Op-ed: This Isn’t the Way to Get Illegal Immigrants to Self-Deport

The Trump administration almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last week on immigration. Just as self-deportation is gaining steam, the White House briefly gave in to corporate pressure and announced that whole sections of the economy would be exempt from immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cancelled that order Monday, but the incident is an important reminder that eternal vigilance is the price of immigration control.

Any successful strategy to cut the illegal population significantly will have to combine two things: ICE arresting and removing illegal aliens, and other illegal aliens leaving on their own. During the Eisenhower administration’s deportation push, it’s estimated that for every illegal alien apprehended and removed by Border Patrol, 10 others left on their own. That 10-to-one ratio is unlikely to hold this time — if only because all of the illegal immigrants back then were Mexicans within a few hundred miles of the Mexican border — but the multiplier effect is still real.

To this end, Department of Homeland Security has launched a series of initiatives to send a clear message to illegal immigrants: Go home now before you are arrested and removed.

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[Read the rest at the Washington Examiner]