Where Krauthammer Goes Wrong on Illegal Aliens

Conservative Examiner ^ | 5/5/2010 | Anthony G. Martin

[Welshman007]

Introducing a proposal that would purport to solve America's growing immigration problem, columnist and political pundit Charles Krauthammer stated on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News program last night that amnesty for illegal aliens is acceptable, but only after the borders are sufficiently secured.

Before considering where Krauthammer goes wrong it is important to affirm where he is right.

America's immigration program is in complete disarray. Nearly 100 years ago the U.S. established reasonable limits on the number of immigrants accepted into citizenship, based upon the ability of the country to successfully accommodate and assimilate newcomers into the culture.

For a number of years that plan worked.

Then, beginning in the late 1960s under LBJ and a Congress heavily dominated by liberal Democrats, the nation threw to the wind those reasonable limits. While the restrictions remain on the books, they were ignored, allowing millions of illegal aliens to cross the border without any attempt to address the lawlessness.

Thus, periodically, rather than addressing the problem of those who break the law by attempting to get in front of the line of those who wish to immigrate legally, Congress would simply grant blanket amnesty, thus rewarding and enabling illegal behavior.

[Aetius]

I know this is old, but I just stumbled on it. You said you’d support legal immigration levels of over 5 million a year if it was specifically targted to benefit the US.

Do you really believe that is possible, or are you just trying to make a point. There is no way such a huge number could be good for the US, or at least for the US as a whole and most Americans.

And of course any increase in legal immigration will only speed up the demographic destruction of the GOP and any conservative movement. To increase levels by such an extreme amount as you suggest would be a bonanza for the Democrats once those immigrants started getting citizenship.

[Onelifetogive]

Do you really believe that is possible, or are you just trying to make a point. There is no way such a huge number could be good for the US...

I do believe it's possible for it to be good for us. We would have to pick educated and hardworking people from around the world who want to come here for freedom and the American dream. If we choose people at random or to be a relief valve for the impoverished of 3rd world countries, it would harm us AND those countries.

Our immigration philosophy seems to be to take the dregs from other societies and leave them the educated and hardworking. I think we do this to be a "good member of the world community." I think the effect is the opposite. By taking only the poor and leaving the educated, we allow other countries to remain corrupt and anti-growth. If we allowed their elite to come here for a better life, that would put pressure on every country in the world to treat their people better and to allow oppportunities for anyone to achieve.