We cannot help but have compassion towards those who want to come to America, but neither can we let them wreck the stadium and rush the field! Intentional trespass on our soil by people from other countries is totally unacceptable. It is contrary to the rule of law and to private property rights, as well as to national sovereignty on which the international system depends. It is contrary to dual state and national sovereignties, i.e., to federalism, on which the Constitution of these United States is also based. Illegal immigration presents to Americans—by birthright, as well as Americans by choice who have naturalized, and many more residents who came through legal means—problems of huge magnitude. These problems involve issues that should be the subject of deliberate policy debates and decision-making; instead, the challenges are forced upon the people who are living legally here now, by others selfishly and/or desperately seeking a place, station, economic or social claim against them. Any right or privilege sought illegally comes at the expense of legal birthright and naturalized Americans, because any right or privilege obtainable by someone else, must first come by express grant of the people living legally here now who are part of this polity.

The problems Americans face from illegal immigration are many, and just because they have sometimes been overstated or exaggerated does not excuse or altogether diminish them. Illegal immigration is unjust on its face to the inhabitants of this country, to the extent that illegal outsiders should have no claim on goods and services paid for with taxpayers’ money—yet our laws and court decisions currently obligate us to pay for medical care, education and welfare to anyone who happens to cross our borders. Illegal immigration by definition bypasses the normal processes, including precautions for safety such as health screening and criminal background checks; and while it is overstating the case to say that deadly contagions have spread far and wide because of illegal aliens, it is no more just to say that only a handful have died because of it. The same sentiment that would outlaw capital punishment for a miscarriage of justice or the potential of innocents being convicted and executed hypocritically provides a safe-haven for illegals, whose diseases endanger far more people, including children in public schools.

Illegal immigration has long been linked to crime, including violent assaults and murder, assassinations, thefts and robberies. One-third of inmates in federal and state penitentiaries are illegal aliens. Moreover, since 9-11 the very real threat of terrorism from persons entering the country illegally raises the level of concern over isolated violent crime to that of widespread public safety and national security. Seven years after 9-11, however, the borders remain broken. Yet the truth remains, that there can be no homeland security without border security. Each year twenty thousand aliens enter the country illegally from Canada; and three million illegal aliens come in from Mexico! As Texas Governor Rick Perry reported a few months ago, drug cartels use military-trained commandos and transnational gang members routinely to establish armed perimeters on both sides of the southern border during drug and human trafficking operations—ensuring that Texas and federal law enforcement officers are met with deadly force whenever they attempt to interfere. There are hundreds of attacks on the U.S. Border Patrol every year. Furthermore, more people from outside the Americas—increasingly from Middle East and Asian countries—attempt to exploit this effective and dangerous conduit into our country.

Notwithstanding the Olympic spirit—according to which athletes from all over the world compete on fair and equal grounds for the gold and for recognition that comes from humanity based upon a superb performance, the ‘wretched refuse of teeming shores’ in respective countries of this world, have no claim on their medals or an entrance to the games. Moreover, a desperate Mexican has no more claim on legitimate entry to the United States by virtue of his being closer and geographically adjacent, than any desperate Chinese or African—indeed all are equally held at bay; or rather moved as it were, to apply, in order to legitimize their desire to come in. All for the simple reason that their desire is subject to a grant of admission under the sovereign authority of the American people. We can talk about the prudential level of legal immigration too, how and whether it should be based on national and ethnic origins. Whatever your solution, the twelve million illegal cases and the millions more streaming across our borders annually stand in the way of as many people from all over the world, with similar or better aspirations and the qualifications to match. These are the other victims, law- abiding immigrants from all over the world, who applied and waited their turn but still can’t come in—forced to wait decades, all because a lawbreaker stole their gold and despoiled a laurel crown.

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