Posted by Dr. Demarche

Monday morning the President addressed a group of Border Patrol agents in his latest effort to promote his “guest worker” program, striving to find a balance between the need to enforce the laws of the United States and his desire to satisfy America’s need for cheap labor. This is a noble calling to be sure, and the President produced some excellent sound bites, such as the idea that America should not have to choose between being “a welcoming society and a lawful society.” That is a very measured statement, meant to play well on the evening news, and it certainly did. The reality of the situation, however, is that there is no choice to be made. We are a nation founded on the rule of law, and every “undocumented” alien in the country, every person who knowingly helps them to enter, supplies false documents, a place to hide, or a job has committed a crime. The President and anyone else who uses the word “undocumented worker” in lieu of illegal alien is aiding and abetting these criminals, in exactly the same manner that Americans who live to blame their country for the ills of the world offer comfort to al Qaeda and our enemies.

Hyperbole? Maybe. But when another country selectively applies the laws on the books we call that country an illiberal democracy, and are strident in our insistence that the law must apply fairly and equally to all. At the first hint that police are profiling young Muslim males as possible terrorists we collectively wet our pants and beg for forgiveness, promising not to do it anymore. Yet when hundreds of thousands of people violate our national border every year, and when our friends and neighbors give these criminals jobs so that we can have green lawns, cheap strawberries and clean dishes we look the other way. It is obvious that something is wrong here, but the question is-what exactly is the problem?

Our southern border, the only place on earth where the first world and the third collide (with the possible exception of Paris and her suburbs) is vast, sparsely populated and difficult to patrol. Securing the border effectively means adding many times the number if agents we now have. The President’s call for “10,000 agents and inspectors” is the Republican equivalent to President Clinton’s 100,000 cops. Even if we add 10,000 agents to the border tomorrow, it won’t be enough. We have doubled the size of the Border Patrol over the last 10 years, and the number of illegal aliens continues to grow. We have placed high tech sensors on the border, and the number of illegals continues to grow- of course none of those sensors are so high tech that they can leap of a pole and capture an illegal alien for deportation, not that many of those caught are ever deported- the are fingerprinted (maybe) photographed (maybe) and punted back across the border to try, try again. They know once they are in they are home free.

In many ways the President is correct- most of these illegal aliens are simply seeking to make a better life for their families, and I don’t really blame them. I hope I would have the courage to face a potentially deadly trek through the desert with only the hope being a lifetime of hard labor to provide a better life for my family. And therein one finds the crux of the problem: they know these jobs are waiting for them, and that the laws on the books are not being enforced, either at the border, or in the interior. Make it more than 30 miles into the U.S. and you are home free. Just the title of this piece says- they come because they know they will find work. At the beginning of this year I proposed a five point plan to help the nation kick the illegal alien labor habit- here are the five steps I proposed (click here to read the expanded original post):

1. Establish a more secure employment document- the Social Security card does not work.
2. Punish American firms that hire illegal workers- this is the most important step.
3. Revise and expand the H2 visa category- not just for Mexicans, but for all, and require that issuance only occur in the country of origin of the alien.
4. Require legal workers to pay into Medicaid, and deny public benefits to illegal aliens found in America.
5. Reduce the amount of foreign aid granted to any country by a set or variable amount based on the costs associated with each illegal immigrant detained/treated/deported.

Looking back I realize that only addresses part of the problem. Even if we stop the flow of illegal aliens tomorrow we would still have over ten million in the U.S., and frankly our economy depends on a lot of them- remember many of those millions are children and non-working spouses. Clearly some type of “legalization” must occur, but it should in no way lead to permanent residency or citizenship, and it must coincide with actual enforcement of restrictions against hiring illegals. All those wishing to make use of any new “guest” program should be required to file for the permit in their home country, and to pay a punitive fine. Caps for each nation, similar to immigration caps, will have to be designed and enforced, with a one for one trade off of laborers each year-for example if Mexico is given 600,000 slots per year the numbers should be fixed, and rotational. This means that if Jose Gonzales is issued a 3 year work visa in 2006 he must turn in that visa in Mexico in 2009, or the number of available slots is reduced by one in 2010, and when he is found he is permanently deported, Mexico is billed for the costs and his employer pays a large fine. As a final measure, any children born to parents in this status should not be given citizenship- there is precedence for this- children born to diplomats do not automatically acquire citizenship at birth, all because of the status of their parents.

I applaud the President’s idea that our immigration system is in a shambles, but do not agree that more uniforms on the border are the answer. If we are serious about immigration reform let’s add 10,000 employment inspectors, a secure employment document and enforcement of the laws on the books.

Because if you don’t let them build it, they won’t come.