Rethinking Illegal Immigration: Separating the Good from the Bad
For simplicity’s sake, let’s boil down the three primary categories of illegal migrants to migrant laborers, drug traffickers, and terrorists. Of course there are those who come simply for the attractive welfare or to gain citizenship for their soon-to-be-born children but we can disregard these for the moment. Migrant laborers come to work seasonal jobs for low wages and are generally a boon to the American economy. In fact, the Social Security fund gains about 9 billion dollars a year from illegal immigrants who work under fake social security numbers.
The other two primary categories are drug-traffickers and terrorists. Drug-traffickers generally bring with them violence and, of course, illicit drugs. Again for the sake of simplicity we can branch general criminals in with this category. The final category of terrorists encompasses anyone exploiting the nation’s porous southern border in order to wreak havoc through terrorist activities.
While the exact values are not known, we will use the following estimates:
I believe you would be hard-pressed to disagree with these estimates. If you wish to enlighten me with contrary data proving that 100% of illegal immigrants are terrorists please leave it in the comments below!
Consider the map above. The green channels represent legal pathways through which Mexican migrants can enter rather easily. Instead of waiting for months to get a visa, anyone could come to the border and have their ID checked, their car searched, and their information taken. Labor rules would need to be modified to a degree so great that it cannot fit within the confines of this post.
Anyhow, those migrants coming with the right motives (i.e to work, start businesses, or spend money) would be redirected from crossing the border illegally to passing through these checkpoints.
What does this mean?
Consider this. Currently, every person crossing the border is lumped together. This means that hidden within the 90% of people coming with acceptable reasons are hidden a 10% with more nefarious motivations. What better shield is there to hide your drugs, guns, criminal record, or nuclear device behind than a bunch of well-intentioned migrants?
See the red arrow in the map above? Those are the people who have something to hide. Otherwise, they would take the legal channels of entry and avoid the risk of death and the other high costs related to crossing the border.
By dividing the desirables from the undesirables, the job of patrolling the border becomes infinitely easier. Instead of weeding through millions upon millions of people, border patrol officers can know that when they see someone crossing illegally, they must have something to hide.
Obviously there are several other issues connecting to this one. Should Americans have the right to compete with migrant laborers by working below the minimum wage? How can state governments keep migrants and their families from breaking an already strained welfare state? To be honest, all of these are issues for the states to figure out.
The point is that by using this method of splitting the good from the bad, we can save resources and also be much more effective with our border control. Simultaneously we can embrace the free market principle of the free movement of labor.
I am not so naïve as to think a solution like this is likely. I can only supply the logic for my view and let the chips fall where they may.
Let me know your concerns and opinions in the comments and I will respond to them in a follow-up post.
There are also “tourists” who come with documentation. However, I do believe the terrorists probably are more in percentage points than you indicate- it is harder to track them in the midst of those seeking jobs or a new life, legally or illegally. I hope that people will send some comments. I think the article is long overdue. Many countries use workers from other countries – including Libya in the oil fields – and when the “war” broke out there – they tried to flee. In Europe there are many people who go there to find work , particularly from the middle east and Africa. We need to overhaul our Immigration Bureau laws and seek some solutions. For example I know of people who have green cards and work here, but have no intention of becoming citizens, as it costs a lot of money and also time and they don’t get any more out of it than just living and working here and using their green card. Perhaps an expiration of the date of the green card could be a way to help them to citizenship..