Illegal immigration

Illegal immigration has been in the news a bit lately once concerning the border fence and again concerning the electronic employment eligibility program e-verify. The general tenor of the news was that the fence shouldn't be built and e-verify should be allowed to expire.

Both these views strike me as stunningly nonsensical.

The arguments against the border fence is that it is expensive and forces illegal immigrants into making riskier entries. Presumably the argument about expense regards the cost of illegal immigrants in the US as insignificant. It's not! Presumably, the argument regards the social instability caused by importing an underclass not important. It's not!

Presumably the argument about risk regards illegal immigration as a right not a crime such that as a right it should be made safe and easy. It's not a right. It is a crime. That is, after all, why it's called illegal immigration and illegal activities contain risk.

The argument about e-verify equally violates common sense. Illegal immigrants often, I'm tempted to usually, come to the US for economic reasons, to wit to work. Often, they live in poor conditions and send what they can to their families. While helping is laudable, illegal immigrants of this sort are simply economic refugees. There might have been a time when as a country we could afford this. That time has passed.

Understand, I am not opposed to immigration. I like virtually all Americans am only a couple of generations removed from an immigrant. In my case, several of my grandparents were immigrants. Legal, immigration has been very good for the US and should be encouraged. Illegal immigration is, however, quite another matter.

Consider from the recent news. A firm making equipment for the US armed forces was raided and most of the work force arrested as illegal immigrants! It turns out that their employer required that they work under conditions that are illegal and paid them wages that are illegal. While it may be arguable that the immigrants were economically better off than if they hadn't come to the US illegally, the fact remains that they were here illegally and were treated illegally by a US employer trying to save on labor cost as he made equipment of the US Government! Is this something that should be encouraged, made safe, made easy?

I think not. Indeed, I am ashamed to be in a country that permits such treatment of the disadvantaged.