Illegal immigration overburdens our public schools, which hurts the education of law-abiding Americans. Illegal immigration floods our medical infrastructure, which affects the health care of those who follow the rules.
Illegal immigration costs the American taxpayer upwards of $100 billion a year; brings with it waves of violent crime; suppresses wages, especially for the working poor; takes jobs away from legal citizens; and only benefits a Democrat Party that wants the votes and a Republican Party addicted to cash from mega-corporations eager to avoid paying a fair market wage.
Trump is president for one reason. His firm, unapologetic stand against this endless invasion. While almost all of his 16 Republican primary opponents sought only to appease the media and their corporate donors on this issue, Trump wiped the floor with them by promising to enforce immigration law as written. By promising to build a wall. By promising to make Mexico pay it.
Then, during the general election, while Hillary Clinton promised to expand amnesty for illegals, Trump stood firm and went on to win the presidency because the primary victims of illegal immigration — the disenfranchised working class — turned out to support him in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
But now it appears as though Trump is prepared to sign off on a congressional law that would legalize President Obama’s illegal DACA program. If this happens, anywhere between the 800,000 to two million illegals who qualify would be granted amnesty and a work permit. Over time, this would almost certainly lead to citizenship. And where does it end? For how long will we be granting a full amnesty annually to hundreds of thousands of illegals? Until 2020? 2050? Forever?
Meanwhile, there appears to be almost no legislative action towards Trump’s biggest campaign promise — his promise to build a great big, beautiful wall along our southern border.
We have been through all of this before. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan granted a massive amnesty to millions of illegal aliens with the promise that this would never happen again, that in exchange there would be rigid border enforcement. The enforcement never came, and in the thirty years since, somewhere between 11 and 25 million illegals swarmed into our country, bringing with them nothing but misery for law-abiding Americans and legal immigrants.
Will Trump allow himself to be suckered like Reagan?
Well, that’s not an honest question.
In Reagan’s defense, he had no history to inform him that the enforcement would never come. Trump, however, knows what happened in 1986. Furthermore, he knows that Democrats and the corporatist GOP are more desperate than ever to flood our country with illegals, with an underclass of future Democrats and cheap labor. Therefore…
Trump cannot claim he was suckered. He knows what is coming. Which means that if Trump does sign off on some sort of DACA law without first building a border wall, he is willingly betraying his base, willingly telling those who trusted him on the issue to go pound sand.
If those of us who support him cannot trust Trump on immigration, on his biggest and boldest promise, he becomes wholly untrustworthy on all things.
And here’s the thing…
Speaking only for myself, once I am secure in the knowledge that this invasion will not reoccur, once I am confident that the wall is tall and ICE is running on all cylinders, as long there is no cancelling out of my vote with the promise of full citizenship, I am more than happy to consider some sort of relief for those in the country illegally, those who speak the language and pay their own way.
But if that wall isn’t up first … unforgivable.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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