Unsolicited Comments and Modest Proposals: Immigration and Failed States

by ProfDave, ©2021

(Sep. 6, 2021) — Neither Trump nor Biden has asked me for my advice on the immigration crisis – just so you know.  So I will give it to you anyway, knowing it will do no harm at all 😊.  I am sure the matter is a lot more complicated than any of us watching the news have any idea.  Immigration policy is like a super tanker – it cannot be turned on a dime and the attempt by both presidents has been catastrophic.  The threat of the wall and the halting of the wall both sparked floods of illegal immigration – unintended consequences.  Then there’s the failure of Latin American states – and Middle Eastern and African, too.  Now Afghanistan.  Remember what Europe went through a couple years ago?  It is our turn, folks.  Nations all over the world are collapsing in civil war, terrorism and lawlessness.  And finally, we have the existing mountain of red-tape, immigration legislation, and the legislative deadlock that makes it all insoluble. The perfect storm.

It seems to me two principles are being violated in all this.  First, we are a nation of immigrants and of Christian compassion towards the destitute and the oppressed.  As bad as the left wishes to make us, we are still the first-choice destination for all the world’s downtrodden.  Notice that Antifa and BLM are not leaving.  During this Labor Day weekend remember that we are the most prosperous, most free and most secure major nation on earth.  Even the homeless and the slum-dweller have better opportunities here than practically anywhere else.  It is our duty and our privilege to welcome legal immigrants and as Christians to assist refugees to find their places in our society.  History has shown first-generation citizens to be among our most productive and loyal assets.  They know first-hand how great America is.

Note, we said “legal” immigrants.  The second broken principle: the rule of law is critical to maintaining our liberty and security – a country worth coming to. 

On the bright side, our country is so great – or at least has such a great reputation – that people from all over the world are willing to break the law and risk their lives to get into it.  We have more than most going for us.  To whom much is given, from them much is required.  We should be sharing (sorry, Mr. Trump).

On the other hand, we see the rule of law being trampled – and that is a serious thing (sorry, Mr. Biden).  Lawlessness is both the cause and the effect of a failed state.  At the bottom, when youth – particularly young men – lose respect for law and authority (their fathers, then the police), they run amuck.  Gangs, drugs, vandalism, shoplifting and violence take over the neighborhood and business flees.  Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, a city near you?  Disrespect for law leads to disrespect for marriage and the family which leads to social chaos and more disrespect for law.  Local gangs grow up to be organized crime, cartels and insurgencies that take over geography and intimidate political figures. Could it happen here?

From the top down, disrespect for constitutional order leads to either dictatorship or anarchy.  Rather than playing by the rules and seeking public good, politicians become engrossed in gaining and maintaining their own power, eliminating rivals, and lining their pockets.  The public good is neglected.  The laws – beginning with the ones they do not like – are ignored, superseded by edict, and not enforced.  The southern border?  When the top and the bottom meet in authorities that are compromised and masses without respect, lawlessness reigns and you have a failed state.  Goodbye, prosperity, freedom and security – especially security.  Hello, corruption and extortion.  Nothing is safe.  No wonder the Anti-Christ is called the lawless one.  Could it happen here?  For heaven’s sakes, obey and enforce the law as it is written until you change it!

Both compassion and the rule of law are essential.  We seem to be rapidly running out of both.  Looming before us is the wastebin of history if we do not recover our balance.  We are a nation of immigrants.  All our ancestors came from somewhere else – even the Indians, thousands of years ago.  We must not succumb to nativism because we are not natives.  States all over the world are being destroyed by hatred, civil conflict, lawlessness and corruption.  When the lives of their children are endangered, ordinary people in desperation flee to us for refuge – since the 17^th century!  True, many of them were and are just looking for a better life but we can afford to share the American Dream – as long as we do not lose it ourselves in hatred and anarchy.

They have found their dream here.  Those who have come through the “golden door” of legal immigration have built the USA – the most prosperous, free and secure nation on earth in our time.  First-generation citizens are the most patriotic and law-abiding of our people, appreciating the benefits that the rest of us have forgotten.  But what of those who climb in the windows and over the walls?  Some may be criminals and addicts, but even the ordinary folks, desperate to escape lawlessness, are compromised by their own lawless “undocumented” status.  They must live under the radar, vulnerable to exploitation, often indentured or worse to traffickers and the criminal underground.  How will they become assimilated into America?  The laws and processes must be changed and enforced with both justice and mercy.

Do you Democrats want open borders?  Here is my modest proposal: open the golden door wide, welcome the refugees, but close the windows and finish the wall.  Replace the drug cartels and coyotes with welcoming agencies.  Yes, replace the human traffickers with ICE.  Or lawlessness and corruption will overwhelm us. 

I can propose this with impunity because the politicians will never agree. If Biden and company really wanted open borders, they should have announced ahead of time how they would handle the rush. Obviously, there only plan was to undo Trump’s solution. What was not broken should not have been “fixed.” They should have finished the wall. They should have hit the ground running. Our embassies in Central American capitals (throw in Beirut and Tripoli if you like) should have thrown open their doors 24 x 7 passing out provisional visas and subsidized travel arrangements for anyone who filled out the application with references. Legal immigration should take no more than an hour — not years — preempting the traffickers.

At the other end, the emergency immigrants should have been tracked to a locality and required to check in with police, ICE, DMV, or even school districts for green cards.  Follow up with the red tape of permanent immigration and citizenship would come later.  No more hiring illegals, issuing licenses to them, signing them up for welfare or school.  When they show up, check them in on the spot.  “If you are unregistered, here, fill this out and I’ll register you” – at HR, at DMV, at Social Services and at the school office.  They could have done it all online.  NGO’s (liberal and faith-based) would have sponsored them locally.  But if they got a traffic ticket or got caught lying on the application – send them back.  There would have been bad apples – some natives are bad apples, too – but most would have appreciated this wonderful country that welcomed them with open arms.  It would have been worth the risks.

Remember, this did not happen and will not happen, so we are in big trouble.

Do we want to make America great again?  First, in retrospect, we should have voted on platform issues rather than personalities and been a lot more concerned about the legitimacy of the balloting.  Second, we need to put doing the right thing ahead of winning at all costs.  Third, we need to get back to the principles of democracy: majority rule, protection of the minority (a moral imperative), life, liberty, justice, heritage, truth and the pursuit of happiness.

One more modest proposal: bring back God.  Even Atheists need something to rebel against.  Some of us may prefer what is wrong, but the rest of us need to do what is right – and our Maker can tell us which is which.  We need to have some idea of where the horizon is and the north star – which way is up and which way is north.  We need words that mean something and categories we can depend on.  Then we can have a conversation instead of an insurrection.  Then perhaps we can build our cities instead of burning them.

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David W. Heughins (“ProfDave”) is Adjunct Professor of History at Nazarene Bible College.  He holds a BA from Eastern Nazarene College and a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota.  He is the author of Holiness in 12 Steps (2020).  He is a Vietnam veteran and is retired, living with his daughter and three grandchildren in Connecticut.