Say Anything Blog

DHS Director Janet Napolitano, by way of criticizing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, suggested in an interview with CNN that illegal immigration isn’t really a crime.

According to her, it’s a civil matter.

KING: A lot of Democrats in Congress want to you investigate [Joe Arpaio]. They think he is over the line. He says he is just enforcing the law and the problem is the federal government.

NAPOLITANO: Well, you know, Sheriff Joe, he is being very political in that statement, because he knows that there aren’t enough law enforcement officers, courtrooms or jail cells in the world to do what he is saying.

What we have to do is target the real evil-doers in this business, the employers who consistently hire illegal labor, the human traffickers who are exploiting human misery.

And yes, when we find illegal workers, yes, appropriate action, some of which is criminal, most of that is civil, because crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil. But anyway, going after those as well.

The problem, of course, is that crossing the border without authorization is, in fact, a crime:

8 USC Sec. 1325

(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts

Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

Now, if the liberals don’t want it to be a crime then fine.  Let’s have that debate, and then let’s vote on it in Congress.  But until that happens, the law is the law and the law should be enforced.

If we let our political leaders ignore or write off parts of the law that they find politically inconvenient we set a precedent where by the political elite do just about anything they want.  A situation where the legality of something hinges less upon the law as written by our duly elected leaders than it does upon the attitudes of who ever happens to be in office at the moment.

Personally, I think illegal immigration should be illegal.  And I don’t think we should be giving any quarter whatsoever to those who ignore our immigration laws.  But I do think we could ease the illegal immigration problem in several ways.  Such as making it easier to legally immigrate.  Allowing more legal immigration to happen in general.  Opening up America to more free trade with Mexico.  Reforming drug laws to lower demand for illicit Mexican drugs.

I think pursuing those reforms would be a lot healthier than just ignoring current immigration laws and promoting what amounts to anarchy along our southern border.