The Problem with the Enforcement-First Approach

The Christian Science Monitor today (here) joins the chorus calling for meanngful border enforcement as a precondition to immigration reform.  The problem is that, unless we have realistic immigration admissions standards, the U.S. is likely to see continuation of the flow of undocumented immigrants to this country.  Consequently, we need a realistic set of immigrant admissions criteria that tends to limit the pressures for illegal entry.  That is why and “enforcement-first” — and its first cousin, the “enforcement-only” — approach to immigration reform is unlikely to be successful.  For an argument by Dan Kowalski along these lines, click here.

KJ