New York Times columnist Bret Stephens today addressed the tragic global refugees crisis “An Immigration Policy Worse than Trump’s”. Skewering such policies in Europe, Africa and the United States, he offered this prescription for America:
“A purely punitive immigration policy of the sort envisioned by the Stephen Millers of the world will never work. In Central America, migrants are fleeing conditions that are worse than the worst this administration is capable of throwing at them. A wall the length of the border would not stop the pull factor (most illegal immigrants arrive legally and overstay their visas). The only lasting answer it to address the push-pull factor.
“That means a sustained effort by the United States to reduce crime, improve governance and facilitate economic growth in small countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala. That’s not a minor task, but the U.S. worked with Colombia to achieve a similar outcome in the last two decades. There’s no reason it can’t work again.
“The name for such a policy is nation building. It’s unpopular. It’s still better than the dismal choices supposedly human states on both sides of the Atlantic now face when it comes to people desperate to reach their shores.”