Monday, May 15, 2006

The Mass Deportation Canard   [Andy McCarthy]

Maybe it is because I’m in the middle of reading Ramesh’s tour de force, which utterly shreds popular canards, particularly the false claim that we must either keep Roe v. Wade or make all abortions illegal.  But I can't help observing that a similar canard – also being used to great effect – is this blatant nonsense from immigration enthusiasts that our stark choice is either a guest worker program for illegal immigrants or mass deportations of 12 million people.

 

That is absurd.  Illegal immigrants are in violation of the law, and we should want them to stop, which means we should want them to leave.  Good policy would encourage them to do so.  But we are under no obligation to deport them. 

 

We should make it harder for illegals to get in, and be clear to those already here that staying is going to be more unpleasant – because employers are going to be prosecuted, immigrants who commit state and federal crimes are going to be jailed then deported, and all our sparse processing resources are going to be dedicated to those who are following the existing rules for legal immigration.

 

But whatever we decide to do, we do not have to deport anyone, much less everyone.  The impossibility of immediately deporting all illegals is in no way a justification for allowing law-breakers to profit from their lawlessness.

 

The case in favor of doing nothing about the status of illegal aliens is clear and powerful:  any moves in their direction would undermine the rule of law, encourage more unlawful immigration, and jeopardize national security.  To be persuasive, the contrary case for doing something would have to outweigh that. 

Such a case has not been made.  Whatever arguments it may have in its favor, though, the suggestion that legitimizing illegals would obviate what would otherwise be the massive burden of 12 million deportations is a complete fiction.

05/15 09:38 AMShare