The Corner

Immigration

Deporting Illegal Aliens: Some Recommendations

A Guatemalan illegal immigrant prepares to board a plane during his deportation process in Phoenix, Ariz., in 2009. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Recent polls indicate that a majority of voters support the mass deportation of illegal aliens. That support would likely erode or evaporate once the media begin broadcasting select images of families being sent back to Central America and once AOC resumes her weeping in empty parking lots. It would be more sustainable for the U.S. government to encourage self-deportation by removing the means and incentives for migrants to remain in the U.S. Among the mechanisms that should at least be on the table are the following (some of which are already available, but the Biden administration, local governments, and/or NGOs refuse to employ them or employ them effectively):

  • Bar any declared sanctuary city from receiving nonemergency federal funds.
  • Bar any NGOs that knowingly encourage or assist illegal immigration from receiving federal funds.
  • Bar cities or states that provide non-lifesaving benefits, broadly defined, to illegal aliens from receiving federal funds.
  • Reinstate a remain-in-Mexico policy consistent with current jurisprudence.
  • Hire 20,000+ CBP and ICE personnel by using funds saved from the elimination of comparably compensated positions in the IRS, EEOC, and other non-security agencies.
  • Hire 5,000+ personnel (the cost of which should be offset by across-the-board reductions in non-security personnel at other federal agencies) to process and adjudicate backlogged asylum claims.
  • Enhance workplace enforcement of prohibitions against the employment of illegal aliens by, inter alia, increasing employer fines and expediting hearings.
  • Prioritize the deportation of illegal aliens with criminal records.
  • Prioritize the deportation of illegal aliens from terror-sponsoring or adversarial states.
  • Withhold foreign aid from countries that refuse to accept their nationals deported from the U.S.
  • Resume building the border wall now that many Democratic candidates claim to support it and ostensibly would vote for funding it.
  • Enhance financial penalties for individual business owners, CEOs, etc. who knowingly employ illegal aliens.
  • Add your own recommendations. Don’t hold your breath.
Peter Kirsanow is an attorney and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
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