Illegal Immigration Is Not The Problem
Our Government Programs Are the Problem.
“Calling an illegal alien an ‘undocumented immigrant’ is like calling a drug dealer an ‘unlicensed pharmacist’” — anonymous email
The rhetoric is crazy. The kind of emotion generated with the immigration debate is very strong and passionate. There seems to be very little sense of balance or recognition of the severity of the “crime”. Some people talk about illegal immigration as if it is the coming of the Anti-Christ and the very face of Satan himself. Hogwash. Illegal immigration is simply a failure to follow the rules and is by and large a victimless crime. No one is hurt, robbed, maimed, raped, defrauded, or otherwise harmed by the flow of illegal immigrants in and of themselves. The problem is not with the immigrants it is government regulations and welfare policy that is the problem.
The statutory “crime” committed by many of the illegal aliens in the United States is found under 8 USC 1325, “Improper Entry by an Alien”. It carries criminal and civil penalties. The first offense carries a penalty of fines and up to six months in jail. Civil penalties are between $50 and $250 for each offense. If this were a state crime, it would land squarely within the range of misdemeanor crimes. Something that is more than a little sad is that the Great State of Utah cares more about enforcing immigration law than the United States of America does.
How does Utah law and penalties line up with the civil penalties for illegal immigration? In Utah, you can be fined $50 or more for: driving ONE mile per hour over the speed limit, littering, imroper passing, tinted windows (too dark), allowing an unlicensed person to drive, defacing a driver’s license, HOV lane violations, improper turns, driving too slow, handicapped parking violations, people under 17 driving past curfew, no proof of insurance, underage tobacco possession, fishing without a license, catching fish over the limit, unlawful possession of toxic shot (shotguns), no evidence of sex/species attached to carcass, camping more than 14 days in a restricted area, tresspass on Division of Wildlife Resource lands, failure to wear enough hunter orange, hauling an OHV without registration, no registration card on an OHV, failure to display registration on an OHV, and many other things. These are all fairly minor infractions that do not carry a significant social stigma with them and certainly would not typically result in time behind bars.
When we talk about crime there are two basic categories of crime, mala in se and mala prohibitum. Mala in se crimes are morally and ethically wrong like murder, theft, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, manslaughter, fraud, embezzlement, etc…. Mala Prohibitum crimes are wrong because society regulates the behavior. Things like parking tickets, speeding, not having a business license, not filing your taxes on time, driving without a license, weight regulations for over the road trucks, and . . . improper entry by an alien. The illegal aliens in the country violated a regulatory statute and committed an offence against regulations. The crime is not that they came here, it is that they crossed the border improperly.
Some people think that the solution should be to send them all back and then to come back in the way they are supposed to. Go and apply for a work visa, a green card, or other authorization to come here. That sounds good in the absract, but what other misdemeanor crime do we have in the United States where you force a person who is entrenched with their family, is gainfully employed, has no other criminal history, and then force them to move away for an undetermined amout of time? Mass deportation is both inhumane and makes no sense. It would be like every time you were caught in a traffic moving violation you were forced to return to wherever you started your trip, wait several hours, and try again but this time follow the rules.
The immigration system is broken. According to the State Department’s own monthly visa reports, immigrants from Mexico sponsored by their own families have between a 10 and 15 year wait in line already because of statutory limitations on the number of immigrants that can come in to the country each year. Mexico has the longest waiting times followed by the Phillippines, India, and China. There is simply no feasible way for people to comply with the laws to enter the country properly in a timely manner. When the system is broken the people rise up to form a new system that meets their needs, rightly or wrongly.
A similar thing happens with markets for any good or service. When the regular markets stop working or are over regulated, black markets rise up so that the people can still get what they want whatever the cost. Because the market of legal immigration is so broken and completely failing to meet the needs of the people who so desperatly want to come to the United States for a better life a black market of illegal immigration has formed and is doing quite well. We need to improve the market for legal immigration if we want to have any hope of solving the illegal immigration problem. So how do we fix it?
Letting the people already here gain some kind of legal status without deportation is one idea. The idea is often sharply criticized as ”amnesty”, “rewarding criminal behavior”, or even “coddling criminals”. The vast majority of these people are decent, family oriented people who really are just looking for a better way of life for their families. They come here to work and be productive members of society. They have not actually harmed any person at all, there is no victim of their crime. What is the problem?
These amnesty programs and ideas are fair and equitable because of the way the United States has treated illegal immigration for about the last 100 years. It has been treated as seriously as jaywalking or moderate speeding where the main rule is — just don’t get caught. For decades illegal immigration has gone on and it has been no big deal. What makes sense about suddenly deciding it is a big deal so now all of you people who moved here and thought it was not such a big deal have to leave your homes and families to try and come back again in another 10 to 20 years? Where is the common sense or fairness in such an approach? There is no sense to it other than some kind of revenge motive. It does not make anyone whole or better off to forcibly move millions of people back south of the border just becuase we woke up one day and decided now is the time to get serious.
The real problem of illegal immigration (and there is one) has to do with over regulation of the market, tax policy, and social services. By law if a state offers welfare, public schooling, or other public services to citizens it must also offer the same services to illegal aliens. Combining this problem with the tax benefits to employers who hire illegal immigrants and then do not pay payroll taxes, social security, or medicare taxes, we have a group that is considered to be double dipping — they do not pay taxes but collect all of the benefits of our tax dollars. Aside from the dollars and cents of the matter, each and every employee is supposed to have a tax ID number of some sort which then leads to problems of identity theft, at least of social security numbers. Pretty much all of these problems would go away if the regulatory and welfare state also went away.
Focusing on illegal immigrants as the problem misses the mark. The governmental and regulatory framework we live under right now makes the illegal immigrant issue an odious problem we need to solve. The solution is to change the framework we have, not to move millions of people out of the country.
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Pingback by Illegal Immigration is not the problem. | 888 Phone Cards — July 10, 2009 @ 12:03 am |
I think this was very well written Dave & enjoyed reading it. I do have a few comments to make and would love your feedback on them
“The immigration system is broken. According to the State Department’s own monthly visa reports, immigrants from Mexico sponsored by their own families have between a 10 and 15 year wait in line already because of statutory limitations on the number of immigrants that can come in to the country each year. Mexico has the longest waiting times followed by the Phillippines, India, and China. There is simply no feasible way for people to comply with the laws to enter the country properly in a timely manner. When the system is broken the people rise up to form a new system that meets their needs, rightly or wrongly.”
But then, how do you create a balance? I can’t see letting anyone and everyone who wants to come, be allowed to come. I think that in and of itself would create problems as well. So where do you draw that line? The other problem is those from places like Mexico believe they have a right to this country, so I don’t think it’s a matter as simple as letting those who want in, in.
“Letting the people already here gain some kind of legal status without deportation is one idea. The idea is often sharply criticized as ”amnesty”, “rewarding criminal behavior”, or even “coddling criminals”. The vast majority of these people are decent, family oriented people who really are just looking for a better way of life for their families. They come here to work and be productive members of society. They have not actually harmed any person at all, there is no victim of their crime. What is the problem?”
I disagree that they’ve not harmed anyone – we end up paying for them due to their choice to come here illegally & regardless of how you look at it, it is a choice. I agree however, that if they have shown no criminal activity and are living here and providing a way for their family give them an identity, start taxing them so that they can become productive citizens of our society. AND if taxes aren’t an issue as some may say, then why is it we are chasing our own people for tax evasion? I understand the system is broken but two wrongs don’t make a right.
“The real problem of illegal immigration (and there is one) has to do with over regulation of the market, tax policy, and social services. By law if a state offers welfare, public schooling, or other public services to citizens it must also offer the same services to illegal aliens.”
I know w/ some programs like CHIP and other misc. programs in that line have actually changed this, if your illegal you aren’t entitled to those rights.
All in all, I agree in that in many cases it doesn’t make sense to send them back, anyone who has shown criminal behavior I say send back they have no right to be here, but those who have shown a genuine want to be apart of our society keep them here. I agree completely the the system is broken & w/out a doubt could do with a make over. I disagree however that this issue is suddenly a problem for everyone, for many this *has* been a big issue the problem is our gov’t is behaving as if it’s not. I think many people have voiced issues w/ this for a long time & because things are getting worse those voices are becoming louder & more abundant.
Comment by Julia — July 10, 2009 @ 10:50 am |
I actually wrote this for a local newspaper column and it does not capture all of my true feelings on the subject. I hope now that you have flipped over the rock you are not too disgusted with what is on the bottom side of it. These thoughts will be sort of random. Have fun and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.
OK, as a practical matter I really don’t see the country fixing the problem because God is helping the immigrants. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/21/2,12,22-23#2. Really. They are a part of the remnant of Jacob and the descendants of the Lamanites. Glenn Beck did a piece about the history of illegal immigration and how the Government hasn’t really done anything about it for about 100 years, about the same amount of time since child labor laws were put into effect and enforced. We’ve got to have a cheap labor force somehow now that children can’t do it any more.
There are many illegals in Utah who come here but don’t know why and they are introduced to The Church, join it and then introduce their families and sometimes travel back to their home country to spread the word as well.
It has been prophesied that in the Salt Lake area we now have Spanish speaking branches in English speaking stakes but that in the next couple of decades we will be seeing English branches in Spanish speaking stakes.
The issues we normally hear about illegal immigrants is that they are taking too many jobs working under the table, or too many packed into a van that rolled over on a remote highway (in S. Utah for example) or they are drug dealers, or other problems. If we made it easier to come here, had them submit to a loyalty oath of sorts, a physical, and quarantine where it is warranted that would start the process. Looking into and breaking up groups sponsoring insurrection and disloyal activities should be something we are doing already but we aren’t because the powers that be want to get rid of the borders anyway.
Illegal immigrants that end up criminals I think suffer from the same kind of problem where marijuana is found to be a “gateway drug”. By making marijuana illegal the only means to obtain the drug are from people who don’t mind breaking the law. It is the proximity with unsavory characters who already are doing the hard/illegal stuff that makes it a gateway drug. By treating people who are not documented as criminals first and people second you push them farther and farther underground which makes it more difficult for them to integrate into American Society. If they were more welcomed into the country they might be more likely to be integrated into society.
The last great hurrah for removing treasonous or disloyal groups was in the 1950’s with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Way too many people quit caring about True American Values decades ago.
Comment by A Guy — July 10, 2009 @ 2:30 pm |
Hi Dave! I’m about to run out the door with the family, but I wanted to make a reply & then come back later to finish my thoughts. You have brought up some very interesting points, one of which I had never thought of before so it makes me go “mmmmm” ~ I think living in a neighborhood of (mostly) illegal punks taints my opinion some ~ but I also know many who work extremely hard and genuinely want to be contributing members of our society & with with them I greatly sympathize. Having gone through the process I know it’s not an easy one, it can be extremely time consuming, daunting and very expensive & I agree w/ you that it needs to be changed but also agree that chances are it wont be.
Okay, more later my friend!
Comment by Julia — July 11, 2009 @ 3:43 pm |