Illegal Immigration Catch Phrases

Under "Senator Clinton: Illegals Should Have Licenses", commenter Greg asks, "Has anyone heard if insurance companies have signed on to the plan to give illegal aliens coverage?"

After some quick research on this question, it appears that they have. The concern is that illegal aliens simply will not purchase the insurance - or they will purchase it for the minimal initial period and then allow it to lapse.

Greg's question highlights the bigger issues raised by the statement "bring them out of the shadows" and the broad implications that roads will be safer if illegal aliens have licenses. No one has said what will be done or how it will be better if illegal aliens are "brought out of the shadows". There is no indication in anything I have read, for example, that they will be required to take driving lessons as a prerequisite to obtaining a license.

This statement is as hollow and misleading as "create a path to citizenship", another favorite of advocates and misguided politicians. They must surely be aware that we already have a defined procedure for applying for residency or citizenship. Why do we need to create what we already have? "Create a path to citizenship", then, must be something else. Given the context in which it is usually invoked, it must be a euphemism for "cutting in line".

If we were to "create a new path to citizenship" for those who came here illegally, it would be seriously disrespectful of those valued, welcome immigrants who followed our rules and came here the right (legal) way. And in real, pragmatic terms, it would also mean the elimination of our borders. Once one person gets to cut in line, why shouldn't the next, and the next, ad infinitum.

And finally, there's "we can't round them all up and ship them home". This, too, has become an empty cliche which seems to correspond to a sentiment, sometimes stated outright, that we might as well give up and do nothing. Implicit in this statement also is that individual deportation of 12-20 million people is the only measure at our disposal. In fact, few people have lobbied for "rounding them all up", suggesting instead the reduction or elimination of factors which entice people to come or stay here illegally: jobs (requiring employers, including the public sector, to hire only documented immigrants) and social programs.