Illegal Immigrant Youth Entering the US (Source: Truth Revolt) |
In 2012, President Obama issued an executive order which would forbear deportation for all illegal immigrants in the United States who were thirty years old or younger, who had no criminal record, and who were going to school, who were brought to this country when they were sixteen years old or younger. They would not receive legal status, but they could receive provisional work permits (which can be renewed indefinitely) without fear of deportation.
This executive action was immoral lawlessness, and its consequences are on full display along the Southern borders of the United States at this time. The plight of children brought to this country illegally is a tragedy, but to overthrow the rule of law and encourage future illegal immigration not only imperils more youth, but the very stability and opportunity which immigrants (legal or illegal) are seeking in this country.
This past week, a burgeoning humanitarian crisis has erupted along the Southern borders of the country. Thousands of illegal immigrant youth are streaming into the country, goaded by corrupt leaders in their native countries, enabled by the dysfunction and politically conniving domestic policies of the Obama Administration, that once they arrive, they can expect automatic citizenship.
Establishment lawmakers in Washington, both Republicans and Democrats, are responsible for enabling this immoral crisis. As long as Majority Leader Eric Cantor, along with Vice President Joe Biden and others, continued bandying about the argument that young illegal immigrants deserved amnesty, they sent the message throughout the world, particularly to Latin America, that anyone could come and would face token resistance. US Senator Ted Cruz (himself the son of a legal Cuban immigrant Father) indicted the Obama Administration for this crisis, and more lawmakers are demanding enforcement instead of amnesty (except for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost his seat in a primary primarily because of his drive for amnesty).
No one should be surprised at this desperation, The International Monetary Fund has recorded that Latin American youth are worried about their financial future, so one can understand the rush of youth surging toward the United States for a better future. However, what have Latin American countries done about the causes and the consequences illegal immigration?
Mexico supposedly guards their Southern borders stringently, although US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has offered to help the Mexican government secure it. In a fit of arrogant irresponsibility, the Mexican President Enrique Nieto has castigated the United States for deporting illegal immigrants. The Hondoras Paper La Prensa has encouraged illegal immigration, calling for American military bases to serve as immigration centers. Instead of attacking America, the Mexican government should focus on ending the corruption, crime, and rampant graft driving Mexican citizens to seek a better life somewhere (anywhere!) else.
In this latest migratory push, illegal immigrant youth are now dying or risk falling into the hands of human traffickers. Congressman Darrell Issa condemned President Obama's DREAM Act for creating a "false narrative" of immediate citizenship for youth entering the United States. Border cities are straining to take care of the rising youth numbers.
Proper immigration reform must accomplish the following (including insights from liberal Democrat Barbara Jordan:
1. End the welfare state: no state subsidies for immigrants (welfare, unemployment, etc.) As free-market economist Milton Friedman advocated many times, a nation can offer free immigration to work, but not to welfare.
2. Citizenship must be a prerequisite to enrolling in any educational facility (primary, secondary, or university).
3. E-Verify and citizenship must be a condition of employment (with enforcement)
4. The United States must implement secure border control, not with a fence, which immigrants have climbed or dug under without opposition, but a large military force with adequate resources to apprehend and prevent border encroachment.
President Obama's DREAM Executive Order has become a humanitarian nightmare, exploiting the hardships of Latin American youth and enabling a horde of illegal immigration to this country. The California State Supreme Court's idiotic decision to grant a bar license to an illegal immigration is one glaring symbol of the immigration problem made worse by liberal lawmakers, but the death and dysfunction of young people, herded into inadequate facilities, should demand nothing less than an end to discussions of amnesty and serious investments into legal reforms which protect citizenship, uphold the rule of law, and maintain a steady legal immigration process.
Or, as Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan asserted:
Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave.
President Obama's incredibly immoral DREAM Executive Order has undercut the national security and border integrity of this country while putting thousands of illegal immigrant youth (and many more Americans, civilians as well as law enforcement) at risk. The discussions about a blanket amnesty, or a path to citizenship must end, and a focus on streamlining legal immigration along with enforcement must follow.