llegal Alien Amnesty? What's in it for the American Public?
Friday, August 3, 2001
By: Dan Stein

Milwaukee Journal

President Bush has floated the idea of another massive amnesty program that would legalize 3 million of the estimated 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States. Reaction to the President’s proposal is indicative of how far out of touch the political and media elites are from mainstream America.

The reactions to the White House’s mid-July amnesty trial balloon have come from many different quarters. The President has received cheers (and some criticism for not going far enough) from those who view immigration from the perspective of the immigrants, and pats on the back from businesses that are hungry to expand the labor pool. Opposition to another amnesty has centered around the simple proposition that illegal behavior should not be rewarded.

What has been missing from the amnesty debate - and in fact all debate about immigration policy - is any representation of how it will affect the American public. Politicians and the media seem to ignore the fact that mass immigration of more than one million people a year affects everyone, not just immigrants and business interests.

The interests of immigrants and the concerns of American business are obvious. Nobody picks up and moves to another country, legally or illegally, unless it is in their interest to do so. Similarly, it is always in the interest of business to have a larger labor pool on which to draw. What is more difficult to assess, and therefore largely ignored, is the impact that mass immigration has on the vast majority of Americans who are neither immigrants, the relatives of immigrants, nor employers.

Even those politicians and editorial writers who have spoken out in opposition to Bush’s proposal have overlooked this vital aspect of the issue. Critics of the Bush amnesty have been myopically focused on the illegality of illegal immigration, rather than on the real harm that it does to the interests of millions of Americans. They are reduced to arguing on behalf of law and order for law and order’s sake, without providing any rationale for why the law against coming to the United States without permission makes sense in the first place.

Opposing an amnesty for illegal aliens on principle, because it rewards illegal behavior, only goes so far. Prohibition ultimately failed because its supporters failed to make the case for why a ban on alcohol served any sort of broad public interest. Similarly, if the only argument offered against amnesty is a legal one, then it too will fail.

The reason to oppose amnesty for illegal aliens is not simply because the beneficiaries of amnesty broke the law. Amnesty should be opposed because illegal immigration harms millions of Americans in many different ways AND the beneficiaries of amnesty broke the law, to boot. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime as its apologists contend. It costs many Americans jobs, tax dollars, educational opportunities and quality of life.

From Farmingville, Long Island, where the town center has become a magnet for day laborers soliciting jobs on street corners and property values have been decimated by neighborhood homes that have been turned into flophouses for itinerant workers, to Los Angeles, where two-thirds of the schoolchildren require school nutrition programs and the local public health system is teetering on the brink, real people have been harmed by illegal immigration. What will President Bush’s amnesty offer these Americans in terms of restitution and fairness?

The President is understandably uncomfortable with the status quo. Nobody should be comfortable with so many illegal aliens often being exploited because of their status. Amnesty, however, will only make the situation worse, as millions more people will take it as a signal that coming to the U.S. illegally will eventually be rewarded with a legalization program.

What is needed is a viable strategy that discourages illegal immigration and encourages those already here to return home. That must begin with the enforcement of laws against hiring illegal immigrants and the adoption of an already tested electronic verification system that allows employers to check employment eligibility, and meaningful punishment for those who willfully violate the law.

President Bush and Congress must make a choice. Are they going to serve the interests of illegal immigrants and a small number of employers seeking cheap labor at the expense of the American public, or are they going to protect the interests of workers, taxpayers and homeowners? They must choose one or the other.