A privilege, not a right

A privilege, not a right

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Monday,

May 21, 2018

No nation is more confused over who, why and how someone may cross its borders than the “nation of immigrants.” America’s confusion is largely the work of men and women who would get lost on a highway with no exits. Common sense, an uncommonly precious leadership quality, is the compass that points the way toward an immigration policy based on respect for the law. Common sense, alas, suffers a sharp discount in our present day.

The urgency of fixing the gateway to America is something that President Trump gets. Against the backdrop of Robert Mueller’s endless and meandering search for evidence of Russian collusion with Mr. Trump to steal the 2016 election, an uproar over correcting Barack Obama’s nave and damaging international deals, and the scheming of Democrats who can’t get over losing an election, Mr. Trump is keeping a promise to secure the nation’s borders.

“We have the worst laws anywhere in the world for illegal immigration,” President Trump told a White House roundtable last week, attended by leaders of more than a dozen California cities and counties that are resisting Gov. Jerry Brown’s sanctuary law. Mr. Trump holds up California as a dreadful example of the turmoil that comes when towns and cities rebel against America’s sovereign right to enforce its borders. California now numbers 2.5 million illegal immigrants, greater than the population of 15 of the 50 states.

Some of the president’s fellow Republicans have joined Democratic opposition to attempts to control the wave of uninvited guests. House Speaker Paul Ryan has promised to hold a vote next month on a package of immigration proposals that balance security and compassion. Republicans facing difficult re-election in districts with many illegal immigrants have signed up to help Democrats force a vote on legislation mending Mr. Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, often called DACA, by granting legal status to the 800,000 “Dreamers,” children brought to the United States illegally by their parents.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are standing in the way of Speaker Ryan, too. Last week 30 Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting Mr. Ryan’s legislative priority, a $867 billion farm bill, making good their threat to prevent passage of the farm bill until the House enacts an immigration bill to reinforce border as part of a DACA solution.

As the struggle over immigration continues, between those attempting to plug holes in the broken law and those scheming to punch new holes, Mr. Trump has kept to his campaign pledge to build a necessary wall on the southern border. Unfazed by Bronx cheers from the media, he repeats his promise at campaign-style rallies, like the rally the other day in Indiana: “We are going to build the wall,” he said in Elkhart. “We are already starting the wall … We got $1.6 billion, we’re fixing a lot of it.” It’s a sure-fire applause-getter from the Americans who elected Mr. Trump. A recent YouGov poll found that 77 percent of Republicans favor building the wall, and a nearly equal proportion of Democrats, who see uncontrolled immigration as the party’s guarantee of a Democratic future, wish it away.

Legislators aren’t alone in their confusion over which way to turn in the immigration debate. Social media chases its tail in a madcap dash to substitute fiction for fact. Facebook has a new policy intended to halt the kind of interference alleged against Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign. Facebook now requires advertisers to prove their identities with Social Security numbers, driver’s permits or passports.

This set off a predictable howl from illegal immigration advocates, who insist they have a right to be heard in American elections. “This is Facebook telling undocumented people you’re not allowed to participate in this part of the political process,” says Justino Mora, co-founder of UndocuMedia, an advocacy organization for illegals. Mortified by the prospect of excluding legal citizens of other countries to vote in American elections, Facebook quickly backed way from reality and issued an apology, sort of: “We fully understand that the process, as currently designed, presents challenges for some groups and we’re exploring solutions now to address those concerns.”

The tired, the poor and the tempest-tossed have contributed much to the growth, power and glory of America, making the United States a proud nation of immigrants. But every nation, including the United States, has the right to enforce its borders. Congress, seeking to make common-sense repairs to the nation’s broken immigration system, must be mindful that by choosing to live in the United States without permission millions have cast doubt on their fitness for the privilege — and it is a privilege and not a right — of becoming Americans.

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