Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Congress had its plan. That flopped. So perhaps the blogosphere is as good a place as any to come up with an immigration plan. What is out there? Well, there does not necessarily seem to be a lot of “plans”. There are, however, some.
- As I have mentioned before, Henryk A. Kowalczyk put up his Freedom of Migration Act. Henryk has little use for anything he thinks smacks of socialism. He is prepared to drop most immigration laws. Instead of amnesty, Henryk thinks our leaders should offer everyone an apology. Henryk arguments focus essentially on the economics the problem. Henryk’s plan is also relatively detailed. However, since Henryk intends to let the free market regulate immigration, most of his detail is in explaining why the least of amount of government interference is best.
- Anti-BVBL’s Elena offers up a “humane solution“. Elena’s plan is to put teeth in immigration enforcement and to offer current illegal immigrants amnesty. To me, it sounds 1986 again.
- Sorro of Two Guys from Quantico proposes a welcome mat. His is an avidly libertarian plan. Again, like Henryk, he perceives most of the problems as economic and self-regulating.
- Katherine of Luxurious Choices has her “Revised Immigration Plan” (no reason why these things cannot be improved). Katherine has praised Elena’s plan. Both Katherine’s and Elena’s plans are intended to be humane solutions.
- Jay of “First Principles” offers a “Modest Proposal on Immigration“. He puts it rather bluntly: “What if it were this simple: eliminate all government assistance for illegal aliens, outside of extraordinary health care (i.e. someone is hit by a car and needs surgery – we can debate about “who pays” in this scenario). Provide first choice for available jobs for US citizens and resident aliens. Provide illegals with second choice.”
- To add an international flavor, here is a post by Lance Wiggs, “Immigration– Bring us your masses“. Lance offers another version of the free market open borders solution.
- Of course, I also have my own relatively brief plan, “Amnesty and Illegal Immigration“.
Most bloggers do not have plans; instead, they have expectations. Joan McIntyre of The Tentacle offers her expectations in “The Implications of Illegal Immigration“. Then she closes the following:
If you are concerned about illegal immigration, start talking to your elected officials. Let them know how you feel and let them know often. Request that they keep the immigration issue on the top of their agendas. If you don’t like how they respond, remember that and make sure you voice that complaint when it comes to election time.
Joan does not have a pie in the sky plan that involves economic theory. She is not unconcerned about the humane treatment of illegal immigrants. She just wants the law enforced. Unfortunately, as Joan points out at the beginning of her post, our leaders do not seem to be listening. With respect to immigration policy, our leaders are indifferent to the expectations of the average citizen. It would appear that they have their own plan, their own theory about economics and their own concerns about the humane treatment of illegal immigrants. I very much suspect that they call their plan ”The Status Quo”.
Perhaps that is why Joan offers her closing suggestion: “start talking to your elected officials”. Any plan that does not deal with the obstructionism of our leaders is not going anywhere.
