Giuliani and immigration

There is one weakness I see in Giuliani at this point and that is his somewhat tepid approach to the issue of immigration.  He has indicated his intent to end illegal immigration and gain control of the border within three years.  And I believe he will and that is not trivial.  He has spoken of a tamper proof national ID card and employer sanctions to dry up the pool of jobs that attracts the illegals in the first place.  All well and good.  There are a whole host of other actions that could be undertaken to cut down or end illegal immigration including biometric registration (for those overstaying their visas), matching SS#s and names with employer notification and fines, building a fence, deportation of illegals or at least convicted felons, ending all welfare benefits for illegals and other taxpayer funded advantages, recruiting local authorities in enforcing immigration laws especially for illegals involved in criminal activity, and many others.

But I have not yet heard from Giuliani any broader discussion of the danger of current immigration policy in this country, in terms of its impact on both the national culture and our financial integrity - and not just illegal but legal as well.  For there is really very little difference between the two in regards to its negative effects on the country.

It makes no sense for a nation to continue importing millions of impoverished, unskilled, and uneducated immigrants, the equivalent basically of non english speaking high school dropouts - not with our hospitals, schools, and prisons already strained, not with our social programs teetering on financial insolvency, and local, state, and national budgets swimming in red ink. 

Open borders is simply unsustainable in the age of the welfare state because of the obvious perverse incentive for immigrants, legal and illegal, to abuse the system.  Not when you have the world's richest economy abutting one of the world's poorest.  If Canada resided on our southern border, or some other wealthy first world nation, we would not have this problem.  But with Mexico residing there, and failing miserably at reforming itself, this picture will not change soon. 

For Mexico, it makes perfect sense, in fact, to keep things just as they are.  They like the remittances, the public programs their natives can tap into in the US, the ability to transfer their criminals, discontented, and unemployed up north.  And multicultural PC America seems unwilling to respond to the obvious threat that current immigration trends represent for the country - the threat of balkanizing the country and bankrupting it as well.

I would like to see Giuliani cracking down not just on illegal immigration but legal.  He should begin by putting an end to the family unification emphasis that drives legal immigration.  Legal immigrants should be allowed to apply for children and spouse to enter the country - but not siblings and parents, as currently practiced, who are then  in turn allowed to do the same. This creates chain migration and has been ruinous.  He should get rid of the anchor baby policy.  Children of illegal immigrants born in the US should not be entitled to American citizenship.  He should get rid of the visa lottery program the entitles 50,000 immigrants to enter the country each year for no apparent reason beyond plain luck with no obvious advantage for the country. 

Immigration policy should serve the national interest plain and simple.  It should not be a welfare giveaway for the world.  And it does not serve the national interest to import the world's poorest and least educated with loyalty to another country and culture who consume national resources.  We should import the best and the brightest from around the world who will provide needed talent and skills to drive our advanced economy, earn good salaries, and pay taxes. 

There needs to be a recognition of the damage our current immigration policy does to the nation, its unsustainable costs, and its fraying of the social fabric of our country.  And to create an immigration policy that serves the national interest, not one that bleeds the country dry.  The first step is to end chain migration, end family unification as currently construed.

If Giuliani would grasp the importance of this issue, address it, and run on it, he would be unstoppable for all his other strong points.  Will his social liberalism get in the way?  I don't know.  I hope not.  For the sake of the country and his candidacy. 

See recent articles on immigration in my archives for a more complete discussion.