One of the many reasons to prevent illegal immigration is that we know the media and political elite will conceal crimes and disruption they cause. The percentage of illegals that commit other crimes isn't the only issue. They're INVISIBLE criminals.
That's one of the ways immigration is problematic because of the American elite, not just the people attempting to migrate or the countries they come from. The U.S. is not currently a country that can handle mass migration and assimilation. Our political class is broken.
The very pronounced tendency of political elites and media to downplay the negative effects of lax immigration policy is a legitimate reason for the people to demand tighter policies. If we can't honestly discuss the issues and cope with problems, we must be cautious up front.
Illegal immigration would be wrong under any sane immigration policy; even the most permissive policy imaginable would have SOME rules, and those rules would be meaningless if violations were not punished.
But it's important to demand very firm restrictions and aggressive enforcement when the domestic political class clearly cannot be trusted to handle the disruptions caused by massive immigration. They show us every day they're incapable of even discussing the problems rationally.
In the current debased state of American politics, it's considered controversial even to make a distinction between legal and illegal immigration, or to so much as notice savage crimes committed by illegals.
It would be dangerous lunacy to import even more problems our domestic political system is too corrupt to handle. The only rational response is to demand tight immigration policy. We should dismiss out of hand any politician who doesn't support such policies.
Nothing else a politician says is important, or can be trusted if they're weak in the area we KNOW is the worst problem for our political class. It's like hiring a junkie to run your cash register because he's good at counting money. Open borders lunacy is heroin for politicians.
Also, since we know the forces at play in the Beltway tend very strongly toward liberalizing immigration policy in both parties, it's logical to vote for people who are tough on immigration going in. You KNOW they'll move left. "Moderates" become open borders shills in no time.
Even legal immigration must be tightened until the corruption in our political class on this issue has been alleviated. "Tight" legal immigration by U.S. standards will still be very generous, and we have work to do on improving the process for applicants.
But we have to control the variables while we get our own house in order. It's not pretty that we can't trust our own political class to handle an issue that is one of their top constitutional responsibilities, and vital to the U.S. for all manner of moral and practical reasons.
But as things stand right now, you can't get 30 seconds into a frank discussion of immigration issues with America's political or media elite without them collapsing in a neurotic heap and shrieking about xenophobia. They're not well. We need time to make them better. /end
