The recent Arizona law designed to curb illegal immigration has
drawn a lot of media attention and it has resulted in a weird
situation. Those who support illegal immigrants have been
politically active in having various jurisdictions declared
”
sanctuaries
”
essentially choosing not to enforce federal law in most
circumstances. Now some of those same people are planning to sue
the state of Arizona claiming that it has no right to enforce
federal law.
The recent Arizona law designed to curb illegal immigration has drawn a lot of media attention and it has resulted in a weird situation. Those who support illegal immigrants have been politically active in having various jurisdictions declared “sanctuaries” essentially choosing not to enforce federal law in most circumstances. Now some of those same people are planning to sue the state of Arizona claiming that it has no right to enforce federal law.
Illegal immigration is not the nation’s biggest problem – but it is far from our least. If both sides ever get through posturing, perhaps we can get this thing solved. The key to an effective policy is securing our southern border; unless and until the border is secure, nothing works.
According to a 2005 report from Pew Hispanic Center, 57 percent of illegal immigrants (entering the U.S.) were from Mexico and 24 percent were from other Latin American countries, primarily from Central America. This accounts for 81 percent of the nation’s entire illegal immigration total. Obviously, almost this entire group enters through the border with Mexico.
Looked at another way, a report done for the U.S. Army War College indicated of the 375,000 illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each year, only 69 percent of them are actually Mexicans from Mexico. The remaining 31 percent are from other countries and are “other than Mexican.”
Another complication is that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The traditional legal interpretation of that provision is that if you are born here you are a U.S. citizen even if your mother was here illegally. Obviously, deporting a baby born here would be – legally – deporting a U.S. citizen. On the other hand, deporting the parents and (somehow) keeping the baby would be breaking up the family. It’s not going to happen.
Since securing the southern border is the key to reducing illegal immigration, any proposed solution that leaves that out of the mix is not a solution at all. It just invites continued illegal entry.
Those who argue that ignoring the law is the answer are just fooling themselves. As I’ve written before, we are not going to deport the more than 11 million illegal immigrants that are here now, but if the continuing tide of illegal immigration is not stemmed, there is a good chance that Americans will see their standard of living drop dramatically. When that happens, there will be a huge backlash.
The crime problem is another issue. Even though the majorities of illegal immigrants are law-abiding and come strictly for economic reasons, illegal immigration promotes and finances criminals who profit from the trade in human cargo and other criminals find it easy to use the same unsecured routes to enter the U.S. and smuggle drugs. The drug trade is the major cause of criminal activity in northern Mexico including massive gang wars that terrorize the population. Not surprising, this fuels even more illegal immigration.
I believe the majority of Americans are in the middle and pragmatic concerning this issue, but if they do not have the energy and incentive to make their voices heard, they will not be counted.
Only a multi-pronged approach will do and it has to be done simultaneously. It must include registration to prevent a storming of the boarder, a path to citizenship for those who have earned in, deportation of criminals and securing of the southern border. None of it works unless all of it works.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.
