all manner of other workers<\/a>.<\/p>\nAt the same time, I do believe that the United States has done a disservice to illegal immigrants in our persistent failure to institute such a system, and in the rhetoric of our politicians that illegal immigrants are doing honorable work that \u201cAmericans won\u2019t do\u201d and statements from Republicans and Democrats alike that have given them every reason to believe they were doing nothing wrong in crossing the border illegally or overstaying a visa, and making this country their home.\u00a0 Immigrants who have come here long enough ago that they no longer have the same relationships and connections back in their home country should be permitted to stay, not because they have the right to demand to be \u201cgiven papers\u201d but because it\u2019s the right, humane thing to do, and because of our ongoing inaction, and because the de facto policy of years of government officials has been, \u201cdon\u2019t commit any terrible crimes and we don\u2019t care if you work using a forged ID.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who should be deported?\u00a0 Those who are recent arrivals, for one.\u00a0 Those who have no connections to their wider communities, who have not assimilated, who have not learned English.<\/p>\n
And, again, these longtime immigrants should be permitted to stay not be cause they have any right, and certainly not because they\u2019ve angrily demanded to be able to do so at rallies and marches, waving Mexican flags.\u00a0 (Doing so, as far as I can tell, only harms their ability to persuade others.)\u00a0 I further reject any claims that immigrants have some sort of moral right to come here, or that it\u2019s immoral to deport someone who has no legal right to live here, and, what\u2019s more, if someone was ordered deported many years ago, and has managed to evade that order, or has been given ongoing deferrals, that doesn\u2019t somehow erase the deportation order or give them the right to remain.\u00a0 But nonetheless, it was the policy of the federal government to provide de facto amnesty, and it was politicians of both parties who extended words of welcome to illegal immigrants, and that\u2019s what\u2019s gotten us where we are today, and that can\u2019t be undone.<\/p>\n
But how do we get from here to there \u2014 the \u201cthere\u201d, that is, being a state of affairs in which existing illegal immigrants, except for the newer, non-assimilated arrivals, are given residency but that illegal immigration is largely eliminated going forward?<\/p>\n
The problem is that there are still too many politicians who are relatively indifferent to not just past, but also future illegal immigration.\u00a0 If a system eliminating employment of illegal residents is not truly implemented but just sits on the books with as much value as federal laws against pot, for instance, then we\u2019ll create the expectation among future migrants that our system is just one of \u201cpaying your dues\u201d:\u00a0 come here, work illegally until your \u201cturn\u201d comes for legalization.\u00a0 (As it is, periodically, one reads of surveys conducted in Mexico in which respondents say that there is nothing morally wrong with crossing to the U.S. illegally, and even stating that they have the moral right to do so if they wish.)\u00a0 And we\u2019ll have a whole \u2018nother wave of illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n
So how do we ensure that the system is robustly enforced?\u00a0 My thought right now is that we need some sticks:\u00a0 assuming that the same federal officials and political interest groups who prefer indifferent enforcement also support immigration in general, legislation could add explicitly non-waivable stipulations that, if certain defined metrics measuring effectiveness of border control and workplace control are not met, then the federal government may not issue immigration visas, not for family reunification, not for H1-B special skills visas, not for anything except for maybe bare-bones \u201cemergency\u201d-type visas.<\/p>\n
Is this pie in the sky?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 But it avoids the difficulty that, if legislation provides for immediate legalization and a promise of future enforcement, we have to trust the government to implement the latter; and if legislation provides for immediate enforcement and a promise of future legalization, we have to trust that the enforcement won\u2019t harm those who would be slated for later legalization.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image from Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I\u2019d like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to illegal immigration by preventing those who are in the country without authorization from working, either in the formal economy (that is, with forged IDs) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":1382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[463],"class_list":["post-8045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-illegal-immigration"],"yoast_head":"\n
Jane the Actuary's opinion on illegal immigration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I'd like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jane the Actuary's opinion on illegal immigration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I'd like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-19T04:33:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/02\/800px-US-border-notice.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary's opinion on illegal immigration\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-19T04:33:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-19T04:33:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I'd like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary’s opinion on illegal immigration\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jane the Actuary's opinion on illegal immigration","description":"Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I'd like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jane the Actuary's opinion on illegal immigration","og_description":"Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I'd like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2018-01-19T04:33:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/02\/800px-US-border-notice.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html","name":"Jane the Actuary's opinion on illegal immigration","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-01-19T04:33:19+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-19T04:33:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"Every so often I feel like I need to type this up:\u00a0 what I'd like to see with respect to illegal immigration. My desired end state is, simply, an end to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2018\/01\/jane-actuarys-opinion-illegal-immigration.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jane the Actuary’s opinion on illegal immigration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"800px-US-border-notice\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/02\/800px-US-border-notice.jpg\")
<\/p>\n