some samples:

A Black American Democrat from Los Angeles: If you want to see how negative the impact of illegal immigration has been on a community, come to Los Angeles. The black community has been pretty much overrun by illegals. . . . I’ve been a Democrat all my life but I’m seriously considering becoming an independent if the trend continues in the Democratic party the way it’s going and I know a lot of other African Americans who feel the same way. . . . I listen to C-SPAN every day and I hear African Americans calling in complaining about illegal immigration, and it seems to be that it’s falling on deaf ears.

An African immigrant calling in to the Independents line: I used to be a Democrat but I’m very disappointed by the Democrat party. . . . When the president said more than 20 times that it wasn’t his constitutional prerogative to give amnesty to the illegals, and all of the sudden he changed, it makes me really think that he’s not enforcing the Constitution that he was elected to enforce. . . . The president is also saying they cannot enforce the border. . . . Let’s just imagine that right now we gave [garbled] to all the illegals, and one year later we have the same problem because our border is not secure. What will we have achieved? I think the border should be secured first. We are the United States of America — we send people on the Moon, we have the most powerful military in the world and you are telling me that we cannot enforce our own border?

A Democratic woman from Georgia: I still work at 77 to pay my insurance and when these people [illegal aliens] go to a hospital and they don’t have insurance I feel like they are charging me extra if I go to a hospital to pay for these people that don’t have insurance.

A Black American from Miami on the Republican line: It’s already hard enough to find a job . . . now Obama and you guys are trying to legalize people to come here to take jobs that we need. . . . You guys are more concerned about the illegal aliens, people from other countries, than you are about your own citizens, and that’s concerning. . . . What are you guys trying to do, destroy the foundations of our country?

An Independent from Ohio: Why is it more important to protect illegal aliens than innocent Americans by not going ahead and just passing the budget and stopping the executive action of the president?

Another Democratic woman: These people are committing felonies and so are their employers. C-SPAN callers may not be a cross-section of Americans in general, but they are probably a pretty good sampling of likely voters. Republican presidential hopefuls might want to take notice.

[TigersEye]

FYI: 40% of the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens came here legally and overstayed their visas.

So, 40% of legal aliens become illegal aliens and illegal aliens are not the problem!? LOL

[kabar]

LOL Those who overstayed their visas came here as tourists, students, temporary workers, etc. There are 1.1 million legal permanent immigrants who enter annually, They are not included in the visa overstays because they are issued green cards.

FYI. The US has over 50 million visitors a year who enter legally, So it is incorrect to say that 40% of legal aliens overstay their visas. 40% of 12 million overstayed their visas

[TigersEye]

Yes, I misread the numbers. But it would be correct to read them as saying; 60% of the illegal aliens crossed the borders illegally and the other 40% came here legally but became illegal aliens when they overstayed. But you maintain that illegal aliens are not the problem. I disagree.

[kabar]

But you maintain that illegal aliens are not the problem. I disagree.

I never said that illegal aliens are not a problem. They are, but the bigger problem is legal immigration. They are transforming this country demographically, culturally, and electorally. Unless we change our legal immigration policies, we are finished even if we stopped illegal immigration completely. Immigration, legal and illegal, drives 80% of our population growth. By 2060 non-Hispanic whites will be 43% of the population, down from 89% in 1970 and 63% in 2012.

The non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, at 199.6 million, up from 197.8 million in 2012. Unlike other race or ethnic groups, however, its population is projected to slowly decrease, falling by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060.

Meanwhile, the Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3 million in 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060. Consequently, by the end of the period, nearly one in three U.S. residents would be Hispanic, up from about one in six today.

[TigersEye]

They are, but the bigger problem is legal immigration.

I know what you said and that is what I disagree with.

[kabar]

We will agree to disagree. I outlined why I believe legal immigration has had and will continue to have a much more deleterious impact on this country than illegal immigration. You have yet to spell out why you seem to believe that legal immigration is seemingly not a problem.

[TigersEye]

I didn’t say that it’s not a problem.

[kabar]

Why is it a problem?

[TigersEye]

Until the border is secured and all attempts at amnesty for illegal aliens is defeated I have no interest in discussing the problem of or solutions for legal immigration.

[kabar]

Then you are missing the elephant in the room. Illegal and legal immigration are two sides of the same coin. Many of the illegal aliens are coming here to join their families in the US, many of whom are here legally.

In any event, we can only go around this tree so many times. We will just agree to disagree. Cheers.

[TigersEye]

Trying to solve everything at once is called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. That is how the left gets everything they want with the eager help of RINOs. That is why every problem that needs addressing has been legislatively stalled since 2006 when the "immigration" issue first exploded as a political issue.

I won't participate in the McCain-Democrat flustercluck called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The first thing that needs to be addressed is border security because it is a problem that goes well beyond illegal immigration. It's a national security problem first and foremost. The second most important issue regarding illegal aliens, regardless of how they get here, are the motivations for them to stay. Entitlements being the biggest motivator and jobs being the second.

Until the following things are addressed I will not entertain any discussion about "reforming" legal immigration.

• Deport illegal aliens on contact with LE.
• Vigorously enforce the law on employers of illegal aliens.
• Build a border fence, use high-tech surveillance and fund adequate personnel to maintain security.
• Eliminate entitlements for illegal aliens.
• End the "anchor baby" policy.

Do those things and illegal aliens will deport themselves and pay for the trip.

After the majority of illegal aliens have self-deported the rest of the "immigration" problem will be an easy thing to deal with.

[kabar]

If you want a serious plan to address immigration, legal and illegal, here it is:

Principles

 Immigration to America is a privilege and not a right.

 Immigration policy is a discretionary policy.

 Immigration policy must promote the national interest.

I support a pro-immigrant, low immigration policy that contains the following elements:

 A merit-based immigration system that brings in the skills and talents to keep us competitive in the global economy;

Reduced immigration levels based on need and more closely approximating 300,000 legal immigrants a year vice the current level of 1.2 million;

 Elimination of extended chain migration, i.e., family reunification, limiting it to the nuclear family;

 Enforcement of existing immigration laws to reduce the current illegal alien population and limit future illegal immigration, i.e., attrition thru enforcement. Enforcement would include: (1) ending the job magnet; (2) increasing coordination at the federal level by eliminating barriers to information sharing among agencies; (3) leveraging state and local enforcement resources; (4) securing the border; (5) fully implementing the US-VISIT Program to track and deport visa overstays; and (6) make mandatory and improve such programs as E-Verify and 287 [g] authority to assist employers and law enforcement in identifying illegal aliens;

 Elimination of birthright citizenship;

 Elimination of the visa lottery program;

 Ensure that anyone who enters this nation illegally is not rewarded by being permitted to stay and work here, i.e., no amnesty;

 Streamline the processing and adjudication of immigration cases; and

Promote pro-immigrant measures that help newcomers assimilate and embrace the values and principles of our Founders and the Constitution.

“You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.”-- Milton Friedman