Amnesty or Mass Deportation Not the Only Options for Dealing with Illegal Immigration

The following was released by fairus.org on May 10, it provides some interesting perspectives on the current immigration debate.

Washington, DC—President Bush and leading congressional supporters of an illegal alien amnesty have repeatedly touted legalization as the most practical approach to dealing with illegal aliens living in the U.S. because, in the president’s words, “We can’t deport 12 million people.” Deportation has been turned into the unpopular straw man alternative to the White House’s unpopular amnesty proposal.

Polls indicate that Americans oppose both mass deportation and mass amnesty, but overwhelmingly favor a sensible immigration enforcement strategy that, over time, will encourage many if not most illegal aliens to leave voluntarily. Despite the constant repetition by the Bush Administration and other amnesty backers, mass deportation has never been suggested as a viable solution to the illegal alien crisis gripping the U.S. The alternative to amnesty has always been a comprehensive enforcement strategy that makes it clear to illegal aliens that they will not benefit by remaining here.

To refute the idea that the alternative to an illegal alien amnesty is mass deportation, FAIR has produced A Seven Step Attrition Plan for Promoting the Outbound Flow of Illegal Immigration. The seven step approach includes:

1. Secure the borders
2. Apply strong and serious worksite enforcement
3. Eliminate document fraud
4. Reform unwitting accomplices: SSA and IRS
5. Encourage state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws
6. Eliminate state and local benefits to illegal aliens
7. Provide necessary resources to DHS and DoJ.

“The strategy for dealing with our illegal immigration crisis can be summarized in one word: attrition,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “The American people are angry and frustrated by decades of neglect of our immigration laws and want action. But they are also realistic. Twelve million people did not arrive illegally last night and nobody expects that they will all leave tomorrow. If we implement a comprehensive enforcement strategy that systematically removes all the incentives for violating our immigration laws and increases the likelihood of apprehension, over the next several years millions of illegal aliens will get discouraged and essentially deport themselves.

“Nobody is seriously suggesting mass deportation, although we have to deport people, and amnesty is both morally objectionable and a prescription for chaos,” continued Stein. “Amnesty is simply unworkable from a practical standpoint. It would result in a bureaucratic and national security nightmare, future immigration backlogs for as far as the eye can see, and staggering unfunded social costs, while doing absolutely nothing to curtail the next wave of illegal immigration. A comprehensive enforcement strategy, such as the one being proposed by FAIR, on the other hand, offers a realistic long-term approach to dealing with what everyone agrees is a national crisis. It is not a miracle cure, but it is a viable, sensible plan that would have overwhelming public support,” said Stein.

Read the detailed plan of action
to implement each of these steps
at http://www.fairus.org .