As the rhetoric on the issue of illegal immigrants heats up, it is time to step back and think about the issue logically. First is the realization we are discussing two separate issues - combining them only leads to confusion and makes reaching a final solution more difficult.
As the rhetoric on the issue of illegal immigrants heats up, it is time to step back and think about the issue logically. First is the realization we are discussing two separate issues - combining them only leads to confusion and makes reaching a final solution more difficult.
One can practice all the wishful thinking you want, but this country is not going to expel 12 million illegal immigrants. And what of their American citizen children? Not going to happen. Even though this is a problem created by the failure of others - it is a mess we must clean up. We should learn from this experience. Methods can be developed to get rid of some of the more recent illegals, but those here for any amount of time are probably here to stay. Don't like it? Get over it. No political leader at any level will be able to withstand the heat of daily heart-wrenching stories of this or that poor soul being thrown out of the country.
The second issue is border control. Of course we have to control our borders. Those who think open borders are a workable solution are just as self-deceiving as those who want to forcibly remove 100% of the present illegals. Without border control the entire concept of a nation-state becomes somewhat meaningless. As a hard-headed realist, it seems the only real solution is some sort of physical/technological barrier which makes crossing the border physically impossible. Just stopping businesses from hiring these people will not stop the flood at our borders. They will come regardless. It must become not physically possible to enter the country - and yes it can be done and at no overwhelming cost. Some will attempt to liken this to some communist regime - just remember their fences were to keep their own citizens from escaping, not keeping law breakers out. If you owned a grocery store you would have a controlled building with locks on the doors - not really a difficult concept and one which every single one of us would unthinkingly apply. It has no more moral aspect than border control.
After we gain control of our borders, we then need to have a realistic discussion about immigration. The population of the U.S. is forecast to double in the next fifty to seventy five years - from 300 to 600 million people - and almost 100% of this population growth will be due to immigration. Speaking as an environmentalist, I don't want that many people in this country. Wherever you live, look around and double the number of people in your city, town or state - then do this for every place in the country. What do you think traffic will be like? Air pollution? Impact on animal and plant life? Water and other resource needs? Rather than let the problem occur and then wonder how to deal with it - like the issue of illegals already residing in the U.S. - we must have a serious discussion of immigration. Do we really want 600 million people in this country?
Conlin is founder and CEO of E.I.C. Enterprises, Inc. (www.eicenterprises.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing a science and fact-based education to the poor and disadvantaged here and throughout the world.