What’s the best way to get illegal immigrants to return home?

Tom Patterson

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There has likely never been a more tendentious transfer of power in presidential history than the Biden-Harris team’s final act of allocating billions of unspent COVID funds to left-wing groups.

They sold the border wall at giveaway prices. They tied down policy preventing offshore oil drilling, granted Social Security benefits to previously ineligible government employees and defied the Supreme Court to forgive student loans.

Yet by far the most consequential crisis they unleashed, in my opinion, is the massive number of illegals now embedded within our borders. Many Americans were astonished to see our leadership not only ignore American immigration law, but actively work for its violation.

Now we know for certain their claims that they needed more funding and legislation were made-up excuses. Their successors have reduced daily crossings to near-zero without the benefit of either. 

Their attempted deceptions fooled some but not all. As public outcry grew, they doggedly persisted, willing to take the heat in order to transform America’s future electorate.

Worse, they succeeded. No reliable statistics are available for the getaways, unlawful crossings or total new “guests,” but most estimates are in the range of 20 million illegally within our borders.

Many sanctimonious Americans claim these lawbreakers should be allowed to stay for humanitarian reasons since they’re just “seeking a better life” or “fleeing persecution” in the case of the mostly bogus asylum seekers. But when a busload of “victims” were delivered to Martha’s Vineyard, within a day they were speedily transported elsewhere.

Tha’’s understandable, hypocrisy aside. These are not your grandfather’s immigrants, who wanted to be contributing Americans and often endured generations of hardship to assimilate, learn the language and become self-supporting.

Today’s illegal immigrants are rewarded for wading the Rio Grande by becoming entitled wards of the state. They are fed, sheltered and transported around the country. They are housed, sometimes in luxury hotels, and introduced by helpful NGOs to benefits like health care, education and permanent food programs.

No serious consideration was given to the prospect that immigrants or their proxies would bear financial responsibility for all these goods and services. Thus, jurisdictions like New York City are feeling the pinch of what amounts to a sudden, dramatic expansion in their welfare roles, forcing out existing programs.

Trump made the resolution of this threat a major feature of his election campaign by vowing to close our borders and deport millions of illegal immigrants. To his credit, he has made a sincere effort, reducing breaches of the border from 130,000 monthly last April to a mere trickle today.

But reversing the inflow has proved more problematic. As of recently, relying almost solely on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove illegals has resulted in a total of 65,000 deportations. Those with criminal records have commendably been prioritized, but at the rate so far achieved, we would deport only 1 million or about 5% of those who are eligible, in four years.

Trump often prefers confrontation to resolve conflicts, but there’s a better way, using incentives and voluntary self-removal. Immigrants are attracted to America primarily by work and welfare. If those magnets could be eliminated, immigrants would eventually self-deport. 

The welfare piece is relatively simple logistically. There is no coherent reason to grant benefits to those who intentionally defy our laws and take advantage of our generosity.

Government welfare benefits to illegals should be phased out immediately. Moreover, their home countries would benefit from having their working age citizens return.

Jobs are more complicated. E-Verify is the federal system for assuring that illegal immigrants don’t take American jobs but it has not worked well, partly due to lack of cooperation from employers who frankly prefer foreign nationals who are compliant and work for less.

To prevent a future glut of unskilled, unneeded workers, President Trump must work with Congress to make E-Verify the enforceable law of the land. Like the border itself, it is simply a matter of having the will to make it happen. Lettuce may cost a bit more but the vegetables will still get picked.

Editor’s note: Tom Patterson is a retired physician and former state senator who lives in Paradise Valley. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.