Securing our borders only solves part of the problem. 40% of the illegals got here legally and then overstayed their visas. We need a system to track and deport visa overstays. We need to make e-verify mandatory to cut off the job magnet. We need to stop birthright citizenship that allows 300,000 to 400,000 "anchor babies" born annually to illegal aliens to become US citizens. We need to drastically reduce LEGAL immigration.
Heritage research states that, "Over a lifetime, the former unlawful immigrants together would receive $9.4 trillion in government benefits and services and pay $3.1 trillion in taxes. They would generate a lifetime fiscal deficit (total benefits minus total taxes) of $6.3 trillion.
The number of additional LEGAL immigrants who would join those who were the recipients of amnesty through chain migration, i.e., family reunification, would amount to tens of millions more legal immigrants to join those receiving amnesty over a 20-year period, assuming there are only 12 million illegal aliens.
Conferring rights and privileges upon illegal aliens has a corrosive effect on the Rule of Law, the very foundation of our Republic. It is also a slap in the face to the four million intending immigrants who have followed the rules and obeyed the laws and are waiting their turn overseas to enter the U.S. legally. Many have been waiting for years.
Legalizing 12 million lawbreakers will allow them to compete legally against American workers taking jobs and depressing wages. If we had a true shortage of labor, wages would be going up, not down. 21 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed.
No one should be under any illusion that legalization will not lead to citizenship. It will. Immigrants vote more than two to one for the Democrats, so we will be adding millions of new Democrat voters regardless of when they obtain citizenship.
In 1986 we had a "one-time" amnesty. The proponents said it would never happen again. The government estimated that 1 million would apply, but the true number turned out to be 2.7 million. The process was rife with fraud with fraudulent document mills located just blocks from the processing center. Now we have 12 to 20 million illegal aliens. When you reward something, you get more of it. Doing the same thing again expecting different results, is the definition of insanity.