Opposing Arguments for Border Control

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1. Any business that hires undocumented workers, jail the business owner for a felony crime and immediately shut down the business. People will scream that you’re penalizing US citizens, lowering the US tax base, hurting employment. All of those statements are true. But the reality is that the vast majority of undocumented aliens come for jobs. All of the stuff about national IDs and additional checks—that doesn’t address the issue. As long as there are jobs, that will be a “pull” that brings undocumented workers desperate for work. So shut down all business and jail all business owners who hire undocumented workers.

2. I mentioned “pull”…the other dynamic is “push.” In Honduras and El Salvador, there is a bloody battle between death squads and gangs and the government. As long as the youth of that country are faced with the option of joining a gang or being killed, you will see parents sending their 14 year old kids to the US by themselves. Or selling all of their possessions and setting off on foot to come to the US to claim asylum. The “caravan” that Trump was railing about? Almost entirely made up of asylum seekers from Central America. So how do you end that push? The US seeks approval (it would be granted) and provides military, police and equipment support plus major dollars to eradicate gangs in El Salvador and Honduras. This would mean hundreds (and possibly more) deaths of US military and law enforcement. This would not be a cheap proposition. But if the gangs in Honduras and El Salvador were eliminated, their prisons regained control of, then you’d see asylum seekers from Central America drop to almost zero.

3. Take strong and effective action to eliminate the clout of the drug cartels in Mexico, especially in Chihuahua and Guerrero. The most effective way would probably be to legalize heroin in the US and then have the USG supply synthetic or homemade versions of it for pennies. It would not be profitable for the cartels to grow, process, and export it. You’d probably have to address other drugs as well (cocaine). Put the cartels out of business and suddenly two things happen: life is better in many parts of Mexico, jobs increase, but also the “push” for people to leave certain states in Mexico (where the options are only: go to the US or work for the cartel) would be eliminated. Let’s be clear—this drug industry in Mexico is on the US…the cartels exist b/c of the US market, not b/c they get rich selling dope to Mexicans.

4. Crack down on foreign vacations and students. Let me be real clear about this: pretty much end foreign tourism to the US and foreign students in US schools. This would result in a huge hit on the US economy. But did you know that about 34% of all visitors to Disney World come from outside the US? At least 40% of illegal immigrants in the US came here legally—usually as tourists or students. Foreign tourism is a big industry in the US. Foreign students pay much higher rates for most colleges than even out-of-state students do. If you made it much harder for people to legally enter the US by those means, you’d see a substantial decrease in illegal immigration. That’s b/c before Donald Trump tried to make it harder to cross the border, you had people coming legally and then never leaving—and this number will only go up as border enforcement increases.

Now, I oppose all of those measures. I know they’d be incredibly unpopular. Florida for instance, would go crazy over efforts to restrict foreign visitors—it would hit their tourism and real estate industries. They’d be forced to compensate for lost revenue with probably a state income tax. A range of industries (like agricultural businesses) would see prices skyrocket if you forced them to either hire only legal workers or go to jail and then we’d all be paying $4 for an apple at the store. Legalizing heroin and even cocaine would be appalling—I hate the idea of doing this. But it would put the Mexican cartels out of business. And fighting the gangs in Central America would be bloody and require tens of billions in foreign aid. All of these measures are things that most people railing against illegal immigration oppose. But I guarantee you, if we did those 4 things, illegal migration, as it current exists in the US, would dry up.
Now, the other point about these measures: they directly address why illegal immigration happens (by addressing “push” and “pull” factors). Doing things like adding border enforcement, separating families, building a wall, stiffer penalties, a National ID…none of them really address those factors. There are tens of millions of people willing to risk their lives to come here. You can make it more difficult for someone to come here illegally. But if they truly feel that it’s either death or risk coming to America, they’ll keep coming.

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