Sending Troops to the Mexican Border Is Not the Answer
By Alex Nowrasteh

Published May 29, 2010
FOXNews.com
Comments (84)

Giving in to Republican pressure, President Obama ordered 1,200 National Guard troops to Arizona this week and is seeking an additional $500 million for border security. Yet for all these big numbers, troops on the border, walls, and harsh laws like Arizona’s SB 1070 will not deter illegal immigration. Only legalization and expanding options for legal immigration can do that.

Only sound legislation—amending the immigration laws to fit reality—will take a permanent bite out of illegal immigration. The last immigration bill proposed in Washington, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), ignited a passionate debate on Capitol Hill over legalizing non-criminal aliens. But legalization is only half the battle: Expanding legal immigration options is what is needed.

According to the Pew Research Center, there were 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. in 2009. Illegal immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon in the nation’s history. Prior to the 1920s, with some notable exceptions, the U.S. was a free immigration country. The 1921 Emergency Quota Act changed all that. It might as well have been called the “Illegal Immigration Creation Act of 1921.â€