My Personal Stance On Immigration

Let me start by saying that I am at once pro-immigration and pro secure borders.

I believe we do need an effective deterrence to illegal, unfettered entry to the United States. A country’s sovereignty is defined by her ability to protect her borders against those who wish to do her harm. The situation along our southern border that was first designed and then abated by the current administration is a human rights catastrophe, as well as a complete abdication of the executive branch’s first and foremost duty to protect the citizens of this country.

But we need more productive citizens. And this is where I am pro-immigration. America is a nation built on the backs of hard working and productive immigrants from all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and the rest of the americas. We owe it to our history and our future to encourage the best and brightest to come here to thrive and those truly looking to escape tyranny and squalor to come here and stake their place in our great human experience and social experiment. My family’s ancestors settled in Texas, Appalachia, and the Carolinas from places like Germany, Scotland, France, and Mexico. They came fleeing corrupt government, famine, and war, and they mined and built railroads and farmed, and eventually became doctors, engineers, nurses, business owners, and scientists through the generations.

There is no reason to think those who want to invest in themselves and their futures, and who wish to come here legally can’t do the same. We should be encouraging immigration, but what we are doing now is disgusting and perverse to our ideals and to those who wish to come here.