Comments on Immigration Reform Mike Rappaport

With the new site, we are finally able to accommodate comments.  From my perspective at least, the comments add an extremely valuable dimension to the blog and I welcome them.

Let me respond to two of the comments on Immigration Reform.  In response to my proposed reform of the illegal immigration problems, see here, one commenter wrote that “an amnesty will 1) be an incredible inequity to those who have waited in line legally and 2) will only encourage more waves of illegal immigration.”  Another commenter puts the concern in terms of rewarding illegal behavior.

I sympathize with both comments, but there are limits to what can be done.  Prospectively,building a fence should largely stop future waves and prevent us from being in this situation again in the future.  Increasing the quota from Mexico should have also help in reducing illegal immigration.

But for the many millions who are here already, it is difficult to simply expel them.  While that might be the fairest solution, the most efficient one is to require them, as one of the commenters says, to register and take actions toward assimilating, such as learning the language and paying a tax, as a means towards permanent residency (or possibly citizenship).  The subset of illegal aliens who fail to do so should be (and could feasibly be) deported, if found.