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ATTRITION
The issue of what to do about
illegal aliens living in the United States is often presented as a Hobson's
choice: either launch mass roundups to arrest and deport 9-million-plus
people, or define away the problem through legalization.
The second option -- amnesty
-- is the one President Bush chose in his January 7 speech on immigration.
It also underlies many congressional proposals, from the McCain-Kolbe-Flake
and Hagel-Daschle bills in the Senate to the House Democratic leadership's
proposal unveiled in late January. . . . Fortunately for America there is a
third way, between the politically impossible and disruptive approach of
mass roundups on one hand, and the surrender of our sovereignty by the
open-borders Left and its libertarian fellow-travelers on the other.
This third way is attrition,
squeezing the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board law
enforcement to bring about an annual reduction in the illegal population
rather than the annual increases we have seen for more than a decade. Over a
few years, the number of illegal aliens would drop significantly, shrinking
the problem from a crisis to a manageable nuisance. Remember that the
purpose of immigration law enforcement is to stop illegal immigration, not
persecute individuals. Illegal aliens will have to accept the
consequences of their illegal actions.
Not Amnesty but Attrition
Amnesty or deportation: false choices |
