Immigration 'n borders 'n stuff

All the rage these days.

Quick summary of some of the (R) positions here.

Let's see, now.

Wall across the southern border.  Lefties will freak, of course, and invoke the Berlin Wall... completely missing the difference between a wall meant to keep people out and a wall meant to keep people in.  (And if they were really bothered by the latter, they should be protesting the exit tax, no?)

Tightening up H-1B visas.  Well, maybe.  But how about prosecuting some executives for the egregious abuses of the existing system?  Surely there's at least perjury involved in the current use of H-1Bs by the megacorps and their labor suppliers.

Ending birthright citizenship for children of illegals.  This gets sticky.  Yes, there's an argument that "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" gives enough wiggle room... but haven't we had enough Constitutional reinterpretation already?  Are we really going to go for an amendment to fix the problem, or just ignore it?

Nationwide E-Verify, yadda yadda.  Now, here's where The Donald pushes one of my buttons.

See, immigration and border security are two very different issues, which are somewhat connected often conflated in uninformative ways.

Border security is inherently a national-security issue.  Immigration policy is somewhat related to national security, but is mostly driven by other considerations.

The various employer-based enforcement schemes create the illusion of Doing Something, and increase the power of the central government over workers and employers, but as far as national security goes?  Really, now: making it harder for illegal immigrants to find gainful employment helps how, exactly?

Yeah, next time a bunch of red-suited "undocumented workers" sneak across the border in a giant wooden moose, we can keep them from taking wheat-picking jobs on their way to burn down the White House.  I'm sure that helps a lot.

My position?  We should make it harder to come here illegally in the first place (border security), and easier to come here legally (especially for citizenship-track immigrants).  And, if we're going to have a guest-worker program, we should darn well enforce the rules for it, and lock up corporate execs who violate them, regardless of whose campaigns they've supported.

Update: Thoughtful piece on immigration here.  And: Patterico points out that the case for birthright citizenship not applying to children of foreign nationals is stronger than I'd thought.

Comments

[Old AF Sarge]

Well said Eric!