More Legal Immigration is Not the Solution to Illegal Immigration
by Virgil Goode

05/02/2010

In the wake of Arizona’s SB 1070, illegal immigration is at the forefront of national discussion for the first time since the defeat of amnesty in 2007. Arizona’s law, which makes illegal presence a state crime, has rallied supporters of immigration enforcement. The open borders lobby is pretending that the sky is falling and using the law to demand that the federal government grant an amnesty.

Lost in this debate is any discussion of lowering legal immigration levels. In fact, many opponents of amnesty argue that while we need to stop illegal immigration, we should increase legal immigration.

Amnesty backers cannot deny that the 1986 amnesty failed to stop illegal immigration, so they now blame the problem on the fact that we did not increase legal immigration enough after the legislation was enacted. They argue we can prevent future illegal immigration by simply increasing legal immigration alongside an amnesty. Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s amnesty bill includes a special visa to “prevent unauthorized migrationâ€