Why America Has To Avoid Amnesty

Make no mistake, any legal status conferred on any illegal immigrant in the United States is amnesty, which should be resoundingly rejected by all Americans. The reason is simple. Amnesty, defined as any forgiveness of consequences for illegal immigration, undermines the rule of law and encourages more unlawful migration. We learned this lesson from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 when over three million illegal aliens gained amnesty and the promises for increased border security are still unfulfilled.

Today, the discussion centers on what to do with the over 649,000 illegal aliens that were granted relief from removal under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. President Trump promised to end the program. In 2016, he told Chuck Todd, in no uncertain terms, “We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don't have a country.”

The administration has worked to end the program administratively but has faced obstruction from within its own ranks and from obstructionist judges. Just last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the way the administration went about ending the program didn’t comply with procedural requirements. Yet this ruling held that they could end DACA if those problems were cured. In other words, the administration is in the red-zone. You don’t punt in the red zone. You punch it in for the touchdown.

It is in this context that open border advocates are eager for the president to cave and grant amnesty in exchange for some concessions. But as we learned in 1986, that is not a deal that conservatives should take. Amnesty of any kind, which increases the incentives for illegal crossings, makes the task of border security much more difficult. Obama’s initial DACA announcement precipitated a massive spike in border crossings by unaccompanied minors.

Conservatives have beat back amnesty efforts before and held the proponents responsible. We will do it again. In 2013, more than a dozen Republican senators signed on to a comprehensive immigration deal that included amnesty, among other unacceptable immigration giveaways. Conservatives across the country were rightfully outraged. They were betrayed and they organized. New conservative leadership emerged to beat back the effort, and the House did not take up the bill. Conservatives held those who pushed for amnesty accountable and continue to do so today.

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