Immigration, the movement of people from one country to another, is thousands of years old. Immigration to America began in the early 1600s.  Most of these early immigrants came from Europe during the period of exploration.  However, eventually Asian immigrants migrated to the United States to help with the building of the early railroads. As centuries and centuries have passed, more and more immigrants from all over the world have come to live and work in America.  Some of these immigrants arrived here legally while others arrived illegally.  Today, in the twenty-first century, the greatest influx of immigrants is from Mexico.  But, regardless from which country they come from, all immigrants have one major goal: to become a citizen of the United States and to achieve the American dream of economic success.  Needless to say, most immigrants are willing to risk their lives in their effort to get to America’s shores.  Also, many times these immigrants do not fully understand what they will have to face when they get to the shores of America.

As a direct result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, America’s immigration has become a focal point for all Americans.  Many Americans want the borders of the United States to be closed to most foreigners.  They do not trust the motives given by these immigrants who want to come to the continental United States.  Many Americans even want all the borders of the United States fenced off from those who seek to enter illegally.  Americans do not want to face the atrocities of another large-scale terrorist attack.  Also, they are vehement toward foreigners taking their jobs, especially the many Mexicans that cross into America on a daily basis.  Therefore, the main question concerning the immigration problem in America is whether to permit open immigration or restricted immigration.

Open immigration would permit immigrants the privilege to occupy lands that should be occupied by native-born Americans.  However, many Americans are in favor of letting immigrants use their private property, even along the southern borders of the United States.  According to Anthony Gregory of the Future of Freedom Foundation, there are several reasons for purporting an open immigration policy.  He states, “The market supports them.  They work, purchase goods and services, and pay for housing. Continuing to shut out immigrants, or becoming even more restrictive with the borders, further reinforces the notion that so much public land should be protected by government, and takes us a step away from our ultimate goal of eventually privatizing it.”  (1)

But, many Americans do fear that their willingness to support an open immigration policy could lead to many legal problems.  Of course, one major concern is the possibility that the government might try to create an immigration policy that would prevent them from permitting foreigners on their own private property.  Also, like most federal bureaucratic policies, immigration polices tend to become a form of socialism.  As a result, the federal government would create enormous budgets, a large number of bureaucratic leaders to execute the immigration policies, and an increased tax base to fund the program. At the same time, the involvement of law enforcement groups could become abusive and corrupt.  (1) As stated by Mr. Gregory, “Immigration controls are expensive, and they clearly don’t work that well. More than a million foreigners enter America illegally every year.  A serious attempt to keep them out would require even higher taxes, a more militarized border patrol, and vast invasions of the privacy of employers and other Americans.  It would potentially require a national ID card, as well as an army of border police and federal agents to round up and repatriate illegals.  It would depend on central planning, which, as all free-market economists should know, simply doesn’t work.  The border guards have already been implicated in a number of scandals, and the idea that the government can maintain efficiency and honesty in its border police, when the federal government does a poor job of preventing corruption and degradation among city police, prison guards, and even in the highly regimented military, requires quite a stretch of the imagination.”  (1)  Also, he stated, “As borders are tightened, a black market in immigration will expand, leading to increased violence and government corruption. The war on drugs has utterly failed to keep drugs out of the country, and yet has succeeded in draining away enormous resources and eroding precious civil liberties; a war on immigrants would yield similar results.”  (1)

Opponents of open immigration believe that it could promote socialism in America.  Then America’s democratic ideals could possibly be lessened.  Immigrants are noted for using and expanding welfare programs after arriving in the United States.  They also are accused of making America’s culture change negatively.  Many of the immigrants to America bring their countries socialistic ideology with them, too.  Open immigration, according to many Americans who want a restricted immigration policy, permits foreigners to trespass on American soil and to violate private property rights of United States citizens. Therefore, many Americans have developed a negative opinion toward immigrants coming to their nation.  (1)

Throughout the history of the United States, there have been anti-immigrant groups. According to Tom Barry, in his article “The Immigration Debate,” “Campaigns against new immigrants have generally coincided with the business cycle, rising in intensity with economic slowdowns, declining in times of prosperity. There are two main corollaries to this rule.  One, the U.S. public generally views immigrants with more or less hostility according to the color of their skin, their English-speaking abilities, and the degree to which their religions and cultures depart from Judeo-Christianity and Two, in times of war, immigrants from nations in conflict with the United States are especially suspect.” (2)

As a result of the new anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, hate and fear have spread through the nation.  Communities will become split over the immigration issue. Race, politics, and culture will become the major points of discussion.  Mr. Barry stated, “It has already caused immigrant communities and their supporters to pull back from their creative initiatives to make them more openly participative members of their communities.  No longer is there the political will to support measures that would allow undocumented residents to use their home-country identity papers in the process of opening bank accounts or obtaining a loan.”  (2)

Modern anti-immigration movements associate immigration with terrorist activities.  As a result, the rights of immigrants and the nation at large have been lessened.  At the same time, opponents of immigration want all America’s borders and harbors closely guarded. They also believe that equating immigration with terrorism will finally get the American people to decrease the amount of immigration drastically.  Anti-immigration activists are calling the borders “terrorist alley.”  Of course, this label puts many immigrants in danger from those who see them as terrorists.  (2)

Since the American people have diverse views on the immigration issue, what is the federal government’s position?  Basically, the United States government is trying to be more careful in its selection of the immigrants wanting to enter the nation. At present, there are over 30 million immigrants in the United States with millions more wanting to come.  But, since the Immigration and Naturalization Service is understaffed and is not able to quickly verify the status of these prospective immigrants, the federal government has become very selective in its choice of who is permitted to come to the United States. According to Alexia Elejalde-Rui, in an article written for the Public Broadcast System, “The U.S. government is trying to strike a delicate balance between maintaining the diversity of the United States and ensuring the security of a country devastated by terrorism. Many people fear that the new security measures will violate the rights of non-citizens and discourage people from immigrating to the United States. This change would threaten the values of freedom and acceptance on which the country was founded.”  (3)

If the United States is going to combat its immigration problem, it must decide the rationale for the influx of immigration.  There are several reasons for America’s current immigration problem. Migration is one of the main reasons.  It makes it easier for family members of immigrants to come to the United States. It permits an immigrant who becomes a U.S. citizen to sponsor family members.  This would help them obtain visas to come to the United States.  The other reasons for increased immigration are: “illegal immigration; the amnesties which have allowed immigrants to make the transition to legal status and obtain green cards without leaving the country; and immigration law violators.”  (4)  Therefore, a new immigration policy must be established that would lower the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States illegally.

The increase of immigrants to America will continue unless a better immigration policy is instituted.  The back door approach to controlling immigration must be checked.  In 1986, a general amnesty program was adopted in the United States.  As a result of this program, over three million illegal aliens were given permission to stay in America.  But, these same people could not sponsor their families to come live with them. Today, the government is talking about establishing a new amnesty program.  This could bring the total illegal alien population to over six million.  If the United States doesn’t close its back doors to renewed illegal immigration efforts, the nation will face an even larger influx of immigrants. (4)

How can immigration be controlled?  First, legal immigration must be maintained at an acceptable level, approximately 550,000 people.  However, this number is much higher that the number suggested by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.  Second, employers should be made to verify the eligibility of all their employees. This could be done by verifying social security numbers and alien ID numbers with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  Third, the INS should be able to keep up with the entrance and exiting practices of immigrants.  However, immigrants coming from Mexico and Canada could create a minor problem.  This would be made more manageable by exempting these people when visiting for short periods of time.  Finally, the United States must stop giving benefits to illegal aliens at the expense of the American tax payer.  (4) According to Jack Martin, in his article “Immigration Run Amok,” “Unless those who enter the country illegally or who violate the terms of their visas are made to pay a penalty, the immigration law is nothing more than an easily bypassed obstacle for all but law-abiding people.”  (4)

Frosty Wooldridge of News With Views believes that Congress and the President are trying to dismantle America by arrangement.  He doesn’t understand why Congress and the President will not secure America’s borders when 80 percent of the public want a solution to the current immigration problems.  (5)  According to James Youngblood, a private citizen interviewed by Frosty Wooldridge, “Aside from all of the obvious problems, what bothers me the most about the immigration question is the huge gap between what the great majority of people in this country appear to think should be done and the almost polar opposite stance that is taken by the government.  This gap — or disconnect — between popular sentiment and official policy is so large that you have to question what, exactly, is really going on.”  (5)  Mr. Youngblood also stated, “From my own experience, when you see something that is this far out of kilter, it’s a good idea to look for some kind of unstated agenda or overall design.”  (5)

However, what could be President Bush’s unstated immigration agenda?  According to Edward Nelson, in a U.S. Border Control article, “I believe the President has a totally different agenda.  I believe he is intent on creating a borderless, hemispheric, free trade zone from the tip of South America to the North Pole.  He is trying to emulate the European model, but unlike Europe, where most of the member nations are all First World economies, the Americas model has the richest and most advanced nation living next door to a banana republic, complete with corrupt politicians and oppressed, impoverished, illiterate people.”  (6)  Mr. Nelson further stated, “And to accomplish his dream, he, necessarily, is required to hold our borders open, knowing he is putting us at greater risk of terrorist attack; knowing that our health and welfare systems will buckle and collapse under the strain of massive overpopulation; knowing that our environment will suffer terribly; knowing that thousands of Americans will die of Third World disease for which we have no immunity; and knowing that our social fabric, our language, culture and heritage will be torn to shreds.”  (6)

What affect would the Free Trade Area of the Americas have on the immigration problem that the United States is having?  According to William F. Jasper, in his article “FTAA: Forced to Accept Aliens,” If the borderless, hemispheric, free trade zone (Free Trade Area of the Americas) becomes a reality, the number of legal and illegal immigrants in America could increase five fold, ten fold, or possibly twenty fold.  Of course, most Americans do not have a clue about the proposed FTAA.  If they did, they would vote all the politicians who supported it out of office, especially since most people would be against it.  This is the reason that one of the key provisions of the FTAA is being kept secret. The borders of all the countries that participate in the Free Trade Area of the Americas would be open to any and all immigrants.  But, some of the immigrants migrating to America could be terrorists. Therefore, the integration of economics and politics could, in reality, destroy the sovereignty and safety of the greatest nation in the world.  (7)  According to Ron Strom of the World Net Daily, “Under the planned FTAA, Americans will gradually lose control over their destiny; their property, their taxes, and they will lose the protection of their rights by the Bill of Rights.  The FTAA, like the European Union, will eliminate the enforcement of national borders to foster the free flow of peoples, not just products. National borders will become like our state borders. The immigration problem will be solved, since there will be no more immigration, only migration of populations at will.”  (8)  Therefore, according to the current administration, the FTAA or the North American Union, as it is referred to today in many political circles, might be the only solution to our illegal immigration crisis.  Of course, if something that works isn’t instituted soon, millions of illegal immigrants will be given the same rights that legal immigrants have in the United States.  As a result, the laws that have already been passed to protect the American citizenry from the illegal entry of persons into the United States will become null and void.  Then it would become almost impossible to protect American citizens from those people in other nations that seek to destroy America from within.

  

References

 

1. Gregory, Anthony. “In Defense of Open Immigration” The Future of Freedom Foundation. 11 November 2005<http://www.fff.org>.

2. Barry, Tom. “The Immigration Debate” International Relations Center. 14 November 2005<http://www.counterpunch.org>.

3. Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia. “Changing Immigration Policy” MacNeil-Lehrer. 11 November 2005<http://www. pbs.org>.4. Martin, Jack. “Immigration Run Amok” Federation for American Immigration Reform. 12 November 2005<http://www.afsa.org>. 5. America’s Destruction by Design, www.rense.com6. “U.S. Border Control” U.S. Border Control. 13 November 2005<http://www.usbc.org>.

7. Jasper, William F. “FTAA: Forced to Accept Aliens” The New American. 15 November<http:// www.stoptheftaa.org>.

8. Strom, Ron. “Free-Trade Pact a Threat to U.S. Sovereignty” WorldNetDaily. 15 November 2005<http://www.worldnetdaily.com>.

 Dr. Parnell is a retired public school educator and presently teaches social science courses at a private, Christian high school in Georgia.  He is the author of From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: Exposing America’s New Terror from Within (Wheatmark Publishing, ISBN: 1-58736-613-4).  He is also a guest columnist on several online websites.