For its entire tenure, the Biden administration purposefully and maliciously left the border unguarded, which allowed millions of illegal aliens, including violent individuals, drug smugglers, human traffickers, and potential terrorists to trespass onto American soil. These illegal aliens were secretly transported via night flights to various states within the U.S., which allowed them to blend in and eventually disappear into the crowd.
Controlling illegal immigration was one of President Trump's key promises during his campaign, and he has been largely successful in this matter.
The Trump administration ramped up its crackdown on illegal aliens; there have been ICE operations across the country, including sections of Los Angeles.
In addition to the apprehension, detention, and deportation, President Trump has urged illegal aliens to self-deport i.e., leave the U.S. voluntarily. All these measures have had success in boosting wages for citizen workers. Polls show that the public approves of Trump's aggressive measures to curb illegal migration.
Liberals have also unknowingly and unwittingly helped in this matter. The Democrat-led protests and the negative coverage by Democrat mouthpieces in the media of the illegal immigration crackdown have also had an impact.
A message has been sent across the world that illegal aliens are no longer welcome. This will certainly have an impact deterring aspiring violators.
However, President Donald Trump recently hinted that this uncompromising immigration policy may be moderated.
The President posted the following on his social media platform on Truth Social:
"Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!"
A bit later, President Trump told reporters at the White House that a new order on certain immigration enforcement will be issued “pretty soon.”
“Farmers are being hurt badly. You know, they have very good workers who have worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great, and we’re going to have to do something about that.”
“We can’t take farmers and take all their people and send them back… and you know what’s going to happen, what is happening, they get rid of some of their people… and they end up hiring the criminals that have come in, the murderers from prisons and everything else.”
Open border advocate California governor Gavin Newsom leaped onto this seeming moderation of stance with a social media post that stated the following:
“Turns out, chasing hard-working people through ranches and farms and snatching women and children off the streets is not good policy.”
So what do we make of this seeming moderation of stance by the Trump administration? Should the policy be moderated because a section economy is dependent upon illegal migrant employees?
The real reason some businesses and some farmers are complaining against the crackdown is not because the illegal alien workers are able and have worked for prolonged periods, it is because the illegal alien workers are willing to work for less than minimum wage and no benefits. These employers also avoid government paperwork and other costs mandated by the government associated with legal workers, as the illegal aliens usually work for cash. Hiring illegals is a means for these businesses to cut costs.
In a free market, businesses have the right to hire the most suitable and affordable laborer. At times when skilled workers are required, the employer may have to pay higher wages, but for low-skilled jobs or semi-skilled jobs, the employer could opt for the cheapest available worker.
But this doesn't allow these businesses to circumvent the law. Illegal aliens are violating the law of the land by trespassing on the nation's boundaries or overstaying their visa. If these lawbreakers are hired, these businesses are incentivizing and abetting illegal behaviors. By hiring illegal aliens, these businesses are denying wages to citizen workers and rendering them unemployed.
Most of these citizen workers are from the poorer and underprivileged sections of society. Perhaps these workers and families are pushed into further poverty and are compelled to live on government benefits. This places a burden on taxpayers. It also creates a feeling of helplessness among law-abiding citizens if they are denied a job that they deserve in favor of lawbreakers. Some among these may even resort to crime.
Incentivizing also has other consequences; it overwhelms the resources and facilities funded by and meant for citizens, it also has cultural impacts.
This is one of the reasons the old Left was against open borders.
Back in 2015, when candidate Bernie Sanders was asked about the idea of open borders and this is how he reacted. He first dismissed the concept as "a Koch brothers proposal,” and further added that “the idea is a right-wing scheme meant to flood the U.S. with cheap labor and depress wages for native-born workers. I think from a moral responsibility, we've got to work with the rest of the industrialized world to address the problems of international poverty," he conceded, "but you don't do that by making people in this country even poorer."
Bernie wasn't even in favor of legal immigrant workers -- he claimed to stand for the native-born worker.
If Bernie were principled, he would have stuck to his position and stood for the citizen worker. But principles have no place in politics, and now Sanders is swaying in the direction of the wind in liberal precincts. He realizes that this is the only way to remain politically relevant in the modern Left, and remaining relevant is the only way to avail oneself of great pecunary gains and comforts.
Not all illegal aliens are murderers, drug peddlers, rapists, or human traffickers. Some are hard working and skilled and have come to the U.S. looking for a better life. But these reasons cannot be used as a justification for violating the laws of the land.
No individual, organization, or business has the right to violate immigration laws, no matter what the reason is, and the government must enforce the law uniformly and without any exception.
In the end, a chain is as strong as its weakest link.
If exceptions are made for some illegal aliens for business reasons, there is no reason to act tough on others, and soon, there is no justification to enforce immigration laws.
President Trump has done a fine job so far in enforcing immigration laws; he must continue to do so, without any exceptions.
Image: DHS