Democratic Debate Ignores Illegal Immigration ' s Cause: No Visas

Democratic candidates for president gathered last night to debate, and moderatorsasked, what would you do to address the number of people crossing illegally? The discussion devolved into the question of whether crossing should remaina crime (punishable by prison time) or just a civil infraction (punishable by deportation). No one stated the obvious: that Congress should make itlegal, not to trek through Mexico and swim the Rio Grande, but to board private U.S.-bound airplanes and come to the United States to work.According to the Department of Homeland Security, the average Central American  is paying north of $8,000 to make it to the U.S.-Mexico border where they are brutalized in Mexico and in the United States. Round-trip airfare from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras is under $300. People are dying on the way to make that illegal crossing. When will politicians step up and say clearly, “We think it should be legal to travel to America.” Sen. Klobuchar came the closest by arguing for the “the economic imperative” to allow immigrant “workers in our fields and in our factories.” But no one made the explicit connection between the availability of visas—which allow noncitizens to board U.S.-bound flights—and illegal crossings. It is not that the civil v. criminal debate isn’ t important. It is. But it ignores everything up to the moment where a father makesa fateful decision to jump into a river and cross illegally.For nearly a century and a half, it w...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs