How To Deport Most Illegal Immigrants

This blog does not address illegal immigration very often. It is a convoluted subject. I don't think most people are passionate about the subject and as is often the case, the sizable minority expresses more frustration and anger than constructive solutions.

Six years ago I resided in Newmarket, New Hampshire.  Newmarket borders a college town and is slightly bohemian. All in all it is a nice place to live.

I rented an apartment in a building that held five other units. There were illegal immigrants living in my building. There were even more illegal immigrants living and working on my block. None of them swam the Rio Grande. They came from Sweden, the UK, the Bahamas, Russia, China and probably elsewhere.

Sometime in the future I'll do a 'Where Are They Now' follow-up because it does get interesting. For now though, let me state that we are perhaps the only country in the world who routinely provides non-emergency services for illegal aliens.

If you travel abroad and have a coronary, the host country will usually offer whatever assistance is available. But sojourn to any of the cute and cuddly and non-militaristic European countries so praised by Oprah Winfrey and Morley Safer and Bernie Sanders and try to collect on their free health care, subsidized housing and free education for the kids. You might get a one way ticket home but that's about it.

The Kasichs and the Batchelors and the Establishment Republicans remind us that it is impossible to deport 11 million illegals. Maybe. But what if we fined states and counties and municipalities who knowingly provided free public education for people who are here illegally? It is illegal for employers to hire employees who are known to be here illegally. Why not extend the same standard to the public sector?

Why do we provide free public education for children of illegals? Unfortunately, it does not stop with school. Illegal aliens are often arrested in possession of EBT (food stamp) cards, sometimes multiple cards issued to other aliases. (Let's put illegal immigrant voting on the back burner for now.) They can apply for fuel assistance and pay little or nothing for prescription drugs that would cost most Americans a few hours' wages. All over the world, people know how to beat our system.

In a sentence, if we stopped subsidizing illegal immigration many--if not most--of them would go home voluntarily. That is something the Jebs and the Donalds don't want to address.