What do we do with the millions of illegal aliens that have infiltrated our country? The first step is obvious: seal our borders. Anyone who talks about fighting a war on terror without first sealing our borders does not understand national security. You can't send thousands of your young men and women halfway around the world to fight an enemy and leave your backdoor wide open. I would seal every inch of our borders.
Is that a Libertarian position? You bet it is! Libertarians believe in freedom. But isn't sealing borders restricting freedom? Again, you bet it is! But whose freedom?
The American government exists to secure the rights and liberties of Americans. Not Mexicans. Not Canadians. Americans should be able to exit and enter America as they please. That doesn't mean that the billions of other people on earth have the same rights to our country.
But what do we do about the illegal aliens who are already here? Some argue we should give them amnesty and a path to citizenship. Others argue we should give them amnesty and a path to legal immigrant or legal temporary worker status.
I say no amnesty. What is the principle here? That if there are enough people violating a certain crime that we will grant amnesty to them? That's wrong. If a lot of people violate a just law, it means we should enforce the law more, not less.
I would vote to deport illegal aliens. I would not vote for significantly more personnel or a roving band of federal agents rooting out who is legal and who is not, but I would vote to deport those illegal aliens who somehow enter the wide net of the government, whether through an investigation through law enforcement or through the provision of taxpayer-funded services. I would not vote for any infringement on any rights of Americans. We do not need national ID cards or retinal scans or implantable GPS chips. We simply need to get illegal aliens out of here as soon as they pop up on the government's radar. Once an illegal alien is deported, he is never allowed to enter American soil again. His DNA and fingerprints are recorded and he is permanently banned from our country for all purposes.
There is an exception that I would support. Those illegal aliens who leave voluntarily and go back to their country of origin, go to the back of the line, and apply just like anybody else to enter America legally, will not have the fact that they were once here illegally held against them.
What does this mean? It doesn't speed up their immigration status. It doesn't give them a benefit over a fellow applicant. But it does show to the immigration officer that this person heard his conscience, stopped violating the law, voluntarily returned to his homeland, and applied to re-enter. Such people would also likely have the implicit benefit of having people in America who would vouch for them and invite them.
I am an immigrant myself. Every immigrant I have ever met in my whole life has been a wonderful person. I have no doubt that the vast majority of illegal aliens are good people looking for freedom. But there are plenty who are criminals and terrorists and plenty who are not so good. And I know for a fact that there are plenty of people not allowed to enter America legally because of immigration quotas. We shouldn't close our front door to doctors, scientists, artists, poets, and other good people while leaving the back door open for anybody to come in off the street. I would vote against amnesty for illegal aliens and I would vote to seal our borders, because it secures the freedoms of Americans and defends our national security interests.
Phil Maymin
September 22, 2006