Most Americans have never considered going to another country illegally. Yet around the world, there are millions of people planning on coming to our country without passports or visas, who won’t pay many of our taxes, will collect benefits such as free education and health care and will ship their money home. There is no difference in the nature of these people and Americans; if we were in their position we would consider any means necessary to improve our position. Some come from desperate situations; places where they are politically oppressed and hopelessly impoverished. Others come from areas that do not offer the same range of services or employment opportunities as the United States.
For both groups, there may be short-term hope in escaping to the United States. The long-term solution, however, does not rest in America, but rather in the nations these illegal immigrants are leaving. America does not exist solely for her own benefit, nor does she exist to act solely in the best interest of the rest of the world. Rather her purpose is to ensure our own security and prosperity so we are capable of helping other nations help themselves.
Countries must change from the inside out so their people are no longer so desperate that they find it necessary to break into our nation. This change is possible without the aid of outside nations — independent reform or revolution can come from within. But with the help of nations like America and groups such as the Red Cross or the United Nations, these changes can be accomplished much more rapidly.
If we are to truly help facilitate this change in places like Mexico, we must stop allowing illegal aliens to enter our nation by the tens of millions. The unchecked flow of desperate foreigners is upsetting the national strength that allows the United States to be a world leader in humanitarian aid and human rights. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs that many Americans want but can’t afford to take because the large numbers of workers drives wages down. If there were more jobs than workers, we could just allow more workers to enter the country legally until the needs were met. When illegal immigrants take American jobs they hurt our economy without helping to create jobs in their homelands.
But just because illegal immigration causes financial distress without providing long-term change to third world nations, it doesn’t mean we can do much about it. Conservatives and liberals would all agree we should close our borders if we can, but because the economic analysis of large numbers of illegal immigrants is so complex, it’s hard to say what would be more expensive: closing our borders or adjusting to illegal immigration. Those who argue closing our borders would be too expensive would have us give up. Amnesty and more open borders are their solution. These are the people who believe America’s first priority is not America, but giving the rest of the world what they want — a quick fix.
The people who disagree with this course of action are usually labeled racist, anti-diversity or un-American. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants. But those dissenters who argue for closed borders and deportation know America cannot act as an overflow valve for impoverished nations indefinitely. Eventually those nations must improve or they will drag us down with them. Taking this line of argument doesn’t mean you are a bad or uncaring person. It means you want to give poor people around the world the chance to build nations that are as strong and as prosperous as our own.
This ideology is not calloused or bigoted. Being against illegal immigration does not mean you are against immigrants. We need immigrants to take the jobs we have no workers for, to fill our universities with the brightest minds and to create the innovations that make the world a better place. Let them come legally, get an education, start a business, or learn a skill. If they stay we gain a valuable citizen. If they leave they can return to their country to make improvements there. But by giving up on securing our borders, we cheapen the efforts of the millions of hardworking legal immigrants who help to make our country great.
Don’t listen to those who tell you it is too expensive or difficult to close our borders. Do not shun those who say illegal immigration prevents change from happening in other countries. We must work to secure our own prosperity and remain vigilant so we do not forget the purpose of maintaining superpower status. Our strength is designed to make us capable of helping other nations achieve stability and progress. We cannot do this without secured borders. If we don’t do something to stop immigrants from coming here illegally, we will end up being the ones entering other countries illegally.
Andrew Carpenter ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in communication arts and psychology.
