Today’s Washington Post has an article profiling the various plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Prince William County, VA for its recent anti-immigrant legislation. One is a longtime Hispanic U.S. citizen who is worried because he doesn’t have to carry his passport with him and could be targeted unfairly. Another is a woman who is in the middle of seeking residency after leaving her U.S. citizen husband on the grounds of domestic abuse who has no current proof of her status pending a decision.

Magic Cookie recently asked me to clarify my position on illegal immigration and, since our conversation was held mostly in the comments, I thought it worth re-posting for those who missed it.

CM wrote:

Maybe you can help me out here. I tend to be very progressive in my politics, and I certainly believe everyone should be treated humanely and respectfully. I agree, of course, that children should not be targeted. But if people are in the country illegally, why shouldn’t they be deported? One argument I often hear is “Our economy depends on these people, who pay taxes and are good people” — well, that’s nice, but that means our policy needs to change. Even if illegal immigrants are a huge boon to the country, and even if we need a major overhaul of our system, our current law says that they have no right to be here. Is the problem that there is no way to treat them with dignity and still enforce the law? Or is it something else?

My response:
Well, CM, I think you said it. The policies need to change — not just our domestic policies on immigration but also foreign policies that contribute to the hardships people are fleeing. In terms of the 12 million immigrants who are here, I say by all means deport those who are engaging in criminal activity. But for the other 95% who are here, working, contributing to our tax system and social security and raising taxes, find a way to offer them a chance to work towards legalization or work here for a few years and then return to their home countries with the money they’ve earned. I don’t think mass deportations and harassment of otherwise good people is the right approach, especially when innocent children are involved. I do think that the U.S. needs to secure its borders because illegal border crossings are extremely dangerous to those attempting it, even more so these days. I also think that they need to implement a more rational, fair visa policy that doesn’t only cater to the wealthy. I cannot get visas for my in-laws to visit us because they are not yet of a certain age and don’t have the bank accounts and other paper “ties to their country” to prove that they will return. The immigration system is broken and the country needs to fix it, but if the only crime undocumented immigrants have committed is seeking a better life illegally when legal methods fail, I don’t agree that they should be booted out en masse.

CM replied:

Thanks for responding. That makes sense — the argument isn’t “don’t deport them because we like them, even though they’re breaking the law,” it’s “don’t deport them because the law is seriously flawed and they should stay while we fix it.” I guess my problem is that I rarely hear it said that way. People seem to have a knee-jerk response to illegal immigration issues, whichever side they’re on, either assuming that everyone absolutely deserves to be here regardless of the law or that they should all be shipped back to their home country. (And both sides, I think, tend to conflate “immigrants” with “illegal immigrants.”) You mentioned that you think it’s fine to deport people involved in criminal activity. Even with that, I have heard a lot of objections — again, maybe this is an issue of being worried about extremism and people being deported for jaywalking.

My response:
Especially for Spanish-speaking people, there’s a sense of racial profiling. Just because you look Spanish and speak Spanish doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. I think it’s fine to run an immigration check on someone arrested for a felony, but I don’t think cops should be doing it at traffic stops or busting into peoples’ homes or workplaces to seek them out. Talk about a waste of our tax dollars! In Prince William Co., VA, the legislature is considering a measure to seek out undocumented immigrants and it will cost $11 million to implement!!!