Is it Time to Cut a Deal on Immigration?

Have you noticed there hasn’t been much discussion of abortion on social or national media lately?

That’s due to one simple reason: the 2022 Supreme Court ruling on abortion offered a straightforward and workable compromise. You don’t believe in abortion and want to prohibit your neighbor from getting one? Move to Oklahoma, where the abortion ban begins at fertilization and makes no allowances for rape or incest. By contrast, if you believe in abortion and want to leave that option open for you and your neighbor? Move to Colorado, where abortion is legal throughout pregnancy. There is no ban or limit on abortion in Colorado, no matter how far along in pregnancy you are.

You can’t get any more liberal or conservative when comparing those two states. And as odd as it may seem, it’s working.

The Abortion Compromise

I promise there are many citizens of Oklahoma who don’t like the idea that people in Colorado can get an abortion in the ninth month. I guarantee there are people in Colorado who are appalled that women in Oklahoma are effectively barred from getting an abortion. Yet, the national temperature on the abortion issue has fallen substantially.

The reason?

Compromise. That dirty 10 letter word that those on the far right and far left absolutely despise. However, on the abortion issue, it worked spectacularly. While neither side can no longer affect the outcome nationally, they can impact how their state addresses abortion.

And that seems to be enough.

The Immigration Compromise

Like abortion, the best solution for immigration is to allow the states to set their own immigration policies. If California wants to be sanctuary, so be it. Let them take in as many illegal aliens as they want, as long as they are willing to pay the bill. They can give these people permanent protected status for all I care. In fact, they may decide to issue a card the sanctioned alien could produce when he was opening a bank account, applying for a mortgage, or voting in state and local elections.

Meanwhile, Texas might choose to restrict all illegal immigrants and work closely with federal and state law enforcement to deport every single one of them, regardless of whether they held a job for 20 years and had an extended family in the U.S. That would be Texas’ right under the new state immigration laws. Maybe California would offer residence to Texas illegals, kind of like Texas provides sanctuary for businesses and residents fleeing from California because they are being taxed into bankruptcy.

You never know.

Complications

“But that will never work,” you say, while ringing your hands. What about the distribution of federal benefits to the states? What about illegals traveling from a protected state to a non-protected state? What about…

Don’t overcomplicate this.

Most federal entitlement programs are already based on median state income and population. Illegal aliens are not supposed to receive Medicaid under the current system, anyway. In the new immigration dynamic, the census would only include American citizens, which would ensure that the states that want to provide a home for illegals get to foot the bill for the costs and not the federal government.

With their new permanent protected status card, the formerly illegal would be on the hook for paying federal taxes if they made enough. And yes, they would be entitled to Medicare and Social Security benefits of they paid enough into the system to qualify. That’s only fair. They could also use their card to travel between states without fear of arrest and detention.

ICE in Minnesota would disappear…

Of course, there would have to be a few federal guidelines. The border would have to be well-regulated to ensure the illegals coming across went directly to their chosen sanctuary state, and they would have to be vetted before entry. Illegals given state-authorized amnesty would be effectively barred from U.S. citizenship, and only American citizens would be counted in the census. Sanctioned illegals could vote in state and local elections if the sanctuary state wanted this, but they could not vote in a federal election, ever.

You might think leftists would object to these provisions, but that would only expose them as the power-hungry authoritarians they claim they are not. If it’s truly all about compassion, then allowing the illegal aliens to live peacefully in their state and provide the richness of diversity they are always preaching should be paramount, and enough to get them to agree to the basic framework of the compromise.

Amnesty is Coming

Maybe you don’t like my plan. That’s fine. Maybe leftists won’t like it either. But let me ask you this: would you rather wait until a Democrat becomes president and cuts holes in the wall like Biden did? Would you rather see another 20 million aliens streaming across the border into your city or town? Would you prefer blanket amnesty because if Democrats ever control Congress and the presidency, you can lay odds they’ll pass a full amnesty bill.

If we get controlled borders with illegals going directly to sanctuary states along with an assurance they will never become citizens or vote, that’s a pretty fair deal.

In any event, at least it’s a plan. A starting point. Instead of getting caught flat-footed like the Republicans did on healthcare, they would look like they actually put the work in on something.