The ugly stepchild of ‘counterterrorism’ strategy
How are immigrants more ‘illegal’ than gun traffickers, drug traders or members of organized criminal gangs? Migrants from Central and South America are sentenced in batches of 40-60 at a time by US federal authorities, while drug suspects with 500 pounds of marijuana or less are sent to local agencies for prosecution. American resources are not flowing in the right direction:
Immigration prosecutions have steeply risen over the last five years, while white-collar prosecutions have fallen by 18 percent, weapons prosecutions have dropped by 19 percent, organized crime prosecutions are down by 20 percent and public corruption prosecutions have dropped by 14 percent, according to the Syracuse group’s statistics. Drug prosecutions – the enforcement priority of the Reagan, first Bush and Clinton administrations – have declined by 20 percent since 2003. (nytimes.com)
Let’s rethink the whole idea of migration as a crime.
Food for thought. Legal economics, I guess.
“The world, to whichever continent we turn our gaze, to however remote a region our survey may extend, is everywhere assailed by forces it can neither explain nor control.”
Migration is accompanied by temporary problems like unemployment (which in turn results in economic instability, crime etc) and security (undocumented ‘citizens’). However, in the long-run, it serves to diversify the human race. This in itself results in a strong rise in intelligence, creativity, beauty, which aid the development of humanity in all aspects, economic, social, political.
‘Temporary’ does sound unrealistic, but looking at the bigger picture, migration seems like a major force in achieving the unity of mankind.
I couldn’t agree more, Neysan. The small costs of migration are also often borne locally, and they are tangible. However, the greater benefits of a larger workforce and more diverse population are usually intangible and they are universally shared. It would be very difficult to mobilize non-Latino Americans in a pro-immigration rally for this reason.