September 14, 2013

Discretionary Illegal Immigration is Bad Policy

By Sierra Rayne
During the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, Newt Gingrich stated his position on dealing with illegal immigrants as follows: If you've been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you've been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don't think we're going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out. Although other Republican candidates also espoused discretion-based means of dealing with illegal immigrants, Gingrich was perhaps the most outspoken advocate of such subjective policies. However, how does a rule of law-based nation deal with such discretionary policies?  In short, Gingrich's position is both nonsensical and discriminatory.  Who defines the boundaries between those illegal immigrants that get deported and those allowed to remain in the country?  Why did Gingrich choose 25 years as a boundary?  What about someone who has been a resident for 24.6 years?  Do we round...(Read Full Article)