Rewarding Bad Behavior

One of the key points against any amnesty plan is that it is bad policy to reward someone for not obeying the law.

The GOP 2012 Plaform puts it this way: “…we oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by intentionally violating the law, disadvantage those who have obeyed it. Granting amnesty only rewards and encourages more law breaking.”

But let me take a different approach.  It involves bad behavior, but not on the part of the illegal aliens themselves.  I’m talking about systemically ignoring the law that is taking place by our politicians.  It is their bad behavior I wish to address.

The 1986 amnesty plan was accompanied by a stern warning that strong enforcement was necessary to prevent another round of illegal immigration.  Heck, even the 1981 report prepared by Jimmy Carter’s own commission warned that we would need to plan to arrest, detain and deport illegal aliens or the problem would return.

In fact, if you study the commissions on immigration over the years they are sickening in their similarity.  They all call for the same thing – enforcement.   The key elements that are repeated over and over again are:

·                   Border security

·                   Visa enforcement

·                   Employment documentation

·                   Abuse of benefits

·                   Unfair labor competition

·                   Deportation (until it became a dirty word around the year 2000)

What has happened is that Congress has failed to adequately fund immigration enforcement and the White House has failed to enforce the laws on the books.  Please do not interpret this as a criticism of the current Congress and Executive Branch alone.  Surely those in power are to blame.  But this problem has persisted since the last amnesty plan in 1986 so it includes both parties.

The last serious enforcement bill passed was in the House in 2005.  It was HB4437.  The Senate failed to respond and it died at the end of that year.

The Washington politicians have not been passive participants in this non-enforcement problem.  They have been active in defunding the fence as well as various interior enforcement programs.  Worse, they have regularly promoted lawlessness in campaigns and speeches calling for amnesty.

Sooooo…this “bad behavior” really belongs to our rulers.  Granting legalization rewards their cowardice over the years and lets them off the hook for decades of non-enforcement.

No amnesty for the ruling class.  The time has come to enforce the law.