People all over the world want to come to the United States to escape political repression, economic stagnation, and other kinds of persecution. This has been the case for 400 years, since the first colonists arrived. One of my great-grandfathers was a Lithuanian Jew who fled anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia in 1890. Another great-grandfather fled forced military service in Germany in 1904.

Ever since Democrats and Republicans enacted a system of immigration controls way back in 1924, there has been a never-ending immigration crisis.  This is driven by people having varying views on who should be allowed to come here, often tainted by religious, ethnic, or racial prejudice, or the false view that immigrants are a drain on the economy.  We first saw the cruelty of these laws in the 1930s, when European Jews fleeing Nazi tyranny were denied entry to the U. S.

Any time Congress tries to reform the problem they created, they have failed miserably.  This has caused untold suffering, as well as the creation of an immigration police state, especially in southwestern states like Texas.

Examples abound, including domestic highway checkpoints; warrantless federal trespasses onto ranches and farms; warrantless searches on Greyhound buses; forced deportations; raids on private businesses; forcible separation of children from parents; and abuse of people seeking refugee status. This has led to much death and suffering, not to mention the massive infringements on the liberty and privacy of the American people (such as with E-Verify requirements to find work).

As with most issues, the solution is to embrace economic liberty and free markets. That necessarily means the free movement of people across international borders, in the same way that people freely cross state borders within the United States.  I oppose building even one more foot of border wall for this reason. Deportations should stop, except for violent criminals.  The federal government has been finding any excuse to deport immigrants for minor offenses, including U. S. military veterans and their family members.  This is not right. The young people who came to this country with their parents and are now in limbo as “Dreamers” in the DACA program should be granted immediate citizenship.  This is really the only country they have known.

The U. S. had an open immigration system for more than 100 years, the only system that is consistent with religious, moral, and ethical principles.  While it makes sense to prevent known criminals, terrorists, and people with communicable diseases from entering, these categories are a very tiny minority.  On the whole, immigrants are good people looking for better lives, and are known to contribute so much to our melting pot of a country.