Legal immigration is good. Illegal immigration is bad.

Liberal patriotism

One of my favorite things about Obama is that he deported millions of illegal immigrants.¹ That took real courage as a Democrat. He didn’t do it because he’s a fascist or a sadist; he did so — as humanely as he could — because he’s a patriot.

Barack recognized that this blessed American story only endures if all Americans feel a strong sense of agency in co-authoring it.

Illegal immigration strikes at the core of that sacred right to self-determination. It takes agency away from citizens; strips self-authorship from our communities; and corrupts our national character — not racially, but morally — by rewarding cheating and punishing integrity.

It is bad.

I am actually bored by the economic debate: whether illegal immigrants depress working class wages², reduce inflation³, pay more in taxes than they get in services⁴, or drive up the cost of housing.⁵

Instead, I’m driven by a deeper, cultural truth:

The United States is not an economic opportunity zone. We’re a nation. And nations enforce barriers to entry and set standards for membership, period. When we don’t, we become more divided, less generous, and less secure.

That’s why the Biden-Harris administration's treasonous disrespect of American borders and American security didn't just alienate white Republicans.

It also enraged naturalized citizens and liberal patriots like me.

Political failure, illegal excess

We absolutely need migrants for essential labor in agriculture, services, hospitality, and construction — and I hate it when the media calls these workers “unskilled.”⁶

Congress must create guest worker programs and legal visas, with legal pathways to citizenship. And if we fail, whether it’s Biden’s fault or Trump’s, well, let’s live with the consequences.⁷

Political failure is not an excuse for presidential lawlessness and illegality.

Biden didn’t run on a platform of mass illegal immigration to the tune of 10 million encounters since he took office.⁸ If he had, he would have lost in 2020 — bigly.

It’s undemocratic for the president to sanction all this illegal migration: Congress didn’t authorize it, and I sure as hell never voted for it.

It’s also the border, stupid?

I predicted on Sept. 25 that Trump will win because “it’s the economy, stupid.”

I didn’t expect him to crush Harris and also win the popular vote.

What turned a comfortable W into a historic rout was the reality captured in these WaPo charts below.⁹ They don’t show the full picture, because around 40% of illegal immigrants are visa overstays.¹⁰ Still, it tells the story of this election more vividly than almost anything else: