Page Two: Immigration by the Numbers

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I

As framed by the most strident activists against illegal immigration, the problem is a Möbius strip with no possible solution. Although they may use certain information to make points, they seem to have little concern for actual social, economic, and political realities. (What is the value of the workers' labor? Do they do jobs others won't? How much are they a financial drain on their communities and the country? How much an asset to same? And so on.) Instead, though hateful, most anti-illegal-immigrant fervor is purely idealistic – that is, allowing for only impossible, utopian solutions, based on stubborn, undocumented, and undocumentable beliefs:

1) Depending on the source, there are between 10 million and 40 million illegal immigrants in the country. The first number is low and the latter ridiculously high. For this discussion, let's settle on a figure of roughly 12 million.

2) The last round of discussions on proposed federal legislation made it clear that, to an overwhelming number of those who take this issue the most seriously, any related legislation cannot offer even a hint of amnesty or any other relatively lenient or convenient route to citizenship. Illegal immigrants are, by definition, "criminals."

3) This is a very serious crisis, they reason, maybe the most potentially devastating one facing the nation. It must be addressed in a proactive way that does not accept the current situation but aggressively offers the legal tools to eradicate it. Passing yet another series of laws that don't address the issues would almost be worse than passing no new legislation at all. Certainly, any laws that are overly "lenient" or don't actually offer the enforcement tools needed to effect significant change just add to the mess.

4) We need legislation that guarantees a permanent solution rather than just more temporary, and usually illusionist, fixes.

5) The overriding question must be: How does this country get 12 million people to leave?

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II

A) Almost every response to that perspective argues that the first step has to be sealing and controlling this country's borders.

B) Next is to put enormous legal, financial, and economic pressure on those who employ illegal immigrants. If there are no jobs, the reasons that illegals come here and stay will be eliminated.

C) Any immigrant picked up for almost any crime, and certainly every illegal immigrant for any reason, should be deported.

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III

A reasonable estimate of how effective this multipronged approach would be in terms of reducing illegal immigrants' nationwide numbers is probably 2 million or less. But let's say these approaches result in 6 million leaving. This still leaves another 6 million. Any efforts to realize No. 3 are derailed, denied, and prevented by No. 2 above. If the latter is set in stone (with any discussion or debate not just discouraged but disallowed) – an absolute deal-breaker if compromised or softened in any way – then the former is impossible.

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IV

Certainly, there will be those who will argue that the approaches in II, above, should force most illegal immigrants out of this country. Whether or not this is wise is beside the point here, because that is a ridiculous assertion. If, and only if, the federal government put an extraordinary amount of money and manpower into policing the border, while harshly and expansively policing businesses to make sure no employees are illegal immigrants, you might increase the number of returnees above the 6 million, though not by much. More than likely, even with extensive federal follow-through, the actual number of those leaving would be well below 6 million.

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V

Being really effective in deporting that population would require more than just policing the borders and cracking down on businesses, as well as having all federal, state, and local authorities assign the highest priority to tracking, arresting, and deporting illegals. These measures would need to be accompanied by a draconian, nationwide crackdown in which civil liberties were marginalized and due process denied. This would likely mean extensive policing in certain communities, extraordinary pressure on all related businesses, and near-police-state conditions. An atmosphere of paranoia and fear would taint far more than just the targeted neighborhoods and would undoubtedly be accompanied by frequent and mistaken deportations.

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Caveat

This time around, completely irrational "facts," self-serving interpretation, and boldly stated assurances of how other people will respond will not be admitted into the discussion. If you believe shedding 12 million people requires merely some common sense and determination, more power to you. If you really believe closing our borders and cracking down on employers will go a long way, if not all the way, to achieving anti-illegal-immigration goals, well then, bless your heart.

The last time most of us were inundated with just such "objective" assessments, superior knowledge, and condescending dismissal of those who disagree was before the invasion of Iraq.

The massive, unending litany then presented included any number of authoritatively stated "truths," absolutely certain assurances, and any number of unquestionable historic precedents – all of these delivered by self-defined hardcore realists celebrating their willingness to face the dark, harsh realities of the world with eyes untainted by naive, ideologically dictated, humanist delusions.

According to authoritative proponents, Saddam Hussein not only had weapons of mass destruction; this country and the world were in imminent danger of his using them. Even though there has yet to be any concrete evidence, al Qaeda and Hussein were portrayed as collaborators.

Similarly, Iraq was pronounced instrumental in 9/11. Twelve years of sanctions had somehow been ineffective in hindering Iraq's military growth. Given the Republican Guard, weapons of mass destruction, and Iraq's military might, it was deemed valid to compare the situation with the rise of Nazi Germany, when other nations chose appeasement over military response. The Iraqi people would welcome us with open arms as liberators and friends, we were told. Each and every one of those statements was just about as completely wrong as it could be, yet they were offered as indisputable evidence that lead to this country's beyond-reckless, comprehensively immature, and astonishingly naive, misguided, and detestable invasion.

Having gotten so much so terribly wrong, these pundits didn't even deign to offer up, along the lines of Gilda Radner's Roseanne Rosannadanna, a halfhearted "Never mind!" They knew they were right, even if the words they used in their statements seemed to indicate exactly the opposite. They understood that the problems, in fact almost all problems, were caused by American-hating liberals and immoral, atheistic internationalists. They knew full well that these traitors would deliberately misunderstand any clarifications regarding their assurances on Iraq, so why bother?

Instead, so many of these self-declared authorities shifted their focus to the massive threat and cancerous social potential of illegal immigration. Missing nary a beat, they continued to trumpet their anti-Constitution, anti-American, pure American patriotism with the same arrogant certainty and racist belief in the moral superiority and religious purity of their white American dream.

There were some changes. No longer was the outside enemy Iraqis and Muslims and the enemy within liberals, Democrats, and progressives. Now the international enemy was all of Hispanic Central and South America, while illegal immigrants were added to the list of Americans who are fifth column traitors.

To be continued next column.

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Coda

I am a second-generation American. My parents were born here, but my grandparents and uncle weren't. American citizenship is not a concrete, unconditional right granted to me or to anyone for being born here. American citizenship is not an intrinsic blood-and-soil right; it is not granted from above, earned at birth or ever-permanent. Instead, it is a privilege that is always and absolutely dependent on one's political, social, and patriotic activities and involvement. Being a citizen never just "is" but instead is performance-based. It demands an ongoing commitment to a life guided by belief and faith in the ideas and ideals of this country, especially as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and its Bill of Rights. Crucial to this conceptualization is that the United States is a nation of immigrants, founded by immigrants, freed from Europe by immigrants, and with an overriding obligation to generations of those who will become citizens in the future, no matter where they are now.

American citizenship is not a right but a privilege that is a continual state earned by one's actions. Inherently, it is not absolute; we do not have personal ownership of this country and its past based on our families. It is also based on our responsibility to the future, as it is always a placeholder position of unending responsibility, held in sacred trust for the next generations of Americans. In a way, it is like being an alcoholic now sober: Sobriety is a state that one is always working at, as one never stops being an alcoholic. It is never a finalized absolute; one is instead always becoming an American.