In Spite of Border Crisis Calls for Amnesty Continue
The border crisis and mass illegal migration have exceeded all historical records. In Fiscal Year 2023, over 3.2 million illegal aliens were encountered nationwide, and we are on track to exceed even that unprecedented annual figure this fiscal year. The crisis has harmed all American communities, exposing Americans to more lawlessness and more costs. Despite this, there are voices that continue to push amnesty, which would only reward illegal aliens who are already here while incentivizing even more to come.
After extending Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) health insurance eligibility to illegal aliens benefitting from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), President Biden touted amnesty at a Cinco de Mayo reception at the White House on May 6. While the speech focused primarily on DACA recipients – whom Biden called “model citizens” of the United States – the most open borders president in American history boasted about sending an amnesty (“comprehensive immigration reform”) bill to Congress immediately after taking office.
It bears emphasizing that DACA itself is unlawful and was created by former President Obama’s executive fiat. In addition, not all DACA beneficiaries are or were “model citizens.” As one report explains, “[d]espite the successful framing of DREAMers and DACA recipients as young people with no criminal records, it turns out that many were affiliated with gangs and many had arrest records when granted DACA benefits, and many others saw their DACA status terminated because of criminal activity.”
Biden is also wrong to refer to DACAs – who remain illegal aliens in the eyes of the law, regardless of their deferred deportation status – as “citizens,” which is insulting to both actual citizens and legal immigrants working hard to naturalize. In addition, it represents the downgrading of citizenship – and the collapsing of vital distinctions between citizens, residents, and aliens – which is the hallmark of open-borders globalism, as emphasized by historian Victor Davis Hanson.
President Biden was not alone in his recent push for amnesty. On May 8, more than 80 pro-mass-migration representatives – largely representing the Hispanic and Progressive Congressional Caucuses – submitted a letter to the president urging him to pursue amnesty for illegal aliens, albeit euphemistically worded (“streamline pathways for lawful status for undocumented immigrants”). The signatories include Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Joaquin Castro, Veronica Escobar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pramila Jayapal, and Zoe Lofgren. The letter calls for such measures as granting immigration parole to illegal alien spouses of U.S. citizens, allowing the spouses of citizens applying for green cards to work (competing with Americans and legal immigrants for jobs), “streamlin[ing] the process by which DACA holders may obtain another status,” and to make cancellations of removal easier.
Although the letter’s language emphasizes the need to provide relief to “families” and “communities,” the alleged needs of business are continually mentioned first. This shows that increased profits and the seemingly unquenchable thirst for the cheap foreign labor subsidy often lie behind the veneer of rhetorical “compassion.”
Calling for amnesty provisions while illegal immigration remains out of control may be severely out-of-touch, but it is also woefully ignorant of the lessons of history. The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal aliens, with about 3 million more remaining unlawfully. The amnesty was a failure that led to more illegal immigration and saw the illegal alien population explode, at least five-fold, to 16.8 million as of May 2023, and it is certainly even higher now. While amnesties certainly benefit those who violated our laws and borders by rewarding them for it, they do not work for the people whom our immigration system should work: Americans.