I don’t have that many people in my life that like to talk politics. I’m single, I live on the second floor of a house by myself, and I generally don’t like talking about politics. I don’t really care to talk to my fellow Democrats because I’m not likely to engage in a conversation back and forth since we would (mostly) agree on everything and no one speaking would learn anything. I don’t have many Republican friends in my life that I see on a regular basis, but the few that I do who are well versed on the issues are all good sports about talking politics, I learn a lot, and we’re still friends despite our differences. Most people aren’t like that though. In general, when I talk politics a few different things happen. Someone gets upset or takes it too personally, and everyone ends up angry.
One day, I don’t remember when, my mom asked me for my thoughts on the immigration debate in this country. Generally, when I do talk politics with anyone I generally repeat different ideas and thoughts that I considered interesting or well thought out (hence my title) which I then use to form my own opinions. To be clear, I don’t have that many strong opinions on immigration, but it comes up in the media a lot and Gallup’s “Most Important Problem” poll has immigration at #2 in front of the economy, and behind poor leadership/dissatisfaction with government, so I decided to take a whack at the issue.
The immigration debate has many fronts, but I’d like to focus on two. Future illegal immigrants and current illegal immigrants. The current estimate of illegal immigrants in this country ranges anywhere from 11–20 million people. Conservatives tend to go with the higher number while pollsters and research outlets like the Pew Research Center say the number is closer to 11 million. To suddenly tell 11 million people to leave their jobs, especially those that have been here since children through no fault of their own is cruel, would be terrible for the economy, and to go back to countries they know nothing about doesn’t make any sense to me. I try to be kind to everyone, even if they weren’t born here, so I’m not a big fan of “self-deportation” policies. This is especially true when all they want to do is pick my food for low wages.
40% of current illegal immigrants come to this country legally by plane and then overstay their visas. This isn’t exactly morally right as they are sort of stealing citizenship by not leaving when they were supposed to, but enhanced border security isn’t going to stop them nor future legal visa holders from entering. Some did literally come here by crossing the border illegally and are now working at different places across the country. They DO pay taxes since anyone receiving a paycheck has FICA taxes withheld, they actually commit crimes at lower rates than non-immigrants, and they increase demand for local goods and services with the money they earn.
In regards to future immigrants and those crossing the border today, there is no solution that would be popular with everyone. Some want a wall, which I’ll get to later, but my preference is to send NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) with significantly increased foreign aid to the countries sending the most people to us and try to improve the areas so that they don’t feel the need to leave. Personally, I’m a fan of capitalism as it tends to create more prosperous and peaceful societies that lower poverty rates more so than socialism. Capitalism creates tax revenue for governments that can go towards eliminating poverty altogether with welfare programs even more than free market reforms can. Give other countries the money for economic development and anti-corruption practices, hold them to deals that require them to create free market economies, and individuals will stop flowing to the United States.
The above recommendation will never happen as that would involve sending US taxpayer money to brown people.
Now in regards to the wall…
The 2,000 mile wall along the southern US border is a fucking stupid idea. Even if completed, it wouldn’t prevent those with legal visas from coming here and staying past their expiration dates. It would require a high amount of eminent domain usage which is when the government takes your land to serve some sort of purpose. Some of that land includes Native American reservations too and do we really want the federal government retaking the land from native Americans? Someone would also have to monitor the wall at all times anyway. Ladders have already been invented. If that’s the case, then why not just militarize the border with additional border security agents and create an invisible wall?
I’m not even sure if Trump really wants the wall.
When you negotiate, you ask for too much, then the other side bargains you down. Trump isn’t willing to negotiate in this manner though. He wants the fight for the wall more than he wants the wall itself just to keep his base of supporters happy. He wants Democrats to capitulate completely in order to continue to seem like a winner and a strongman. He couldn’t bear the symbolism of signing a spending bill without the wall because then it would look like he lost.
