Illegal Immigration

My friend Nick recently had a blog post commenting on this story about an Iowa town that was recently raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rather than write my usual ‘blog entry for a comment’, I decided to go ahead and write a blog entry about it.

The question of immigration is not easy. It is a very complex issue. Not because the idea itself is that difficult, but because the laws have been mishandled and randomly enforced for so long. The process of immigrating to the US has gone from a rapid process at ports of entry, like Elis Island, to a mountain of paperwork and legal fees. The system is broken. Legal immigration to the United States needs to be cheaper, easier and faster.

But there still needs to be a process.

For the longest time I have been arguing for a multilayered fence to block the border; something that would be a physical barrier to cars, trucks, and pedestrians. I have had conversations with a variety of people that disagree with this idea, even quoting the late great President Reagan and his comments about the Berlin Wall. However the evidence that supports the need for this barrier is just too overwhelming, but it includes the following:

- Sophisticated, brutal, and lethal human smuggling cartels that routinely move innocent people from Central and South America across the border and hold them for ransoms. This is quite seriously a daily occurrence as people are put in ‘drop houses on the American side and put under armed guard until their families can pay to have them released. These are nothing less than modern day slave traders and they must be stopped. I included links to three different stories, but the police find a new drop house almost every day in the Phoenix area. Google “drop house in Phoenix” and read all you want.
- Gangs from south of the border, such as the now infamous MS-13, among a host of others, terrorize whole portions of cities until police are afraid to patrol areas. The hardest hit in are the illegal aliens who are trying to work and earn a living for their families because gang members know that they are the least likely to report crime.
- Having a physical border would finally have a line that the Mexican Army would know that they are crossing. I know this sounds strange, but the Mexican Army crosses the border on a regular basis. This really wouldn’t bother me, accept that they apprehend and detain US Border Agents. This is just a disaster waiting to happen. How are US Border Agents suppose to tell the difference between the Mexican Army and gang members who have recently been recruiting new and more sophisticated members to protect drug shipments and enforce gang rule inside US cities.

Once there is a firm barrier on the border we can begin discussing the status of those that are in this country illegally. The fact is that they knowingly broke the law by entering this country and obtaining false documentation. This was not an accident. It was an intentional act and needs to be dealt with appropriately. Does that mean that we need to deport everyone? No. The fact is that by having a virtual ‘open border’ we have created a whole host of problems for ourselves including children of illegal immigrants who were born in this country and people that have lived and worked here peacefully for decades.

Once the border is secured there needs to be a system set up to deal with those who crossed the border illegally. It is absolutely essential that they learn English and establish better relationships with law enforcement. The article about the town in Iowa could have just as easily been written in a way that condemned Agriprocessors for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, paying them lower wages, giving them insufficient break and meal times, not paying overtime, putting them in unsafe working conditions, and employing children. Businesses should be punished for hiring illegal aliens and they should be required to treat all of their employees humanly and comply with all employment laws.

A real physical border and a massive overhaul of the legal immigration process is a first step. Dealing with those who violated the old law is the second step. But first things first.