Posted on 02/28/2017 8:55:23 AM PST by Kaslin
May I quote myself?
Thanks. I shall. "Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery."
I have used this bon mot on various occasions since coining it for a 1987 speech. I like its accuracy, its brevity and, not least, the sly pun. Yet as those original Americans, or the English, would say, it neither butters parsnips nor guides us unfailingly to resolution of a problem productive of more anguish and amnesia than was the case in 1987. I say "anguish" because illegal immigration tears the country apart; we have "amnesia" in that we forget how sheer attractiveness, in deed and in spirit, perpetually sets us up for battles over who gets to live here and on what terms.
The ongoing desire of non-Americans to pull up stakes and come here -- legally or illegally -- might well flatter Americans, speaking as it does to the country's ambience of freedom and the manifold opportunities that accrue with freedom. We're stunned to see foreigners beating down our doors and pouring through the windows. Why?
"Bad dudes," as President Donald Trump phrases the matter, do come among us. And so do doctors and nurses and professors and honest, aspiring workers. The question becomes how to sort them out, how to keep out the worst and bring in the best while bearing in mind the absorptive capacities of the nation and its economy.
Inevitably, sentimentalism rears its gray and intellectually deficient head. Emma Lazarus' famous line "Give me your tired, your poor,/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" is there always for hurling at people who suggest the need for common sense in selecting refugees and immigrants. The tag "dreamers" was dreamt up by someone in the Obama White House to sentimentalize the younger breed of immigrant. How a single word can do justice to a class numbering in the millions is an elusive point.
The agonies involved in crafting immigration policy produce categorical reactions: "Let 'em all in," or "Keep 'em all out." Trump pushed the latter policy during the late presidential campaign, unwisely advocating the roundup and expulsion of illegal stayers and the blocking, by means of a border wall, of our presently largest immigrant class, the Mexicans. That so many voters thrilled to such shoddy ideas shows how eagerly we grasp for the elusive handle calculated to solve our problem at a stroke.
Apparently, Wednesday will bring another executive order shutting down or restricting the flow of immigrants and refugees -- more in fulfillment of campaign pledges than in the hopeful implementation of a strategy for distinguishing bad dudes from good guys.
What Americans should get used to is that the immigration problem has no logical end -- no more than does the problem of keeping America prosperous and free. The best way to repel would-be immigrants would be to render America approximately as attractive as Russia through government policy. Has Russia an immigrant problem? Not that we are aware. What it has is instability, corruption, paranoia, lawlessness, a declining population and a shrinking economy. Just where you'd like to live, work and raise a family, yes?
America's 21st-century challenge is to maintain -- preferably to enlarge, through government renunciations -- the freedoms that thrill human hearts, not just American hearts.
Does this merely enlarge the problem of illegal entry? In a way. More the point, it sharpens the need for better enforcement of existing immigration laws. And the need for policies of assimilation, an old-fangled concept whose rebirth and recrudescence would go far toward smoothing down the jagged edges of immigration policy.
Those who come successfully to America need to become American as quickly and thoroughly as possible, singing "God Bless America," growing fluent in English, listening to Gershwin, revering George Washington, watching John Ford movies, memorizing "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union" and imbibing in the classroom the American ideals of liberty and justice for all.
Such a very old-fashioned program isn't likely to set Sen. Elizabeth Warren's, or ol' Sen. Bernie Sanders' heart aflutter. I hope that isn't the point. I hope the point is how to make America a true home for all who would live here, from sea to shining sea
Legal / illegal
If they want to come in legally, and be totally self-supporting, pay taxes, and take nothing from the dole, that is one thing. But I have not worked all these years to support the illegal freeloaders, nor should my children and grandchildren have to support them, all in the name of “niceness”. It is bad enough that we have to support so many actual U.S. citizens, who find it easier to take government benefits than to work, and many of whom probably enjoy a higher standard of living than I can afford.
Trump pushed the latter policy during the late presidential campaign, unwisely advocating the roundup and expulsion of illegal stayers and the blocking, by means of a border wall, of our presently largest immigrant class, the Mexicans. That so many voters thrilled to such shoddy ideas shows how eagerly we grasp for the elusive handle calculated to solve our problem at a stroke.
**********************************************
These are not shoddy ideas, as the author himself says further on, that strict enforcement is the key to successful immigration policy.
The wall is not just to keep Mexicans out, but also the millions from south of there that use Mexico as a transit with the tacit approval of the Mexican government.
Mexicans do seem to have the notion that they are immune from our laws, aided by our own politicians refusal to enforce them.
The USA needs to stop ALL immigration for at least 50 years to sort out this mess.
Immigration should be based on who benefits the country, not some kind of unconditional charity.
That's BS. The article, much of it being skipped over because of the sentiment leaking copiously from between the lines, I consider BS also.
Most of what is coming into the USA are enemies. Up until the recent action by Americans to put President Trump into Office, their entry has been managed by our enemies with every intent to destroy, not enhance, our Nation.
A more accurate view of the birther strategy can be found at the Gettysburg Project where many of our domestic enemies are mentioned by name.
...For years, Washington-based policy organizations had been pushing for comprehensive immigration reform through Congressional lobbying. From elected officials like Rep. Luis Gutierrez to advocates like the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) to grassroots leaders and organizers, everyone involved shared a strong philosophical commitment to working for reform that would win legal rights for the entire immigrant community...
...In August 2001, the DREAM Act was first introduced into Congress with bipartisan co-sponsors and technical assistance from NILC. To win the Republican co-sponsors, immigration rights advocates went hunting for a young academic achiever in Utah who was facing obstacles to college based on immigration status...
Exactly
Why do professionals in IT and STEM have to bear the brunt of competing with foreigners for jobs and pay? I say stop ALL immigration, enough is enough.
First thing that could go would be: “Press 1 for English.”
What a horses butt. We don’t have to take one more person if we don’t want to
Prove to us why you are valuable to our country and we think about it
Exactly
And it has been true for decades
I agree completely and if you have noticed the White House page is totally in English.
My pleasure, I am always trying to be helpful, especially to you. 
News Flash!!! PRESIDENT TRUMP IS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRATION (his own words)
HE IS AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
LIKE IT OR NOT, THE UNITED STATES IS A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
The illegals are not immigrants, they are invaders
Quite the ‘logic’. That would mean theft is the greatest form of flattery.
President Trump wants to lower all levels of immigration. We’ve had way to much and it has been abused. A 50 year halt is needed. I am not alone in thinking this.
This is all garbage.
It is simple. So simple that not to see it is willful dishonesty.
The people have the right to govern themselves by sending representatives and Senators to Congress. The laws they pass are the people’s laws, and the people have the right to live under them.
There is nothing ambiguous or misleading about our laws. What the laws SHOULD be is what the enemy wants to discuss. All we need to know is what the laws ARE. They are OUR laws and we have the RIGHT to live under them.
Anyone here illegally will have to leave. It’s not complicated. It’s not confusing. It’s not unfair. It’s not in need of “reform”.
No visa? No work permit? Get out and stay out.
Easy peasy.
Federal Welfare + Closed Borders
or
Zero Welfare + Open Borders
(Personally, I believe in Constitutional Federalism, so I want Zero Welfare + Closed Borders.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.