OPINION:
The debate, such as it is, over illegal immigration gets curiouser and curiouser, and more confusing. Donald Trump provided the gotcha! moment, with a statement off the top of his head damning the quality of Mexican immigrants.
To the consternation of just about everybody, Mr. Trump nevertheless continues to fly at the top of the Republican field. The more the media and establishment Republicans flail at him, the higher he flies. The establishment rightly dreads the Thursday debate. Immigration is the subject the party moguls — “the big mules” as they’re sometimes called on the farm — don’t want to talk about, but it’s the subject that with a little courage could be clarified in Cleveland.
No one knows how many illegal aliens are among us. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, is supposed to keep up with such numbers but it can’t be sure, either. The mainstream media has apparently abandoned the 12 million figure, substituting the figure 11 million, apparently because it doesn’t sound quite as scary. Whatever the number is, it’s a lot.
Several years ago when the predecessor agency to ICE was asked for an accounting procedure the figure was set at 5 million, and the government explained that the figure was based on examining the number of applications for visas from a particular country, and then confirmed by on-the-spot census-takers. Census-takers with sharpened pencils and polished clipboards presumably went into Hispanic neighborhoods to ask questions of anyone who looked like an illegal immigrant. Some estimates say that 40 percent of the “illegals” are actually legal immigrants who have overstayed their visas.
Whatever the actual size of the problem, the solution is something everyone agrees on, but few actually mean it. Closing the southern border is crucial, and doing it will be difficult. Rick Perry demonstrated, when he was governor of Texas, how it could be done. The Texas National Guard used a mix of boots on the ground and new technology.
Some people don’t want the border closed. The business and agriculture lobby likes things the way they are, with a steady flow of cheap, unskilled and easily abused labor. The Democrats see this steady flow as a source of Democratic voters, once they become citizens. Contrary to the myth cultivated on both sides of the partisan divide, many Hispanics, perhaps most, do not want a wide-open border. Polls show it and Republicans who decry the flood of illegals continue to win elections with Hispanic votes. Stereotypes often mislead.
Voters and mere viewers would appreciate hard, penetrating questions about immigration Thursday night. This would require interlocutors eager to probe, and not take canned talking points for answers. The candidates should take Donald Trump, bluster, bravado and all, as the wake-up call they all need.
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