The Argument Over Immigrants and Immigration Is (Mostly) Over
Frank Sharry
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So tell us, Frank, after you legalize all 15 million of those who crossed our borders illegally, what will you do about the next 15 million? And the 15 million after them? And the following 15 million? If “ the movement to restrict immigration will be left as a stereotype of exclusion and bigotry” is true, then we will have this problem every few years forever.

See, it’s never going to end; as long as each time when the number reaches the threshold millions they all get legalized, then they will keep coming. Every year, 70 million more people are born into the families of those earning less than $2/day, so the global supply of destitute people, mostly living in violent societies, is endless.

What you are concealing in your recitation of the statistics is that, yes, Americans want to treat illegals of long, peaceful and productive residence in the US humanely; but they also want two other things. First, they want further illegal immigration to be prevented. Second, Americans don’t want the gift of legalization to also include those who crossed last month, or last week, or next week. They don’t want felons to be legalized. They don’t want MS-13 gang members legalized.

They don’t want this problem to go on and on and on, with Liberals telling us every few years that if we don’t legalize the most recent groups of illegals, then we are just racists.

And if you ask people if legalization should include citizenship for anyone who crosses our borders illegally, the number who agree drops drastically. If you ask if we should continue to have unsecured borders while we grant legalization to those who continue to cross unlawfully, the number who agree drops drastically. You are giving us statistical half-truths.

Here’s something productive you can do: give us the percentage of naturalized Americans who immigrated the legal way, that think those who simply walked across the border and lived the good life as residents in the USA should also become naturalized citizens. What you propose makes people who immigrated lawfully into chumps, doesn’t it?