The Central Issue

• Donald Mann
• July 10, 2013
• President's Column
• 0 Comments

The central issue with regard to mass immigration is its catastrophic impact on the population size and growth of our already vastly overpopulated nation, in terms of the long range carrying capacity of its environment and resources. All other issues fade into insignificance when compared with that supremely important central issue.

For more years than I care to think about I have been an avid reader and admirer of that great newspaper, The New York Times. But, with regard to immigration, and illegal immigration in particular, one has to wonder if its Editorial Board has completely lost touch with reality.

In its editorial on May 27th, it bewailed our nation’s rude treatment of illegal aliens which, according to The Times,  involved in 2012 only 48,000 prosecutions for illegal entry (a misdemeanor) and only 37,000 for illegal re-entry after deportation (a felony).

Each year hundreds of thousands of immigrants cross our southern border with Mexico illegally. In spite of a federal law that makes entry without inspection a serious crime (a misdemeanor, subject to a jail term of up to one year), of those apprehended only a tiny percentage are detained and prosecuted! Almost all are not detained at all, but are simply escorted back across the border where they are free to try to cross our border again, often many times the same night! In one sector of the border the rule of thumb reportedly was that only those who had crossed illegally an astonishing 85 times were prosecuted!

In other words, our laws with regard to illegal entry were not – and are not – being adequately enforced by our Department of Homeland Security. In fact they are hardly being enforced at all.

Even worse, once they have succeeded in coming here, illegal aliens need have little fear of ever being apprehended and then deported, or prosecuted and jailed. Interior enforcement of our existing laws is practically non-existent. Is it any wonder that there are an estimated eleven million illegal aliens now living here permanently? The wonder is that there are not ten times that many.

Illegal aliens, should, of course, be treated humanely, and abuse of any kind must not be tolerated. But someone should alert The Times to the simple and obvious remedy. Illegal aliens could not possibly be subject to prosecution if they followed one simple rule: do not flout our laws by coming here and/or remaining here illegally. What could be simpler? Did anyone invite them to come here illegally? I think not.

A tennis analogy might serve to help make the point. Some years ago Ivan Lendl was one of the top tennis players in the world. He was often criticized by his opponents for forcing them to come to the net by a drop shop, and then hitting the ball directly at them, even from close range. His reply to criticism: “After all, nobody invited them to come to the net.”

Creating a sustainable economy is the most urgent and most fundamental issue of our time. That goal cannot possibly be achieved without a substantial reduction in the size of our population. We urgently need a far smaller, not a larger, U.S. population.