Is Illegal Immigration Moral? (There is more to the debate than costs and benefits)

National Review ^ | 11/26/2010 | Victor Davis Hanson

[SeekAndFind]

We know illegal immigration is no longer really unlawful, but is it moral?

Usually Americans debate the fiscal costs of illegal immigration. Supporters of open borders rightly remind us that illegal immigrants pay sales taxes. Often their payroll-tax contributions are not later tapped by Social Security payouts.

Opponents counter that illegal immigrants are more likely to end up on state assistance, are less likely to report cash income, and cost the state more through the duplicate issuing of services and documents in both English and Spanish. Such to-and-fro talking points are endless.

So is the debate over beneficiaries of illegal immigration. Are profit-minded employers villains who want cheap labor in lieu of hiring more expensive Americans? Or is the culprit a cynical Mexican government that counts on billions of dollars in remittances from its expatriate poor that it otherwise ignored?

Or is the engine that drives illegal immigration the American middle class? Why should millions of suburbanites assume that, like 18th-century French aristocrats, they should have imported labor to clean their homes, manicure their lawns, and watch over their kids?

Or is the catalyst the self-interested professional Latino lobby in politics and academia that sees a steady stream of impoverished Latin American nationals as a permanent victimized constituency, empowering and showcasing elite self-appointed spokesmen such as themselves?

Or is the real advocate the Democratic Party that wishes to remake the electoral map of the American Southwest by ensuring larger future pools of natural supporters? Again, the debate over who benefits and why is never-ending.

But what is often left out of the equation is the moral dimension of illegal immigration. We see the issue too often reduced to caricature, involving a noble, impoverished victim without much free will and subject to cosmic forces of sinister oppression. But everyone makes free choices that affect others. So ponder the ethics of a guest arriving in a host country knowingly contrary to its sovereign protocols and laws.

First, there is the larger effect on the sanctity of a legal system. If a guest ignores the law — and thereby often must keep breaking more laws — should citizens also have the right to similarly pick and choose which statutes they find worthy of honoring and which are too bothersome? Once it is deemed moral for the impoverished to cross a border without a passport, could not the same arguments of social justice be used for the poor of any status not to report earned income or even file a 1040 form?

Second, what is the effect of mass illegal immigration on impoverished U.S. citizens? Does anyone care? When 10 to 15 million aliens are here illegally, where is the leverage for the American working poor to bargain with employers? If it is deemed ethical to grant in-state-tuition discounts to illegal-immigrant students, is it equally ethical to charge three times as much for out-of-state, financially needy American students — whose federal government usually offers billions to subsidize state colleges and universities? If foreign nationals are afforded more entitlements, are there fewer for U.S. citizens?

Third, consider the moral ramifications on legal immigration — the traditional great strength of the American nation. What are we to tell the legal immigrant from Oaxaca who got a green card at some cost and trouble, or who, once legally in the United States, went through the lengthy and expensive process of acquiring citizenship? Was he a dupe to follow our laws dutifully?

And given the current precedent, if a million soon-to-be-impoverished Greeks, 2 million refugee North Koreans, or 5 million starving Somalis were to enter the United States illegally and en masse, could anyone object to their unlawful entry and residence? If so, on what legal, practical, or moral grounds?

Fourth, examine the morality of remittances. It is deemed noble to send billions of dollars back to families and friends struggling in Latin America. But how is such a considerable loss of income made up? Are American taxpayers supposed to step in to subsidize increased social services so that illegal immigrants can afford to send billions of dollars back across the border? What is the morality of that equation in times of recession? Shouldn’t illegal immigrants at least try to buy health insurance before sending cash back to Mexico?

The debate over illegal immigration is too often confined to costs and benefits. But ultimately it is a complicated moral issue — and one often ignored by all too many moralists.

— Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern. © 2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

[Spirochete]

Is Illegal Immigration Moral?

Its not immigration. Its tresspassing and freeloading.

Both are immoral.

[wiggen]

Over a sucession of administrations that ignored the problem. Like most issues that end up seemingly intractable (not to me,i say round em up and send them back) this was caused by inaction until the illegal seemed to be the norm. I bet there are judges that would rule that way too.

[Flag_This]

Is burglary immoral? I think illegal immigration and burglary are nearly identical crimes except for the scale.

[RC2]

That is the point people need to look at. Forget all the reasons for or against, whether it’s moral or not. Just look at our countries laws and enforce them. If we don’t do that, then the general public shouldn’t have to obey any of our laws. Is that where we are going?

[jnsun]

Excellent, excellent, VDH

Thank you, and for the post.

[algernonpj]

As a corollary, one could ask is it moral to flood the country with LEGAL immigrants plus their entire extended families? Many legal immigrants are low skilled and make extensive use of the US's safety net.

Other LEGAL immigrants flood the market, displacing Americans at all levels and suppressing salaries with cheap labor. Part of the costs of hiring them is passed onto US taxpayers via the safety net.

I tracked down this recent report from PEW, a major hispanic advocacy group. Note PEW uses BLS figures.

Foreign Born Gain Jobs; Native Born Lose Jobs

Look at this graph, remembering 125,000 new LEGAL workers (combination of guest workers and green cards) per month = 1.5 million per year.



Many of the LEGAL immigrants are the result of 'Free Trade' agreements that over-rid US immigration law and make no accommodation for the unemployment/employment situation in the US.

[apocalypto]

Illegal immigration is immoral. Illegal aliens are criminals who want to get special privileges for being criminals. Why should they be rewarded over people who follow the laws? Besides,they are, as a group, disgusting and dangerous.

Since President Obama is asking China to help defend S. Korea, he should also ask China to help us with the illegal alien invasion.

[mewzilla]

An FR thread from 2006....

Watch "Immigration Gumballs" on Google Video (must see)

Good intentions are the subject of the last few minutes.

[Waco]

It’s simple, if all those illegals were presumed to be future GOP votes, the border would be closed in a mico-second, not even a coyote would get across.

[thethirddegree]

We need to deport or imprison ALL illegal aliens, including their anchor babies, seal/secure the border with a wall and fence, and have a lethal response to all who try to re-enter illegally.

[Alberta's Child]

Those are all legitimate concerns, but I think the author's point is that they go beyond illegal immigration in and of itself. Getting your identity stolen by an illegal alien is no different than having it done by an American-born A-hole. The same goes for most of the other social costs listed here.

[wbarmy]

Not trying to take away from your post, but there are things that are illegal, but are not immoral.

Case in point, the Supreme Court has said it is illegal to protest within a certain distance from an abortion clinic. Does that make it immoral to protest within that limit?

Also, it is legal to take somebodies property (Kelo) but is it moral to do so?

[A Strict Constructionist]

I try to remind my Spanish friends, that it’s Spain’s fault, not ours.

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[Kimberly GG]

IMO, it’s neither complicated nor a ‘moral’ issue.

Illegal is illegal. Breaking the law is immoral.

[chicagolady]

MY HERO!!

Father Bascio on the immorality of illegal immigration
11 min - Jan 7, 2010 - Uploaded by tsccom
Father Patrick J. Bascio, a Catholic priest, discusses why illegal immigration into the United States is fundamentally immoral ...
youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMaNa1K8lJo

[Nea Wood]

What if I snuck into Canada, purposely evading their border patrol, perhaps even paying a coyote to help me do so. Once there, I steal some Canadian’s identity and work under the table, taking a job away from a Canadian. I also use taxpayer-funded services to which I’m not supposed to be entitled. All the while I insist that it is my “right” to do all of this as I arrogantly proclaim my presence is “enriching” the Canadians. When you look at it that way, it’s obvious that it’s immoral! It’s just that when supposedly poor Mexicans do it to us, the issue gets all clouded up with matters of race and poverty. Suddenly we cannot expect poor Mexicans to abide by the same laws Americans abide by! It’s a condescending thing.

[moonshinner_09]

You know how one crime leads to another. A 29-year employee of the U.S. Social Security Administration office in San Jose has been indicted for illegally creating and selling Social Security cards.

Rachel Ochoa, 66, of San Jose, was arrested at her office in San Jose last week and appeared briefly in federal court before being released on $50,000 bail.

According to the indictment by a federal grand jury, Ochoa was able to use her position at the San Jose office of the Social Security Administration to falsely create cards for people. Recipients of the cards paid from $2,500 to $5,000 to obtain the cards, according to an affidavit by the FBI.

The affidavit said Ochoa fabricated documents to support applications for the cards and then claimed application interviews had taken place when they hadn’t.

Authorities declined to say how many cards were involved but the charges against Ochoa stem from Nov. 18, 2005 to Nov. 9 this year. Ochoa is charged with one count of unlawfully producing an identification document — Social Security cards — one count of theft of government property. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

Ochoa is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 29.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news…;

[Razz Barry]

Well written.

Or is the engine that drives illegal immigration the American middle class? Why should millions of suburbanites assume that, like 18th-century French aristocrats, they should have imported labor to clean their homes, manicure their lawns, and watch over their kids?

Here's what I think should also be asked. Is it the people living on Welfare and those who use our tax dollars to buy their votes? Why should a group of people think they are entitled to live off other people? Why shouldn't they be doing the jobs the illegals are doing? Why do our lawmakers think those Americans are to good to do the jobs Latinos are doing?

[WOBBLY BOB]

Leviticus and Immigration

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2548397/posts

post # 39 sums it up well.