Joe Siano

The recent passage of Arizona’s immigration law has sparked heated arguments and accusations on all sides of the issue.

Executive Summary

Relations with foreign nations is the Constitutional responsibility of the Federal Government.  This includes war making, treaties as well as the oversight of immigration.

Libertarians believe that the free movement of peaceful, law-abiding people who are seeking a better life for themselves and their loved ones is an innate human right.  However, we also understand the wisdom of Milton Friedman’s adage that a nation cannot maintain both open immigration and a welfare state simultaneously.  It is unjust and ultimately destructive for one nation to export its social welfare ills to another country.

It is also the Federal Government’s responsibility to protect its citizens from foreign threats.  This includes keeping violent criminals and terrorists off of our shores.  However; when the Federal government fails in its duty, a free and sovereign people have the right to defend themselves.

It is evident that the Federal Government under both Republican and Democratic leadership has failed to control immigration along the Mexican border.  Therefore the citizens of Arizona are justifiably concerned for their safety.  I do not believe that Arizonans are acting out of malice or racism.  And I would caution the opponents of new bill against carelessly throwing the “R” word around.  Like shrapnel it can inflict deep and lasing wounds.

I urge Congress to step in the breech and pass immigration reform that that recognizes the dynamics of the free market and human dignity while protecting the lives and rightful property of U.S. citizens.  This policy should judge each individual immigrant on his own merits thus avoiding the Marxist trap of class distinction and antagonism.  Therefore I propose:

1. Continued strong efforts to filter out and intercept terrorists who are trying to enter the U.S.
2. Deportation for undocumented aliens who are convicted of crimes or for those with no means of support who are taxing the social welfare system.
3. A guest worker program that legalizes foreign nationals working in the U.S. with the option of putting them on track for citizenship.  This will also give governments the opportunity to collect taxes and fees from them that are comparable with others in their income brackets.
4. Some form of fines or community service penalties to serve notice to the community that those who came here illegally did not gain an unfair advantage over those who followed the law.
5. Severe penalties for those employers who continue to hire undocumented aliens under the table.
6. Immediate deportation for those that still come here illegally after the new liberalized standards are in place.

Introduction

The arguments for and against the statute present a toxic and bitter cocktail of almost every major issue of concern to most Americans including:

• National sovereignty versus individual self determination
• The power of free markets versus statism
• Domestic security versus crime and terrorism
• Drug prohibition
• Employment and the displacement of  U.S. citizens and documented aliens in the workplace
• Social welfare entitlements
• Racism and profiling

 

The surrounding media circus leaves the impression that most arguments are inflamed with emotion rather than informed with reason.  To come to a just and reasonable perspective on immigration, particularly as it affects Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, we must distill this swill down to its discrete elements.

The Specter of Racism

It is undeniable that America has a sad track record of ethnic antagonism.  We are still nursing the scar tissue of Black slavery.  To that end, most Americans welcomed the election of Barak Obama as evidence of healing and acceptance of Martin Luther King’s hope that we judge our brothers and sisters based upon the content of their souls, not the color of the skin.

Likewise, Americans looked askance at wave after wave of immigrants whom they feared might undermine our economy, institutions and national identity.  This list includes the Germans, Irish, Jews, Italians, Poles and, out west, the Chinese and Japanese,

Happily America has a better tradition, a tradition of which we can be proud.  We have assimilated each and every immigrant group into our culture as we came to understand that our new neighbors share our dreams of peace, freedom and prosperity.  Most Americans care little about the ethnic roots of their neighbors as long as they are peaceful, responsible, self supporting and contributing members of the community.  If anything, Americans love to celebrate the diversity of our communities and the splendid mélange of cuisines, art, culture and music that each ethnicity brings to the table.

Racism is unconscionable when innocent people are persecuted.  It is just as ugly when accusations of racism are irresponsibly hurled by agitators.

We cannot look into the hearts of those contesting this issue.  Therefore, I’ll assume that racial hatred is not anyone’s motivation but that well intentioned citizens are wrestling with legitimate economic and security concerns.

Drug Trafficking

Conservatives, who are keenly aware of the irresistible force of free markets, somehow have a blind spot when it comes to the drug trade.

America’s misguided Drug Prohibition policy is as ineffective and counterproductive as our Alcohol Prohibition policy of 80 years ago.

America’s appetite for recreational drugs rages on unabated despite our 40-year war on drugs.  It certainly has nothing to do with immigrants.  Drug users come from all races, creeds, nationalities, economic and social strata.

As with Alcohol Prohibition, our Drug Prohibition has opened up market opportunities for enterprising criminals.  As long as the rewards are lucrative, market forces will attract risk takers.  After all, it is the capitalist way.

Ending prohibition would take the drug industry out of hands of gangsters and put it the hands of businesses that operate openly and with the full scrutiny that we currently place over the alcoholic beverage industry.  Ask yourself, how many distillers, brewers, vintners, bar keeps and liquor store owners do you hear of that shoot each other or their customers.

Addiction to drugs can be dealt with as we deal with alcoholism.  Addicts are sick, they are not criminals.

Therefore, drug trafficking should be taken off the table as a rationale for immigration control.

Terrorism

Immigrants flock to America because they are in love with the American dream of peace, freedom and prosperity.

Islamic terrorists hate all that America stands for.  They hate our freedoms which they consider to be profane and licentious.  They resent our prosperity.  They envy our strength and stature in the world community.  Because of their ill-will towards America they seek to destroy it.  But lacking the means to face America head-on they look to frighten and intimidate the weak of heart.

My impression is that few if any immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, India or the Pacific Rim come here to kill us and destroy our nation.  They come here to seek a better life.

Our Declaration of Independence clearly states that governments are formed to protect our lives, liberty and property.  Defense is the foremost and most legitimate mission of government.   Therefore, while we should continue to enact stringent screening for terrorists who seek to kill us, I believe that this argument is irrelevant to the issue of Mexican immigration. 

The Social Welfare State

Being a compassionate people, Americans have created an elaborate, taxpayer supported social welfare system.  Whether this is the optimal approach to address the needs of our poor is a topic for another day.

The fact is that we do have this taxpayer supported system in place and that it is likely to be with us for some time to come.  Therefore, it is patently unfair for another nation to export its social ills onto the backs of U.S. taxpayers.

Therefore, those who come to America should not do so expecting to find a free ride.  Immigrants must be able to demonstrate that they have a means of support be it assets, a job / job prospects, a realistic business plan or the commitment of a sponsor’s support.

Those who can lawfully support themselves are welcome.  Those who cannot support themselves should be repatriated with their country of origin.

This is in keeping with Milton Friedman’s axiom that you cannot maintain both open borders and a welfare state simultaneously.

Job Displacement

This is another instance where the free market is at work.  Constricted opportunity in a given place forces people to leave.  Opportunity in another place creates a vacuum that must be filled.

America attracts workers for jobs that we cannot fill either for want of the skills or want of the will.

On the skills side of the equation we attract scientists, technicians, entrepreneurs and professional managers from other nations to fill gaps in our domestic workforce. 

On the will side of the ledger, we have the poor of other nations coming here with a willingness to do the work that the existing workforce refuses to do or is unwilling to do at the wages offered.  This includes farm work, food service work and manual labor of all sorts.

Conservative commentators insist that with 10% unemployment in the U.S., American workers should be taking these jobs.  This may be so, but unless I am missing something, I am unaware of many out-of-work auto executives or UAW members rushing to California to pick lettuce and grapes.

Therefore, if immigrant laborers can fill necessary jobs that U.S. citizens are unwilling to take, I welcome them.

Crime, Justice and the Rule of Law

Many who argue in favor of stringent immigration statutes point out that those who have entered the country without documentation have disrespected U.S. sovereignty by breaking our law.  Therefore, they are, by definition, criminals.

Let’s examine this argument by first dividing human transgressors into three buckets. There are:

1. Lawbreakers – those who violate statute law
2. Criminals – those who deliberately harm others, depriving them of their property, well being, freedom or lives
3. Sinners – those who violate the moral law of our Creator

At times offenders will fall into all three buckets with the same offense, such as those committing First Degree Murder.

At other times, one may be a lawbreaker without being a criminal.  Our nation has a proud history of righteous lawbreakers including:

• The persecuted Protestant Non-Conformists and Roman Catholics who first colonized America.  They were lawbreakers in their native England.
• The Founding Fathers and the original Tea Partiers were big time lawbreakers, risking all in defiance of unjust authority
• The escaped slaves and the abolitionists of the Underground Railroad
• Henry David Thorough who penned Civil Disobedience while in jail for refusing to pay his war taxes
• Rosa Parks who sat in the front of the bus, the proud African Americans who sat at segregated lunch counters and the Freedom Riders who supported them

In the not too distant future, some defiant patriot will break the law by not buying health insurance.  Like those before him, he will be a hero, not a criminal

And finally we have the sinners.  Scripture tells us that we are all sinners but few of us ever go to jail.  Our mundane sins of unkindness, dishonesty, infidelity and lust fall beyond the reach of the law.  Thank goodness for that!

So where does the act of crossing a man-defined border on God’s earth fit into this scheme of transgressions?

Well, it is clearly a violation of statute.  There can be no disputing that.  But is it a crime or a violation of some higher moral precept?

Those who come here to work at honest employment and don’t try to bilk the welfare system are not criminals.  However, undocumented aliens who commit genuine crimes should be deported.  It is my impression that this does not happen often enough.  Furthermore, in a recent article, Cato Institute’s Daniel Griswold demonstrated that in areas of high immigrant populations, crime is in decline.

If we accept that our nation was founded on higher law, that our rights are endowed upon us by our Creator, we must ask, does the act of crossing our borders without papers violate God’s law? 

This is where I wonder, “What would Jesus say?”  For this I look to Scripture and to the guidance of my Church.

Undocumented border crossing clearly does not violate any of the Ten Commandments.  In fact, the Good Book explicitly instructs us as to how we are to treat aliens living among us

“When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.  The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt”.

This is why the U.S. Catholic Bishops have come out strongly in favor of liberalizing immigration policy.  And lest you think that they are knee-jerk lefties, please keep in mind that the Church officially opposes socialism in its Catechism.

So What To Do?

At this point it would be impractical, disruptive and perhaps even impossible to deport all those here without documentation.  It may also be counterproductive to deport those who have been leading lawful lives and earning honest livings.  However, there is also a question of fairness to those who have entered America legally.

We should be wary of judging individuals as a class.  We can leave that to the Left as this is not the American way.  We should undertake reforms that judge those immigrants that are already here without papers as well as future immigrants based upon individual qualifications and merit.

Therefore I’ll reprise my proposal:

1. Continued strong efforts to filter out and intercept terrorists who are trying to enter the U.S.
2. Deportation for undocumented aliens who are convicted of crimes or for those with no means of support who are taxing the social welfare system.
3. A guest worker program that legalizes foreign nationals working in the U.S. with the option of putting them on track for citizenship.  This will also give governments the opportunity to collect taxes and fees from them that are comparable with others in their income brackets.
4. Some form of fines or community service penalties to serve notice to the community that those who came here illegally did not gain an unfair advantage over those who followed the law.
5. Severe penalties for those employers who continue to hire undocumented aliens under the table.
6. Immediate deportation for those that still come here illegally after the new liberalized standards are in place.