What Next for Illegal Immigrants?

Farm workers labor in the fields south of Bakersfield, Calif., on April 9, 2025. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

While the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis has been reduced and tensions there seem to have subsided, one of the vital policy questions going forward is this: What will the Trump administration’s immigration policy be for the rest of this year and possibly beyond?

One of President Donald Trump’s clear policy triumphs in the first year of his second term has been his success at halting the uncontrolled flood of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern border. The United States has largely regained control of that border, and the obvious policy is to maintain that secure status.

The other part of the immigration problem, however, remains unsolved: What is to be done about the millions—10, 20, 30, or more million—of illegals currently residing in the United States? Rounding up and deporting all those who have entered the country illegally would seem to be numerically impossible. That being the case, are there any priorities that the federal government could set? Are there some categories of illegal immigrants that belong at the top of the list for deportation? Yes, indeed.

We need to ask a simple question: Which illegal immigrants pose more of a risk or problem to our society? Using this as the criterion, I would classify two groups of illegals as logical targets for deportation. The first group has been designated as a target from the start: those with criminal records, whether for offenses committed here in the States or back in their home countries. The second group has remained largely unnamed, although I have seen encouraging signs lately that they are coming into focus and may soon receive the attention they deserve: illegals who are collecting welfare.

Decades ago, Austrian economist and Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek warned that open borders and a large welfare state make for a very precarious policy mix. Naturally, people will resort to extraordinary means to escape poverty in their native country and immigrate to a society with generous government handouts. According to a recent report in The Washington Times, “61% of illegal immigrant households use welfare.” That is an astonishing—although not entirely surprising—number. In this day of massive government indebtedness and stories of the defrauding of federal welfare programs swirling about, those who are in our country illegally and milking the U.S. taxpayer on an ongoing basis are logical targets for deportation.

Just as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should work with local law enforcement officials to help locate criminals, so immigration officers should huddle with those who manage the various welfare offices to locate illegal freeloaders.

But what should our immigration officials do when they find an illegal who is not receiving welfare benefits? Here, I will make a controversial suggestion: It is my conviction, based on a recent perusal of our immigration laws, that we have let far too few people immigrate legally. Another way of putting it is that, while we admit roughly 1 million legal immigrants annually, that number is too few relative to the current needs of our labor market. That is not to say that all those millions who entered illegally should stay here—not at all. But some of them, definitely.

The United States needs immigrants for economic reasons. In sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, elder care, construction, and various forms of grunt work, we face labor shortages that the domestic workforce, even at full capacity, is unlikely to fill. The larger reason, however, is that our elaborate welfare state requires more taxpaying laborers in order to continue to fund the benefits that seniors like myself receive. This isn’t opinion; it’s mathematical reality.

One of the most serious challenges facing the world as a whole is the large number of countries facing imminent population implosions that threaten the fiscal viability of their welfare states. The United States is in better shape than most, but even here, the only way we are going to fund programs such as Social Security and Medicare on present trajectories will be by seeing our population grow. There are those currently advocating natalist policies designed to incentivize women to have more children, but even if such programs were to be wildly successful, those additional workers wouldn’t be entering the workforce for a couple of decades. In the short run, our population will only grow through immigration.

Question: Which illegal immigrants are causing more harm—those who are working and paying taxes or those who are ripping off taxpayers? That suggests a policy compromise: U.S. immigration policy going forward should concentrate on expelling illegals who are receiving any kind of welfare payment. Meanwhile, make some sort of accommodation for illegal aliens who are working and paying taxes and can be properly vetted. Provide them with an ID card that would give them permission to continue to work in the country but would also include stipulations such as: 1) no right to apply for citizenship for 10 (15?) years; therefore, no eligibility to vote; 2) denying them eligibility for welfare payments for a similar period.

While I entertain no sanguine hopes that the two political parties will suddenly embrace bipartisan compromise, I think the essence of what I have proposed—namely, that the United States welcome those from abroad who seek an opportunity to work while excluding those looking for a free ride—would be very acceptable to earlier generations of Americans.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.