Illegal Immigration About Economic Imbalance

Both opponents and proponents of the new immigration bill fail to step back and truly understand the complex circumstances and underlying factors fueling illegal immigration.

Policy makers and politicians too often attempt to understand and solve problems through a process that is chronically afflicted by narrative fallacy. Any time immigration is discussed on the news, there is inevitably footage shown of Mexicans fleeing across the border in droves. The message or narrative portrayed is that all illegal immigrants are Mexican, and all Mexicans make their way into the US by fleeing across the border.

As a result, the Neanderthals on the right scream and holler that the only solution is to build a Berlin-style wall from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. This type of solution is one-dimensional in nature, and ultimately represents a minor obstacle that will inevitably be overcome by a little human ingenuity. This type of idea is on par with the French’s impenetrable Maginot Line. We all know how that worked out.

Nevertheless, it is a fact that not all illegal immigrants are Mexican, and not all Mexicans enter the US by fleeing across unfortified parts of the border. In 2000 alone, the GAO estimated there were approximately 2.3 million known visa overstays. Through the years, such overstays represent a significant portion of those remaining in the US illegally. Building a wall doesn’t do much to keep these folks out.

The new immigration bill fails to address such realities and merely attempts to move around the deck chairs. Yet, regardless of the new mouse traps the infamous immigration bill includes, it remains a fact of life that people will unavoidably find ways to game the new system and overcome what ever physical barriers put in place. The bottom line (and the heart of any real solution) requires law makers to address the economic imbalance between the US and Mexico. This economic imbalance fuels the problem, yet remains absent from our national discussion. It’s time we move past the narrative fallacies and focus on the facts.