Colin's Last Stand, Episode 42: Solving America's Illegal Immigration Problem

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Colin Moriarty

Thank you! Yeah, doesn't quite add up, right?

Colin Moriarty

I'm not so sure I agree, in the sense that legal immigration should be jammed-up and at least somewhat difficult. If you want to enter America and become an American, it will require some work!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

Rational premise, good ideas, excellent presentation. But calling yourself a "YouTuber"? SHAME.

Steven Camilo

Awesome video as usual Colin. I find it interesting that the main stream narrative is that America is full of racism and white supremcy yet untold numbers of people risk life and limb every year to illegally enter this racist white supremacist country

James Little

what is that

Interesting video and thoughts -- thanks for sharing. The primary thing I'd add to this, or any other proposed solution, would be a SIGNIFICANT overhaul of our legal immigration system, which is totally arcane and needlessly backlogged. We should fully expect illegal immigration so long as we maintain the totally failed legal system we have now. There should be no years- and decades-long backlog in the first place, and we should not be afraid of these migrants who come to work hard and contribute to our society. A significant loosening of our LEGAL quotas and processing is an essential part of the solution. For friends with a more nativist/nationalist view, if heartily recommend this memorable oped from Sen. Flake, R-AZ, with whom I do not frequently agree: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/opinion/jeff-flake-we-need-immigrants-with-skills-but-working-hard-is-a-skill.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/opinion/jeff-flake-we-need-immigrants-with-skills-but-working-hard-is-a-skill.html</a>

Josiah Lambert

Great episode Colin.

Michael Francis

Thank you mom! Love you.

Colin Moriarty

Great feedback. This hypothetical legislation would need to be carefully prepared, rolled out, and managed, to ensure that nothing untoward happens. And even then, I suspect that things (and people) will slip through the cracks. What I find most important is that something was done, and that we tried. If it doesn't work, if there are still illegal immigrants, and whatever else, we come down with the hammer. The 14th Amendment needs to be altered to simply discuss citizenship as by blood, and not soil.

Colin Moriarty

Every sovereign nation has the right to protect its borders and determine who makes up its population!

Colin Moriarty

I wouldn't trust the government, either, which is why I really feel like it all needs to be spelled out and carefully managed.

Colin Moriarty

It makes you Italian (I think both legally, in terms of Italian law, and in reality). I still struggle to understand how being born on American soil makes a person American, apart from the bastardization of the 14th Amendment. If I get a woman pregnant, and we're on vacation in Belgium, and she goes into labor and has the child while we're there, is that kid Belgian? Of course not. He's clearly American.

Colin Moriarty

The economic impact, positive and negative, would be vast, I assume.

Colin Moriarty

What it's really all about, at the end of the day, is taking a pretty shitty, festering situation, and doing something positive with it. I fear that if we keep the status quo, we won't even be able to reasonably tackle the problem in a decade or two. Then what?

Colin Moriarty

I suspect there will be unforeseen repercussions (positive and negative) regardless. The real question is, what are the unforeseen repercussions of doing nothing at all? But, as I said in the video, there's a lot to work out, and there are plenty of holes that can be poked in my plan.

Colin Moriarty

This is a wonderful episode. You did a lot of deep thinking and came up with really viable solutions to a terrible dilemma that we find ourselves in. Thank you for beong level headed and for taking into account so many issues that are involved in trying to solve all if this. 👍🏻❤️

BettyAnn Moriarty

We too practice citizenship by birth in Canada, and have similar issues with so-called "anchor babies". As for illegal immigration, we are getting just a small taste of what America (and to a greater extent - Europe) is dealing with, with thousands of people walking across our border, from upstate New York.

Ross Arbour

I must admit, this is a VERY well thought out and VERY tempting solution. In many ways, it's even more, dare I say, "Liberal" than anything I would have ever proposed. Like you, I don't think it's right or fair to America for illegal immigrants to remain in that status for years or decades. I was never outright opposed to deporting them, but it always seemed as if (especially under the current administration) the methods proposed for doing so were needlessly cruel and draconian. My biggest issue was always my belief that, in trying to do mass roundups of illegal immigrants, ICE or deputized local police would cross the line into actual racial profiling; deciding that the best way to go after illegal immigrants would be to also harass or detain LEGAL immigrants and even actual full citizens, based on the assumption that these people would know where the "illegals" are and could be pressured into giving them up. This is EXACTLY what Sheriff Arpaio DID do, and why he was ultimately convicted of contempt secondary to violating the constitutional rights of actual citizens. Trump's pardoning of this behavior sent a message that the Arpaio method would be expanded nationwide and tolerated as valid "law and order". I suppose my only concern with the Moriarty Doctrine is in exactly how the 14th Amendment would be modified. As you point out, it's original intent as a Reconstruction Amendment was likely as a means to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves (although it is odd that the authors didn't explicitly apply it to slaves, or even "negroes", at the time). In any event, the 14th Amendment remain the ONLY reason that any Black person in America actually IS a citizen. Also this Amendment is the legal underpinning of many Civil Rights laws, including but not limited to Loving v. Virginia which, as a bi-racial man, is somewhat personal to me. In the current political climate, extreme care should be taken with altering this particular Amendment to make sure certain elements in our culture don't get certain "clever" ideas. What I like, on a gut level, about your proposal...and why I ultimately think it's fair...is that it's true *compromise*. I'd once heard (in reference to divorce) that the best deal is the one where neither party is happy, but gets what they need. I think your proposal qualifies and should be seriously explored and, in my view, implemented.

Stephen J Seidler

Trusting the government not to use it target families I think would be what I would be wary of. I trust the government with little... and only because I have to really. - I like the idea of required public service, I'm of the mind that all Americans should do some public service for a time. - And oooo the shaved head... makes me wanna touch it.

Owen

Love this episode! No idea how we can ever fix this.. We should let the good hard working illegals have a path to becoming full citizens. I dp have questions about birthright citizenship. My family came here from Italy and I was born here. Does that make me Italian or American?

Joey Finelli

Your plan seems reasonable. Would be super interested in hearing some dialogue from you or between you and others around the economic impacts of such a plan.

Nicole Webb

I've been thinking about this topic for a few years. I've been of the opinion that we need to do something along these lines exactly, though Colin address a few of the underlying issues that I had not considered foundational-wise. If we were to do a massive overhaul as suggested I don't believe setting up advocacy centers and other publicly funded methods of helping people through the process would be out of the question. Because if we legitimately resolved the legal status of everyone who's already here the cost should not be ongoing. Additionally, the suggestion that those who do public service can get a faster path (if I'm remembering that correct) could serve to those who understand the process if they chose to work in these centers or became advocates.

Good video. From an outsider in the UK it seems reasonable. The lower paid jobs that exploit illegals would adapt. We have nannies, restaurant workers meat packers etc in the UK and they are taxed and its fine. I'm sure there would be some social problems on both sides putting both an understanding of the immigrants by letting those here stay and then a no exemption policy after it but societies adapt. In the UK we have our own complex immigration issues, which have no easy solution, and the recent leaked documents show a very brutal response to it (which I understand but am uneasy about as I don't trust the current government for a second). Immigration is such a complex issue that really needs people to understand that there are no answers that everyone will see as fair.

Peter Campbell

The only issue I see with your plan is the unforeseen repercussions of it. Once you put all undocumented people on the books, the economics of a shrinking middle class collapses. The second your plan goes into action, the cost of produce goes up, nannies, meat packing plants, restaurants, garment production. If these workers were all paid fair wages on the books with taxes, the cost of the goods and services they provide would increase exponentially. In an America with a shrinking middle class, that would be devastating. There's an old saying in this country that says... "Follow the Money" Are we willing to be honest? Bear the cost of real labor? I think it's worth exploring. Good segment. Thanks,

Thanks for taking such a fair approach in outlining your solution in the video. I am a Mexican immigrant myself who thankfully was able to become a citizen after living in the years for many years and I'm very glad to hear your anecdote about meeting your roommate's boyfriend and hearing his story. I think often times people and politicians debating immigration laws lack a real understanding of circumstances that would fuel someone to leave their native country, culture and language to take a risky, dangerous journey to come to the US. Only comment I have regarding your plan, and it really applies to many plans, is that from my experience, many people that are making the effort to immigrate to the US are trying to escape poverty, corruption, and violence, among other things, and do not possess the ability to understand the full process of all that is required to maintain a legal immigrant status. I came to the US with parents that had not even completed primary school, growing up on a farm barely making it by in 1950s Mexico makes it hard to complete school, and barely read and write Spanish, let alone English. I'm sure this describes a large portion of people trying to escape terrible situations and will fail to understand that there even is a legal way to go about immigrating.

Mario Miranda