Much of the Immigration Solution is Common Sense

The squabble over immigration policy is mystifying. Most of the basic principles seem like such common sense. 

The Democrats want something done about the DACA kids. Trump rescinded Obama's previous edict which allowed them to stay but allowed a 6 month grace period.  In essence he handed the decision to the legislature which was the constitutionally correct thing to do. This decision belongs to the legislature and not the executive. These individuals have been here most of their lives and are Americanized. So it makes sense to work out an arrangement to make them legal.

At the same time measures must be taken to end illegal immigration, really and truly. How can you disagree with that? Who can give a rational argument for allowing the free movement of individuals into our country whose identity, whereabouts and reasons for coming are unknown. There are some libertarians who believe in unrestricted migration but even if we concede that argument, which I think is craziness,  we still should know who's coming, where they are going and what brings them here.

I listened to a discussion of drug overdose deaths today. There were something like 65K in 2016 alone, more than the number of names on the Vietnam War Memorial. The overwhelming majority were not due to doctor's prescriptions but were from fentanyl and heroin brought into the country over the southern border.

So unless there is an argument which justifies allowing anyone who wishes to come over the southern border to do so unobstructed, and bring any contraband they'd like with them, then it seems pretty common sense that there should be an effective physical barrier to reinforce the thin line of the immigration officials, at least in those areas where there is no significant natural barrier. That would seem to me to be money well spent. 

And who can give an argument to justify allowing those with time restricted visas to ignore the restrictions and simply stay as long as they wish or for employers to hire those who they know are in the country illegally. If you have a visa and your time runs out either go back home or apply to have your time extended. If you have a business that could not exist with American workers then work to get a legal exemption. Allowing such obvious flaunting of the law makes no sense and it should be stopped. The laws should be enforced.

I am pro-immigrant. My father and all my grandparents were immigrants. I know all their stories well. They came, through legal channels, to seek a better life. They faced and overcame adversity. I saw personally what immigrants can contribute to our society. But what sense does it make to select immigrants based on a lottery, or solely based on what country they come from or what family members they happen to have here. We should want newcomers who admire the American ethos, who can contribute and who can make their own way regardless of their origin. So that should be our immigration policy, not some diversity quota or chain migration policy. 

These are all common sense things, not ideology. I am offended by those who try to confuse the issue by claiming that those who once and for all want to end illegal immigration are xenophobes and racists. Let the burden of explanation instead be on them to explain just why it is that they favor illegal immigration if that indeed is their opinion. 

Yes, beyond the DACA people we have the major issue of what to do with the millions of individuals who have come here illegally, have settled in and have done no wrong other than take advantage of many years of lax enforcement of the immigration law. That's a sticky problem. But let's first handle the issues that seem to the ordinary citizen like myself to be common sense. Come on congress - will you please for a change do your job.