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“The only way to stop illegal immigration is to stop rewarding it.”

Jun. 27th, 2019

“The only way to stop illegal immigration is to stop rewarding it.”

Pictures can move us in ways that words cannot and it is hard to find the right words for the photograph of Oscar Ramirez and his 23-month old daughter that went viral this week. Ramirez and his daughter, Valeria, drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande. Ramirez’s wife, who successfully crossed before them, reportedly watched helplessly from the other side.

Their story became a part of our national story this week, and it was not surprising to hear NBC anchor Jose Diaz-Balart bring it up during the Democratic primary debate last night:

DIAZ-BALART: We saw that image today that broke our hearts, and they had names. Oscar Martinez and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, died trying to cross the river to ask for asylum in this country. Last month, more than 130,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border.

Secretary Castro, if you were president today, hoy, what would you specifically do?

Julian Castro promised to undo President Trump’s executive enforcement actions, decriminalize illegal entry to the U.S., grant “undocumented” immigrants amnesty, and then “get to the root cause of the issue, which is we need a Marshall Plan for Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador so that people can find safety and opportunity at home instead of coming to the United States to seek it.”

The other candidates followed suit. Stephen Dinan reports:

Few candidates had specific answers other than to do more nation-building in Central America, saying they wanted to try to erase the conditions that are pushing people to leave.

None of them had suggestions for how to change the pull factors that draw the migrants to the U.S. and entice them to jump the border, believing - usually correctly - that they will gain a foothold here.

The moderators missed numerous opportunities to press the candidates on what they would do to remove the incentives and close the loopholes at the heart of the border crisis. In that sense, the debate last night reflected the ongoing failure of the political elite to stop the surge of children and families that began more than five years ago.

Oscar and his family left for economic reasons.

Interviews with Oscar’s mother in El Salvador make a few things clear:

Oscar left for economic reasons.
Oscar had a job in San Martin, a city that is safer than 71% of the cities in the United States.
Oscar had no legitimate asylum claim

Nelson Renteria reports:

“Ever since he first told me that they wanted to go, I told him not to,” Ramirez said, recalling conversations with her son. “I had a feeling, it was such an ugly premonition. As a mother, I sensed that something could happen.”

Despite his mother’s pleas, Oscar and his family left El Salvador in April, hoping to find work in the United States and eventually buy a house, Ramirez said.

Stephen Dinan reports:

Looking for a better job is not usually a reason to win asylum in the U.S. - but current U.S. policies allow people to make bogus asylum claims, then get released into the U.S. while their cases are heard.

More than 80% won’t win their cases, but they do gain a foothold here and many then ignore their deportation orders after they lose their case. Homeland Security doesn’t have the personnel - or, in most cases, the willpower - to attempt to deport them.

Oscar Ramirez was not trafficking drugs. He wasn’t a human trafficker. He was a man who wanted something more than his job at a pizzeria and a room in his mother’s house (a lot of Americans can relate!). He wouldn’t meet the enforcement priorities of most U.S. administrations, including those of the candidates who spoke last night who also promised U.S. citizenship to people in the U.S. illegally as long as they haven’t committed “serious” crimes. Had they survived, Oscar and Valeria would likely have qualified for a “path to citizenship” under a future proposal, she as a “DREAMer” and he as “an otherwise law-abiding” unauthorized migrant. Most likely, they would have been good neighbors, good citizens. They might have achieved some version of their American dream.

It’s a seductive narrative. And a deadly one. Oscar’s mother, Rosa, wants to tell people like her son a different story:

“I would say to those who are thinking of migrating, they should think it over because not everyone can live that American dream you hear about. We can put up a fight here. How much I would like to have my son and my granddaughter here. One way or another, we get by in our country.”

That’s a story that can save lives. But can it compete with the incentives that political and media elites continue to give people to put themselves at risk?

Peter K. Nunez writes:

We encourage it by rewarding it. It is a crime to knowingly hire unauthorized immigrants, but we refuse to enforce those laws. We allow employers to hire people who have no right to work in this country, because they can pay them less, provide fewer benefits and worse working conditions, and fire them if they complain....

....We encourage illegal immigration by granting amnesty to those who came illegally, and by promising future amnesties for those who come illegally in the future....

....We encourage it by allowing an unprecedented abuse and misuse of our asylum system that permits hundreds of thousands of immigrants to game the system....

....We also encourage illegal immigration and asylum abuse by letting unauthorized immigrants and smugglers use children as a get-out-of-jail-free card....

....The only way to stop illegal immigration is to stop rewarding it.

Elevate the debate,

jeremy
NumbersUSA.com