Immigration and "Sovereignty"

One of the most irritating things about our immigration debate is the rage over our nation's inability to "control our borders." I regularly read statements like, "If we can't control our borders, are we a sovereign nation?" To which the honest answer is, no, we can't control our borders, and yes, we are as sovereign as any other country and more so than most.

If you want to know what it would take to make it impossible for illegal immigrants to cross the border, you can read about the old border between East and West Germany: clear-cut zones with multiple fences, guard towers at regular intervals, a massive police presence, and shoot-to-kill orders that claimed many victims. To implement such a policy along the US-Mexico border would cost tens of billions every year. And if you want to make it impossible for illegal immigrants to work once they are here, you should look in the same direction: constant checks of papers for routine business, vast networks of police informers, prison for anyone who trades on the "black market", that is, does business that is not reported to the authorities. Modern police states are quite good at these things.

Is that what we want? It certainly is not what I want. We have to make choices as a nation -- that is why we have a government, and our ability to make those choices is what makes us sovereign. We can either have porous borders and a flourishing cash economy into which illegals easily fit, or we can control immigration and live in a police state. We have chosen not to have the sort of police state that could effectively control and monitor illegal immigrants, so we have illegal immigration. I think that is a small price to pay for freedom.