Steve Chapman On The Real Failures of Immigration Policy

Many of those on this side of the border
denouncing the arrivals say they are opposed only to illegal
immigration. But the reason so many foreigners come illegally is
that we offer no other avenue, writes Steve Chapman. The annual
number of legal spots for low-skilled immigrants is 5,000—for the
entire world. Even foreigners with family members living here
legally may have to wait decades to be allowed in.

Central Americans in terrible straits don’t have the luxury of
waiting, and getting tougher won’t make them more patient. Michelle
Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the
Women’s Refugee Commission, says it’s like using threats to keep
people in a burning house: “If they’re in a burning house, they’re
going to jump out a window, run out the door, find a way out.

We can send them home, but that won’t mean we’ve seen the last
of them, according to Chapman.

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