The Bull Elephant
  • Home
  • About The Bull Elephant
  • Fun Stuff
  • Contact The Bull Elephant
Latest Posts
Northam to relax some COVID restrictions
Liberty University denies any agreement reached with RPV...
That Never Happened
Coca-Cola reportedly told its staff to ‘be less...
General Assembly passes bill to ban the death...
Graphs: Twitter, Facebook Followers For All Virginia 2021...
Sunday Funday Memes!

The Bull Elephant

  • Home
  • About The Bull Elephant
  • Fun Stuff
  • Contact The Bull Elephant

Common Sense on Immigration

written by Guest Poster Rob Martin April 21, 2014

Undocumented DemocratsRob Martin is a professional economist and semi-regular guest contributor at The Bull Elephant.

The so-called “immigration reform debate” ignores the real issue.  Let’s start with what most people can agree on.  Virtually everyone favors legal immigration, although we could debate the details.  Most people also agree that we are not going to deport all 11 million illegal immigrants that are here now.

Unless future massive illegal immigration is prevented, we will have the same problem with illegal aliens in a few years that we have today.  If we are too lenient with the illegal immigrants that are here now, many more illegal aliens will quickly replace them, just as happened after the last immigration “reform.”  So the reform debate should concentrate on how to prevent future waves of illegal immigration.  Consideration of what to do with the illegal aliens here now should be start with the premise that any “amnesty” should not be so attractive that it will encourage another wave of illegals expecting eventual amnesty.

What to do with those here now

This is where reasonable people may differ.  I believe that the best approach would be to require those here today to register immediately with the government.  They would have their picture taken and be fingerprinted then issued a permit to continue to reside here.  Since these people came here illegally, jumping the line on millions of others waiting to be admitted legally, they should be denied citizenship for some period of time and pending good behavior.  Felonies would mean deportation.  During this period, say ten years, they would be expected to work and pay taxes.  Public benefits could be limited.  While we can debate whether this is too draconian or too lenient, or if another approach would work better, the key is that citizenship (which is largely the right to vote) is denied for a fairly lengthy period of time.

What to do to discourage others coming illegally in the future

Some think we need a higher wall to prevent future illegal immigration.  Given that a significant number (40%) of illegal immigrants simply overstayed their visas, I think we need another idea.  It seems to me that the obvious way to discourage future illegal immigrants is to change current laws and procedures to simplify and expedite the deportation of those who come here illegally in the future. While there are any number of ways to do that, I would suggest that anyone unable to demonstrate their right to be here within 48 hours after being detained by the authorities as a suspected illegal alien would be summarily deported. State and local authorities would by authorized to assist in enforcing these laws, detaining those suspected of being here illegally and handing them over to the federal authorities.  If any of those deported feel that the deportations were unjustified, they could make their case to the U.S. Embassy in their home countries.  Errors will be made and so a system could be set up to indemnify any deported unjustly.

The “Be Charitable” argument

Some will disagree with these points, arguing that we should allow unlimited immigration as a charitable measure for the billions of people that would benefit by moving here.  Let me point out that virtually open borders would not be generally beneficial to either new immigrants or current U.S. residents, because the influx of unskilled workers would quickly depress wages for those with limited skills to near third world levels.  Minimum wage laws would guarantee that these millions of people would work off the books on jobs where they are paid by cash or check without benefits or health care.  Lawn care, day care, housecleaning and such would become much cheaper and those with good jobs could have full time servants.  Those eligible would drop out of the labor market, opting for disability, food stamps or black market jobs.  Assimilation would be difficult and the schools would be overrun with non – English speakers.  The costs of various welfare programs would soar, leading to irresistible pressure to curb those benefits.  As Milton Friedman said, you can have a welfare state or open borders, but not both.

Common Sense on Immigration was last modified: April 21st, 2014 by Guest Poster Rob Martin
illegal immigration; undocumented Democrats
15 comments
Guest Poster Rob Martin

Mr. Martin is a retired transportation economist. He held various positions in the U.S Department of Transportation related to rail and transit economics and policy. His work included analysis of transit systems throughout the U.S. His graduate economics fields were urban economics and public finance.

Your life will be better if you click one of these

Northam to relax some COVID restrictions

February 24, 2021

Liberty University denies any agreement reached with...

February 24, 2021

That Never Happened

February 24, 2021

Coca-Cola reportedly told its staff to ‘be...

February 23, 2021

General Assembly passes bill to ban the...

February 22, 2021

Graphs: Twitter, Facebook Followers For All Virginia...

February 21, 2021

Sunday Funday Memes!

February 21, 2021

The RPV at the Leadership Crossroads

February 20, 2021

Results of Amanda Chase lawsuit against RPV...

February 20, 2021

Latest Gubernatorial poll from CNU

February 19, 2021

Fun Stuff

  • Sunday Funday Memes!

  • Sunday Memes–We deserve a laugh today

  • Best Super Bowl commercials 2021

  • Sunday Memes, Circleback!

  • Senator John Kennedy’s Witty Humor

Advertisement

Advertisement

Sign Up for Email Alerts

[wysija_form id="5"]

Advertisement

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

@2017 Bull Elephant Media LLC.


Back To Top