Posted on 01/15/2004 10:10:31 AM PST by Sabertooth
In the wake of President Bush’s “not an Amnesty” Amnesty proposal to legalize millions of Illegal Aliens under the cover of a “guest worker” program, the argument has surfaced that we as Americans have no choice but to pursue this Amnesty, because the only alternatives would be the current status quo, or “deport them all and build a wall” police-state measures.
I’ve long held that draconian measures are unnecessary to solve the Illegal Alien problem. Recently I posted Eighteen Illegal Alien solutions that are better than any Amnesty, which outlined a number of quite reasonable measures that would encourage Illegal Aliens to deport themselves.
While it may seem self-evident that diligent enforcement of existing laws combined with a few new tactics results in a decrease in the targeted crime, many dig in their heels against the notion that Illegals would respond sensibly to the same utilitarian application of law enforcement.
Fortunately, we’ve had something of a test case on the idea, and the results are promising.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft targeted Illegal Aliens from certain Middle Eastern nations as a result of the War on Terror. Among those receiving increased scrutiny were Pakistanis.
As a result, according to the Pakistani Embassy, More that 15,000 Pakistani Illegals have left America since September 11th, 2001.
“Residual foreign born” the Census Bureau’s euphmism for Illegal Alien (does every federal agency have one?). Unfortnately, the Census 2000 Estimates of Residual Foreign Born does not include a specific estimate for the number of Pakistani Illegal Aliens in the United Sates at that time. The last available federal estimate is a 1996 INS report, which put the number of Pakistani Illegals at 41,000.
It’s a fair bet, given the laxity of enforcement of our immigration laws under President Clinton, that there were more Pakistani Illegals in the country five years later, at the time of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We can be quite confident of some increase, given that by every other measure there was an increase of the Illegal Alien presence in the country over the same 1996 – 2001 time period.
If we assume an increase to 50,000 Pakistani Illegals, the 15,000 self-deportations reported by the Pakistani Embassy would represent 30% of the total.
Even if we assume 60,000, almost half-again more than the 41,000 Pakistani Illegals reported in 1996, those 15,000 self-deportations would represent a huge 25% of the total.
Keep in mind that returning to Pakistan requires a not inexpensive airline ticket, as well as a transoceanic and transcontinental flight.
Now, apply that conservative 25% self-deportation rate to DHS Secretary Tom Ridge’s recent estimate of 8 to 12 million Illegals currently in the country.
25% of 8 to 12 million would equal 2 to 3 million self-deportations of Illegal Aliens.
Isn’t that a better plan than President Bush’s current proposal to legalize these same Illegals?
Hardly. The Journal (which has long advocated open borders) is well aware of the phenomenom of Pakistanis fleeing America once the FBI announced its post-9/11 intention of interviewing non-citizens from countries that export terrorism.
Their response was to run a major article claiming discrimination and death-threats had driven Pakistanis from a Brooklyn neighborhood.
When the liberal soccer moms that instituted a post-9/11 Muslim outreach program through the neighborhood association and PTA protested the biased article, the reporter refused to consider their evidence or revisit the issue.
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