A Wall is Not Enough

Important Priorities and Cautions in Immigration Reform

Beginning in 2012, I wrote a series of articles entitled: The Anti-Weasel Checklist—Notes on Understanding Immigration Issues.  I have written more than 650 articles since my retirement as an investment executive with a large national brokerage firm in 2005, and at least 75 of them have addressed the growing disaster and accumulating dangers of out-of-control immigration and the nation-destroying prospects of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Two great nation-destroying dangers in immigration policy still confront the nation. First, is the growing radicalization of the Democrat Party, whose seldom stated but primary immigration policy objective is to flood the country with new low-information or ethnic partisan voters in order to gain permanent political dominance over American government at all levels of legislative, judicial, and executive authority. The Democrat Party is no longer the party of our grandparents, of patriotic traditions, or of the people, the truth, or common sense. It has become dominated and almost completely corrupted by cultural Marxism, which is now manifesting itself not only with mindless devotion to political correctness but with virulent   hatred  and social bullying against those who dare speak against them.  

The second great danger lies in the tendency of many Republican leaders in Congress and state legislatures to place special interest donors above the good of the American people. Nowhere is this more apparent than in immigration policy.  The main conflict of interest is that cheap foreign labor is highly profitable to those who use both legal and illegal foreign labor rather than American labor. According to CIS/NAS data, those who use cheap foreign labor profit over $548 billion dollars per year, and most of this, nearly $494 billion per year is at the expense of American wage earners.  According to FAIR, Taxpayers also pick up bills totaling more than $116 billion per year to support medical, welfare, and government services for illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigrant labor is profitable to many businesses, but it is not profitable to American taxpayers, wage earners, and families. A Heritage Foundation Study in 2013 found that unlawful immigrant households cost American taxpayers $14,387 more per household per year than all taxes paid per household per year.  Amnesty does NOT improve this, because their low education and skill levels keep their wages low and their tax contributions minimal.  In fact, amnesty raises the annual deficit per unlawful household because of eligibility for more benefits, rising to $22,700 when collecting social security.  Most lawful immigrants are better educated and more skilled, but their contribution to the economy is still negative, over $4,344 per legal immigrant household per year.  That is why we must get rid of chain migration, reduce legal immigration levels, and shift to a merit based immigration system.  The U.S. has become a welfare state, and a large amnesty and much more cheap foreign labor could easily bankrupt us.  It would be especially tragic for Americans on social security and fixed income retirements. Amnesties are not compassionate to the elderly or to the families of struggling American workers.

The public hears more double talk on immigration than any other issue.  Much of that double talk has become the politically correct (but false) rhetoric of hosts of politicians, the media, and the institutional spheres influenced by Cultural Marxist ideology and the profits of cheap foreign labor. How do we cut through the platitudes, bromides, weasel words, and issue-avoidance dances to identify political leaders and candidates who are informed, intelligent, and courageous enough to fight for immigration policies that will best serve the American people and preserve our heritage of liberty? Based on more than 18 years of study and writing on immigration, I have prepared a brief anti-weasel checklist to sort out misinformation and disinformation.

Point Number 1: Securing our borders is necessary but not sufficient to stop illegal immigration.

Almost half of illegal immigrants do not sneak across the border. They simply violate their work, tourist, or student visas and become illegal.  This is often called “Visa Skipping.”  A wall, no matter how formidable, will NOT stop this major source of illegal immigration.  A wall is essential in deterring major movements of drugs (an extremely serious problem now), human trafficking, weapons, and other means of terrorism.

Point Number 2: The most effective way to stop illegal immigration is to turn off the employment magnet by enforcing immigration law at the workplace.

If the magnet is turned off, few will come, and most of those here will go home on their own ticket. If you want real reform, do not vote for candidates who do not clearly support effective workplace enforcement programs.  We are not going to contain or control illegal immigration until we implement a national E-Verify program. E-Verify has proved highly effective when used.  Cheap labor profiteers and propagandists spend millions of dollars trying to prevent effective E-Verify legislation and implementation.

Point Number 3:  Any comprehensive immigration bill that does not include national E-Verify implementation is essentially a dangerous fraud, especially if it also includes an amnesty.  

The so-called  “compromise” immigration bill H. R. 6136 (“The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act”)  proposed by Republican Speaker Paul Ryan contained an amnesty for 1.8 million illegal immigrants with only promises of future immigration law enforcement. It contained $25 billion funding for a wall/border security, which could easily be rescinded within an election cycle. It contained no E-Verify enforcement provisions. Amnesties always result in more illegal immigration and further amnesties. Thus without E-Verify and stronger chain migration restrictions, based on the 1986 and subsequent amnesties, it would probably have resulted in attracting another 3.6 to 5.4 million illegal immigrants and between 5.4 and 9.0 million chain migration immigrants.  It was fortunately defeated 121 to 301. The sad thing is that 121 Republicans voted for it.  President Trump’s full immigration agenda is never going to happen as long as Paul Ryan or his ilk is Speaker of the House.

On June 21, a good immigration bill, although with a two-year DACA extension for 690,000,  H.R. 4760 (Goodlatte), containing both E-Verify and ending chain migration received 193 Republican votes, coming within 20 votes of passing the House. The sad thing is that 41 Republican allies of Ryan, the U.S. Chamber, the Business Round Table, and various cheap-labor lobbying associations voted against the bill. Therein lies the real and possibly fatal problem of the Republican Party. Too many serve cheap labor special interests rather than their constituents and the American people.  It is even worse in the U.S. Senate. 

Point Number 5: Watch out for those who say we have no choice but amnesty. This is a false dilemma and disingenuous nonsense.

They disingenuously raise the specter of rounding up millions of people and shipping them out in railroad boxcars. This is a false dilemma. Simply applying immigration enforcement at the workplace would reduce illegal immigration to pre-1986 levels within months, and in a few years most of those already here would pack up and go home at their own expense. The relatively small remainder could be cleaned up with consistently applied normal enforcement over a number of years.

Point Number 6.  Watch out for amnesties that politicians refuse to call amnesties because of  deceptive gimmicks and subterfuge.

Point Number 7. Beware of analytically defective or disingenuous special interest economics.

Importing poverty does not increase national per capita wealth. Importing predominantly unskilled labor does not increase per capita wealth. Displacing American workers with immigrant workers is not job creation.  For immigration to be positive, it usually has to raise the average skill and brainpower of a nation. New technology requires more skills and brainpower. That leaves less genuine need for unskilled labor

Point Number 8. Beware of overly optimistic projections that economic freedom will turn low-skilled or poorly educated immigrants into instant Republicans.

This may sound appealing, but most research demonstrates this to be false.

Point Number 9: Solving the illegal immigration problem is not just a matter of balancing law and compassion for 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants.

Where is compassion for law-abiding Americans who are suffering because of illegal immigration?  What about the millions of American workers they have displaced?  What about their families? What about the 155 million U. S. workers whose real wages have been depressed nearly $3,200 per year?  What about the crime victims?  Yes, we are importing higher crime rates!  NC Fire reports that there were 774 child rapes or assaults by illegal aliens in North Carolina in the last 12 months YTD May 2018.  

Point Number 10.  Our only hope for the real immigration reform necessary to save our country from Cultural Marxists and Special Interest weasels is a well-informed and heavy conservative vote in the 2018 primaries and general election.