The illegal immigration issue rears its head and lets out an impotent roar
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By DOUG GIBSON
Commentary
dgibson@standard.net
The illegal immigration issue in Utah follows a predictable pattern -- lots of snarls and paws but little bite. Never has so much outrage produced so little results. Every legislative season ups the fury over illegals to a very loud, but impotent roar.
This year's over-the-hill lion is Top of Utah Rep. Glenn Donnelson. The Weber County Republican has introduced some legislation designed to punish illegals. The most notable are measures to deny driving cards and end in-state tuition for illegals in state schools.
It's doubtful either measure will become law or -- if they do -- accomplish any good. Constituents aside, Utah's Republican Party generally follows what its business class desires, and the business lobby in Utah wants cheap labor to fill jobs.
Something calling itself a state business coalition is countering Donnelson's bills with a proposal to "study" the issue for several years, and then return with a report no one but business interests can agree on.
The most effective way to get nothing done in politics is to create a commission to study an issue. Remember the Iraq Study Group? Or the many commissions to study Social Security reform? Or health care insurance reform? (That old scam's being proposed in Utah this year.)
What's really interesting this year is the anti-illegal immigration crowd was smacked down by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In very public statements, LDS Church leaders -- along with other religious groups -- criticized Donnelson's bills for their lack of compassion.
Compassion, now that's an argument I can buy against this year's batch of anti-illegal immigration bills in Utah's Legislature. Donnelson's bills are impotent cries of frustration designed to placate powerless rage. Let's hurt anyone we can just so our utter frustration with a political elite that does the bare minimum to curb illegal immigration is assuaged.
What would happen if we passed a law denying driving cards to illegals? It would not reduce the amount of illegals working in Utah. It would just push illegals deeper into the underclass. The long-term result would likely be higher costs in other areas, such as insurance, to deal with the consequences.
Denying young people affordable tuition who are here illegally due to their parents not only lacks compassion, it's stupid. The U.S. should grant citizenship to any young person living here who has the intelligence and fortitude to graduate from college. The way the current system works, these young people graduate but can't work in a position they were trained for. It just doesn't make sense.
Probably the most frustrating, head-slapping irony for the anti-illegals crowd is that they know they have the law on their side. And they're right. It is against the law for illegal aliens to be here. It is against the law for illegals to drive to work. It is against the law for illegals to get in-state tuition that a citizen from Idaho can't get.
But it isn't wrong.
Donnelson's bills, as technically legal as they may be, are dealing with human beings. It is not compassionate to deny an otherwise law-abiding person a chance to drive to work to feed his or her family. It is not compassionate to put unneeded barriers in front of a bright, young man or woman living in Utah who wants to graduate from college.
There is a way to secure our borders and reduce illegal immigration. It's to assimilate those who are contributing here as soon as possible. Make them citizens. Get their kids working in high-caliber jobs after they graduate from college.
After we've done that, don't let the business and government elites con us like they did in 1987. Make them keep their promises. Secure the border, build a fence if necessary. Deport illegals, jail business owners who try to hire illegals, and boot out pols who want open borders.
But, and this is a plea, the way to do that in Utah and elsewhere is through "comprehensive immigration reform," that term that has become a dirty word among too many conservatives.
If we don't do that, we are going to have year after year of impotent Donnelson-type roars against illegal immigration.
Gibson is the Standard-Examiner's assistant editorial page editor. He can be reached at dgibson@standard.net.
Reader Comments
It's kind of funny when people talk about securing our borders. They usually mean the southern one, and they're usually refering to people walking across it. Yet, everyday, scores of Europeans enter the country on airplanes and then stay indefinitely. There's quite a large population of Illegals from Ireland living in my neck of the woods, and nobody's hassling them. There are a considerable number of Danes, Russians, Swedes, and Germans, too. You can build all kinds of walls along the Rio Grand and it's not going to keep anyone who really wants to come here from coming. But it will look impressive and it'll make a lot of people feel better.
This was a nice column, Doug. I'm glad that we generally agree on this issue. I think allowing Illegal Aliens to have a drivers license is a good trade for how much money they pump into our economy. And remember, in America, the economy is King.
I don't get why one part of the comprehensive reform has to come before the other. If any part should come first, it should be enforcing the border, since amnesty -- which is what you're arguing for, though you don't use the word -- is an invitation for a rush of border-jumping, just as we saw when McCain-Kennedy was being proposed. After the failure of M-K the border-jumping slowed, and it's slowed even more with the actions of states such as Arizona who are punishing the same selfish business interests which you rightly point out are the ones standing in the way of meaningful reform.
Thank you, Doug, for a thoughtful piece that caused me to pause and think. Much as we would like to have government do something about this perceived problem, it's not the role of the states to do so. For Rep. Donnelson to continue this fight is to paint himself as the bigot he is, albeit wrapped in patriotic colors. It's time to elect someone who can represent Northern Weber County beyond the one issue of making life miserable for other humans seeking better lives.
If we secure the (southern) border as you suggest, amnesty wouldn't result in a rush for the border... or at least not a successful one with entrance into the USA, correct?