Boarding up the border

WE SAY The new policies are a smarter approach to curbing illegal immigration.

To combat illegal immigration, the Obama administration has already begun changing immigration policies.

It’s no wonder though that, instead of going through Congress, the Obama administration is using its executive powers to do this.

Lately, the administration has been having trouble getting much passed, or at least much passed as it intended. The cap-and-trade bill doesn’t actually auction off all – or even most – of the pollution permits, which Obama explicitly said he wanted on the campaign trail. Likewise, his version of the stimulus package was heavily altered when it meandered its way through Capitol Hill.

Nevertheless, the new approach to enforcement against illegal immigrants is more pragmatically wise than its predecessor. Instead of sending armed agents to raid work sites and round up illegal immigrants to deport them, Obama suggests we “emphasize” fining U.S. companies who hire these immigrants. The administration is calling this a method of tackling the demand-side of illegal immigration. Overall, this approach makes much more sense than attempting to curb a seemingly infinite supply of illegal immigrants, many of who will attempt to cross the border multiple times.

Putting more emphasis on reducing employment possibilities for illegal immigrants will be a better approach than finding them out, rounding them up, holding them temporarily and then deporting them.

As well, the new policies treat illegal immigrants more humanely. Victims of severe abuse can seek asylum in the United States, and the Bush order that limits the appeals by immigrants who had poor lawyers will
be removed.

For those illegal immigrants who are already here, “congressional Democrats want to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation by the end of the summer that would offer a path to legal status for some of the estimated 12 million people now in the United States illegally,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Obama said he favors providing some kind of path to legalization for illegal immigrants without a criminal history. But, again, he and his administration have taken some steps of their own to that effect, expanding a program to deport felons in prisons across the country who are illegally here.

The new policies use a smarter rationale for curbing illegal immigration than ideas like building a wall, and they refrain from demonizing those who are already here illegally.