REAL IMMIGRATION REFORM
That’s what I’d call the proposal in Charles Krauthammer’s latest Washington Post column, titled “First a Wall, Then Amnesty.” Let’s look at Charles’ proposal:
Every sensible immigration policy has two objectives: (1) to regain control of our borders so that it is we who decide who enters and (2) to find a way to normalize and legalize the situation of the 11 million illegals among us. Start with the second. No one of good will wants to see these 11 million suffer. But the obvious problem is that legalization creates an enormous incentive for new illegals to come.
I still haven’t heard from McCain’s gang how their legislation seals off the borders. That’s because it isn’t serious about that aspect. On the other hand, I still haven’t heard how the Sensenbrenner legislation addresses the illegal aliens already here. That’s because they aren’t interested in realistic solutions to that problem.
The real solution to the immigration problem is Sensenbrenner’s shutting off the flow of illegals into the U.S. before offering amnesty to the illegals already here.
Forget employer sanctions. Build a barrier. It is simply ridiculous to say it cannot be done. If one fence won’t do it, then build a second 100 yards behind it. And then build a road for patrols in between. Put in cameras. Put in sensors. Put out lots of patrols. Can’t be done? Israel’s border fence has been extraordinarily successful in keeping out potential infiltrators who are far more determined than mere immigrants. Nor have very many North Koreans crossed into South Korea in the past 50 years.
The Israeli wall is a perfect example of how a country unilaterally protects itself from a lawless nation. Would building a fence strain U.S.-Mexican relations? Most likely. Do I care? Not a bit. National security comes first in a post-9/11 world. All other considerations come in a distant third at best.
This is no time for mushy compromise. A solution requires two acts of national will: the ugly act of putting up a fence and the supremely generous act of absorbing as ultimately full citizens those who broke our laws to come to America. This is not a compromise meant to appease both sides without achieving anything. It is not some piece of hybrid legislation that arbitrarily divides illegals into those with five-year-old “roots” in America and those without, or some such mischief-making nonsense.
Get these competing pieces of legislation to conference, implement the wall first, then start on the legalization track. It’s America’s best hope.
Technorati Tags: Illegal Immigration, Terrorists, McCain, Sensenbrenner
Cross-post at LetFreedomRingBlog
