Actually, this post is more of a placeholder than anything, a way to push myself to write something up this weekend. But fundamentally, it’s about trust. The Republicans (or Republican base, anyway) don’t trust the Democrats/the administration to actually enforce laws securing the border or laws against the hiring of illegal immigrants. (Do Boehner, Ryan, etc.? I’m not sure. Maybe they just don’t care.) The Democrats want to use enforcement as a bargaining chip for amnesty because they don’t believe Republican promises that “enforcement first” means just that, rather than enforcement only.
You know what my first baby step would be? A true amnesty, in the sense of not punishing people for their misdeeds, as opposed to granting special privileges. This means I’d take away the 10-year deportation penalty, and allow people living illegally in the United States to apply for family-based green cards (that is, for those married to citizens), student visas for prospective college students, or H1-B visas, for the highly-skilled “Dreamer” poster children, on the same basis as other prospective immigrants. (Yes, I know there are some instances now in which a hardship waiver is possible, but not many.)
(And, come to think of it, “amnesty” isn’t even the right word for a mass granting of legalization to illegal immigrants — we’re not just eliminating penalties otherwise due to them, but we’re giving them special privileges. But I don’t have a good alternative.)
Of course, I suppose the “student visas” part is no longer needed due to the President’s amnesty-by-executive-order. — and that goes back to the trust issue. If Obama is willing to amnesty large numbers of people by administrative action, how can he be trusted to implement any enforcement measures at all?
Just a few stray thoughts for a Friday morning before settling in to work. Your thoughts? (New commenter Peter H., I’ll get back to you.)
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