Rand Paul Is Leading a Bipartisan Effort to Fix One of the Government’s Worst Immigration Laws

For over a decade, the country has been at a stalemate on immigration. And while the policy discussions rage, many forget that there are real lives hanging in the balance.

Source: Rand Paul Is Leading a Bipartisan Effort to Fix One of the Government's Worst Immigration Laws - Foundation for Economic Education

For the most part, I agree with those that say we need border security. There are many reason that is true. First, the fact of the matter is that there are those that would do this country harm. It hasn't happened because of illegal border crossings yet as far as I know but that doesn't mean it couldn't, and sooner or later, it probably will. The other reason is accountability. Those that live close to the border often have difficulty with unsolved petty crime. The issue is that if someone with no proper ID commits a crime, so long as the crime is relatively minor, the perpetrator often goes uncaught or unpunished. Arrests aren't made for minor crimes and notices to appear are ignored. I'm not saying all illegal immigrants are otherwise criminals because for the most part that isn't true at all. However, such a broken system can lead to that perception.

However, those that simply say that immigrants should get in line and do it the right way have no idea what a clusterf*ck the legal immigration process can be. Waiting a decade isn't a reasonable option when you are waiting to be with family. Or there are cases of the type this article mentions. There is no excuse for it. In a country of immigrants, a country of freedom, immigration should be as free and easy as possible. There should be two basic requirements: 1) you are not a criminal and 2) you will not be asking the government for help. But even if you think there should be limits beyond that, there really is no excuse to force immediate family to wait so long before being together or to force the children of legal immigrants to leave after they've lived here their whole lives.