Guest Column By Bill Sargent and Mark Mansuis
By definition, if you have a country, then it has borders. In some cases, strong borders have been used to keep the populus from leaving like with the Soviet’s Iron Curtain. Others, like Korean Demilitarized Zone, have kept immigration in both directions at a minimum. Borders can also be flimsy through a lack of enforcement, like what we witnessed during the Biden years. They claimed that nothing could be done to strengthen our borders — to stop the massive “invasion” of illegal migrants — unless Congress revamped our immigration laws. But in less than 100 days in office, and without any action from Congress, the Trump Administration brought the flood of illegal crossings to a halt.
So where does that leave us? Estimates of the number of undocumented (illegal) aliens range from 12-21 million. Do we want them to remain in our country? How about just some of them? And how can massive numbers be deported with federal judges requiring a hearing for each and every one? The bottom line is that the open border enthusiasts (globalists) left the current administration with an impossible task!
Some Democrat Congressional leaders and the legacy media are coming to the aid of a known criminal; a murderer and human trafficker. They call him “The Maryland Man” in an attempt to subliminally tell us he is an American when the truth is he is from El Salvadore, he illegally crossed the U.S. border, and then committed violent crimes in our country. Why are these politicians and the legacy media doing this? We would contend they see these millions of “invaders” as their potential supporters (voters); a source for political power.
Government data shows that employment for Green Card holders (legal immigrants) held steady over the last four years while what employment gains there were, were from new undocumented (illegal) workers. Some in the business community are to blame for this. They want cheap labor that’s not going to complain about low wages and no health benefits. Recent data shows the negative impact illegals have had on our nation’s healthcare, education, and social services sectors – massive expenditures with very little positive returns.
Here is a possible formula for taking a bite out of the apple to deport massive numbers of undocumented (illegal) immigrants — some of which the Trump Administration has already started to implement:
– First, deport any and all who have committed violent crimes;
– Second, deport any who have come here but who don’t pay taxes while enjoying free healthcare, education, etc.;
– Third, deport any who have not been in the U.S for at least ten years; and
– Fourth, for those who don’t fit into the first three categories, if they have been in the U.S. for over ten years and have kept their noses clean, we might consider issuing them green cards so they can legally work while strictly prohibiting them from becoming U.S. citizens or voting. Incidentally, those who have been here for multiple decades represent about 15% of the U.S. economy, pay taxes and many have had a positive influence. Deporting these people might have a deleterious impact on our economy.
We need immigrants who bring skills and a desire to work hard; industrious people who are invested in our nation and who add value — people who legally enter our country and assimilate without destroying the culture or character of our nation. While we don’t condone breaking the law (illegally crossing the border) we also need to understand we can’t physically deport every single illegal immigrant — it’s an impossible task. The steps we have outlined (above) might move us in a positive direction while facing this reality.
