Amnesty's Return?

Comprehensive immigration reform, Version 2, is as bad as, if not worse than, comprehensive immigration reform, Version 1. As President Obama described it, illegal aliens will receive amnesty simply by learning English and paying back taxes; they do not have to return to their home countries and get in line behind legal immigrants. Thus, this amnesty guarantees more illegal entry, since a potential illegal alien has nothing to lose by trying to get in, but instead can gain a geographical head start on legal immigrants.

Obama’s speech even suggested that in the future there would be no grounds for deporting illegal aliens who have not been convicted of a crime. I can only hope that this suggestion was simply the result of sloppy drafting. Deporting illegal aliens is a “tough issue,” he said. “But as long as our current laws are on the books, it’s not just felons who are deportable but students and families.” Meaning that under Obama’s ideal immigration reform, illegal students and families will not be deportable even in theory?

As usual, the president conflated high-skilled, educated immigrants who start tech companies with low-skilled, uneducated immigrants. He wants more of both, and both — ludicrously — in the name of global economic competitiveness. Not only is Obama not proposing to reduce family chain migration (the primary source, along with illegal immigration, of America’s unskilled, welfare-absorbing immigrants), he wants to accelerate it by “reuniting families more quickly.”

It seems indisputable that the Obama administration has increased resources at the border, but the notion that the borders are now secure is preposterous.

Proponents of an immigration policy that strengthens the rule of law and positions the country to compete with education superpowers such as China need to tackle the chain-migration issue head on. They should hold up Canada as a model, where immigrants, selected by their skills, not their family ties, assimilate quickly and rank among the top earners. And they should contest the idea that legalizing illegal aliens will help the middle class.

This piece originally appeared in National Review Online

This piece originally appeared in National Review Online