Guest Column: D.A. King:

A Common Sense Solution: Attrition Through Enforcement

By D.A. King

(12/11/07) On the illegal immigration crisis, it is likely time - again - for a respectful reminder about false choices and an as-yet untried and reasonable solution.

The transparent argument from those who will never relent on the amnesty-again agenda is that because we cannot round up and deport more than 20 million illegal aliens by sundown tomorrow (false choice “A”), the only other option is to legalize them as part of some contrived and disingenuous “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” program (false choice “B”)

I know what the reader must be thinking: Why is he bringing that up again?
The amnesty attempt of 2007 was defeated in the U.S. Senate in June!

Here is why: Just weeks after this year’s attempt at forcing the now-not-so trusting American people to accept the legalization option, another nationwide push began to prepare them for the next one – but not until the elections are over.

But, for the “legalization now, legalization tomorrow and legalization forever” crowd, there is a rather inconvenient truth emerging in news stories from around the country.

Whether headed for other areas in the U.S. or back to their home countries, nearly every week Americans paying attention can read news reports from places where the law is actually being enforced about illegal aliens giving up and leaving for more hospitable places to look for a better life.

Simply put - again: Enforcement works.

For many in the amnesty industry, the fervent hope is that either many Americans don’t realize that the legalization option was tied - and failed - more than twenty-one years ago, or they can be convinced that Albert Einstein was wrong when he remarked that one definition of insanity was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

It is past time that pundits, editors and candidates for political office begin to recognize and discuss the third and seldom mentioned option: Attrition through enforcement.

It doesn’t take another Einstein to recognize that the idea of gradual attrition of the illegal population through the enforcement of existing laws while at the same time stopping illegal entries by securing our borders – at any cost - will work. It simply takes good old-fashioned common sense.

For decades, common sense seems to be in short supply when it comes to illegal employment and the illegal immigration it produces. Illegal immigration isn’t just wrong because it is illegal – it is illegal because it is wrong.

The national disaster created by the fact that Washington has failed to secure American borders or enforce our immigration and employment laws did not happen overnight. It has taken more than 30 years to get where we are today.

We should all stop looking for an overnight solution. There isn’t one. It may take as long to solve the problem as it did to create.

Not many can argue that border security is not a fundamental duty of their federal government. Neither can anyone reasonably argue against the equal application of American laws. Put the two logical concepts together and we can watch the illegal immigration problem begin to shrink instead of grow with each passing day.

The topic of illegal immigration has been labeled as the “third rail of politics” by many in the media in the now very active election campaigns. Not the case on the streets of America or at office water-cooler conversations. The American people rightly expect the issue to be addressed with something more than the empty rhetoric of the last two decades.

Candidates for office - on all levels - should heed the common sense of the American people and their ever increasing education on the topic and realize that a growing number of voters will not accept the false choices being offered on illegal immigration.

American voters should demand that we stop the insanity of repeating the mistakes of the past and expecting different results. Enthusiastic enforcement of the existing laws seems to be the only thing we haven’t tried. A slow but steady decrease in the illegal population is the obvious reasonable and workable solution.

This long time American will be listening closely for the concept of attrition through enforcement to be one of the first things mentioned in political candidate’s campaign speeches.

I suspect that I will be in a very large group of common sense voters.