Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Our Border Dilemma – Part 1


This is the first of a two part series of posts having to do with immigration.

Criminals, terrorists, and other bad guys can make life miserable for a population. Hamas, with its agenda of destroying Israel, is hurting its own people by provoking Israel with its daily rocket attacks. The Palestinian population pays the penalty for the actions of a few terrorists. Of course they sympathize with Hamas and its aims, but I don’t think most Palestinians would complain if peace with Israel could be negotiated, rocket attacks would cease, and Palestinians could get jobs in Israel and share in its prosperity.

In Central America, drug criminals have terrorized these countries so such an extent that parents are sending their unaccompanied children on dangerous trips to the US for safety. Can you imagine things being so bad that you’d risk your kids’ lives that way? The US was unprepared for this influx of children, and the government appears to be trying its best to handle these refugees in a humane manner. But what’s the long-term solution?

The US can’t take in every group that is being threatened. We already have millions from countries in close proximity to us: Mexico, Haiti, and Central America. Most of those people came to the US for economic reasons, not because they were in danger. But think of all the other countries where the population, or a segment of the population, is being threatened, attacked, or otherwise under duress: Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Syria, just to name a few. Any immigration discussion must start with the understanding that the US can’t take in everybody who wants to live here. It’s just not possible.

There are three kinds of people entering, trying to enter, or already in the US:

1. Legal immigrants who go through the process.
2. Illegal immigrants, who sneak in and don’t go through the process.
3. Criminals and smugglers, who are often bringing in illegal drugs.

Illegal immigrants (euphemistically called “undocumented workers” by some) could be anybody: unaccompanied children; a family member trying to link up with the rest of the family already in the US; parents of children born in the US who are therefore citizens: and various other combinations. The issue is not with legal immigrants, but with illegals and criminals.

More on this problem in a future post.

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