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Entry: A Sensible Immigration Policy Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_sensible_immigration_policy#12928 Post contents: As a supporter of Ron Paul, I am sorry that this ad was ever made. It pumps up the hysteria over terrorism and immigration, conflates the two, proposes (as CK indicates) solutions which are non-starters, and all for what? To get the minuscle Tancredo vote after that sorry excuse for a candidate has dropped out for lack of support? CK and Justin Raimondo have well critiqued the "terrorist nation" concept, which sounds like something which David "axis of evil" Frum might have come up with. The mass expulsion of tens of millions of immigrants (illegal and their citizen children) is not going to happen. The mere attempt to do so would give us our own Iraq and West Bank throughout the southwest and much of the rest of the country. Those who cry loudest for mass expulsions would turn out to be as much chicken-hawks in that war as the neo-cons have been with respect to Iraq. Another problem is the conflation of immigration with visiting. People who enter the country on tourist, student, temporary work, or temporary business visas are not normally considered immigrants although many may later become so. Is it now to be a sign of orthodoxy in politics not only that all immigrants (with trivial exceptions) be kept out of the country, but all visitors as well? We need the ability to screen immigrants to keep out the bad actors. For this we need a wall and we need visa control. I've spoken before against permitting tourist agencies in Saudi Arabia to issue US visas and against permitting citizens of EU countries to enter the US with no visa at all. But keeping virtually all foreigners out of the US is not a solution to terrorism or anything else. There are other choices besides being a world empire or a hermit kingdom. Sent at: 2008 07 24