Deport the Criminals, Keep the Workers
President-elect Donald Trump ran his presidential campaign on the promise of deporting tens of millions of illegal immigrants.
While Trump and his aides have expressed that the top priority for deportations is illegal immigrants with a criminal record, they claim that all other illegal residents, including peaceful immigrants like Grandma, will follow. But instead of conducting the “largest deportation operation in history,” President Trump should conduct the largest legalization effort that would create many millions of new legal American residents.
The problem of criminality among illegal immigrants has been blown out of proportion. The crime rate for illegal immigrants is reportedly lower than that of native-born Americans. Still, those who engage in violent crimes should face the criminal system, and it is appropriate that noncitizens who commit crimes in America be deported.
But the vast majority of illegal immigrants present in America (around 11 million in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center) are peaceful people who have come here to work and build a better life. These immigrants associate with Americans by trade, family, or both: Many of them work in construction, hospitality, and agriculture, and many live in households with American citizens.
Illegal immigrants aren’t in that precarious legal situation because they want to be but because it’s almost impossible for most people to immigrate to America legally. The current immigration system only welcomes a tiny fraction of people in very specific professional fields and family situations. Anyone who doesn’t fit into those narrow categories is denied the opportunity to pursue a better life in America. The vast majority of illegal immigrants in America never had a visa available to them to come here legally.
In America, the desire to improve one’s situation in life through hard work is rightly admired in those lucky enough to be born here or to fit the narrow visa categories. Denying legal status to immigrants who just want to pave their own way is distinctly un-American. Furthermore, lumping these peaceful immigrants in with gang members and criminals ignores the real problems within the immigration process itself.
People who value and respect America and come here to engage in peaceful trade don’t deserve to be deported – they deserve a chance to rectify their situation.
President Trump could follow the steps of Ronald Reagan and enact a legalization effort that could help many of those 11 million illegal immigrants come clean and legalize their immigration status.
In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which, among other provisions, established a path to legalization for millions of illegal immigrants.
A renewed legalization effort would, among other things, invite immigrants to provide the government with information on who they are and why they’re here. Concerns over potential “threats” could be addressed by conducting background checks and interviews, like it’s done with legal immigrants currently. To remain in the U.S. and begin the legalization process, immigrants would have to prove that they’re peaceful and show that they’ve been building a life here in America.
Being in the country illegally is, in fact, a civil offense. But deportation is not a commensurate consequence given the latent problems within the immigration system. As such, a fine should be imposed on illegal immigrants for having broken the law. This is what respect for the rule of law demands if we are to abide by it, even in the face of unjust laws. But the law itself must be changed to promote the legal immigration of peaceful workers to America.
This is partly where Reagan’s efforts fell short, by failing to resolve the root cause of illegal immigration. While we need a legalization process for immigrants already in the states, it is not enough. As long as we have an immoral and unenforceable law in place, the problem will remain. To uphold the respect for the rule of law, the Trump administration should work toward improving the existing legislation.
President Trump should push for immigration reform that opens up avenues for immigrants who have a job offer from an American employer – whether the migrants are farmers or engineering geniuses – or implement any of the many suggestions experts have made.
President Trump has stated in the past that his administration wants to see more legal immigrants come to America. He should make good on that promise by legalizing peaceful people already here and by beginning to welcome more such people moving forward.