Posted by
Patrick Henry on Monday, July 05, 2010 4:57:51 PM
Stopping business profiteering by preventing the hire of cheap illegal workers is a
nod to the left by the usually pro-business right. Not doing it is a deal breaker and
will lead to more failed immigration policies. But like all pendulums, this one will
have to swing back right if the negotiations are to hold together.
Conservatives have long refused to consider immigration reform BEFORE the
borders are secured. There are two good reasons for that. One is that if the spigot
of illegal immigration continues to run while negotiations to accommodate those
already here are in progress, there will be no numerical or chronological baseline
against which to calculate how many there are, who qualifies and what the whole
package will cost. It's precisely the same scenario as trying to calculate the cost
and dimension of the BP oil spill before the well is plugged. Another is that
conservatives do not trust this administration to hold up their end of the bargain.
The borders are well defined, and there are unenforced laws already on the books.
In an administration that covets legalized immigrant votes, there is a natural
disincentive to close the borders. Obama admitted as much to Jon Kyl. and his
performance in enforcing existing laws is either a display of total incompetence or
a betrayal of complete lack of the will to do so. But like the former issue, this one's
a deal breaker. Until the president produces a level of hard enforcement and
physical barriers sufficient to satisfy the governors of the border states, there is
little reason to go further. It's a concession he'll have to make if he wants the rest
of the package.
There are those who argue that a 1,969 mile border cannot be secured. That's
funny, because Iran's border is twice that long, and yet they managed to catch
three wandering and foolish American hikers. Security is part of my background
and training, and one thing that is sure is that where there's the will, there's a way.
Americans have split the atom, gone to the moon, repelled the Nazis and found
cures for incurable diseases. Saying we can't secure our southern borders is an
exercise in plain foolishness. The magic keys are intelligence, identification,
interdiction and consistent enforcement. It can be accomplished by a combination
of physical barriers (completing the wall), technology (including remote cameras,
sensors and drones), boots on the ground (many more Border Patrol agents, along
with armed military units equipped to deal with traffickers and authorized to fire
if threatened) and arrests with prompt detention and deportation.
The latter may require some additional changes in the laws, and will definitely
mandate changes in procedure on the American side of the border. For example,
why does someone caught in the act of sneaking across the border get a deportation
hearing or get incarcerated at taxpayer expense? And why do those suspected of
making illegal entry spend weeks or months in custody waiting for a hearing? Such
hearings don't require a Brandeis, a Marshall or a Rehnquist. There are hundreds
of underemployed attorneys who could be given a crash course in immigration law
and sworn in as Special Masters (working under the supervision of actual judges)
to dispense justice in these cases without the costly and undue wait on overburdened
courts and crowded dockets. It's done in family courts, cases of debt discharge and
plead out misdemeanors all the time. Why not for caught-in-the-act illegal aliens?
At no point in this difficult process will trust between traditionally opposing
parties be more critical. Once enforcement parameters are hammered out, the
right must proffer a watchful modicum of trust in the administration to carry them
out fully and promptly. Any undue delay, hedging, bureaucratic wrangling over
political, environmental, diplomatic or other issues will breach that trust and cause
the collapse of a process that will likely be doomed for a decade. This is a serious
matter for serious people, and those tempted to play politics with it will simply
kill it. As there can be no reform without making employers honest, there can
be none without securing the borders. The one will help with the other.