Vice President Biden’s Dubious Logic on Illegal Immigration

by Gerard Emershaw

Vice President Joe Biden—a.k.a. the Gaffemaster General—is at it again. This past week while addressing the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Vice President Biden said: “You know, eleven million people live in the shadows. I believe they're already American citizens. These people are just waiting, waiting for a chance to contribute fully. And by that standard, eleven million undocumented aliens are already Americans, in my view.”

Without even addressing the complexities of the illegal immigration issue, it is instructive to merely consider the structure of the Vice President’s argument here. He is stating that those who have broken the law and entered the United States illegally are in fact the same as native born and naturalized citizens. He is also saying that illegal aliens are more legitimate than resident aliens who are in the country on work visas, student visas, etc. Such individuals are not citizens, and Vice President Biden does not say that they are.

According to the Vice President, one of the reasons that illegal aliens should be considered citizens is that it took “a lot of courage” for them to illegally enter the country. This makes his argument all the more astounding. If one considers parallel cases, the true shocking nature of Vice President Biden’s argument becomes even more clear. An illegal alien, who has violated federal law by entering the United States without following the proper procedures, is already an American citizen. By this logic, a car thief, who has violated criminal law by stealing another person’s car, is already the owner of that car. By his logic, a burglar who has broken into the house of another person is already the owner of that house. In each of these cases, it also takes “a lot of courage.” Grand theft auto and burglary are certainly not activities for the faint of heart.

Another logical consideration involves the differences between illegal aliens and other types of foreign citizens. As touched upon earlier, the only relevant diffference between an illegal immigrant and a legal immigrant is that the illegal immigrant has broken the law to enter the United States. This should be considered a very relevant difference. Yet, for the Vice President, the criminality somehow makes the illegal immigrant into an American citizen. So, should resident aliens with green cards or visas commit some sort of violation of the law in order to make themselves into citizens in Mr. Biden’s eyes?

Next, consider the difference between illegal aliens and those foreign citizens who are not able to enter the United States legally at this time for whatever the reason. Those who wait patiently, hoping for an opportunity to come to the United States legally in the near future are penalized by the Vice President because they lack the “courage” to violate the law and sneak into the country. So, obeying just and constitutional laws is no longer a virtue but instead a sign of cowardice? This is the kind of logic that is just not logical.

The strangest thing about Democrats like Vice President Biden and RINO fellow travelers on the amnesty issue is that such individuals tend to oppose government policies which would actually allow for greatly enlarged levels of legal immigration. In fact, the very economic policies which such individuals oppose would make amnesty not only possible but perhaps even economically necessary. The reason that nearly unlimited immigration into the United States—limited only by national security or health considerations—is not possible is because Democrat/RINO economic policies keep the economic pie from growing sufficiently to allow it. There are simply not enough jobs for these immigrants. While immigration does tend to make the economic pie grow in the long run, progressive economic policies retard such growth. If the federal government would abolish the Federal Reserve, cut government spending, cut taxes, gut the welfare state, and cut burdensome business regulations, then the country’s economic pie would grow exponentially. Eventually there might even be a shortage of workers. There will literally be jobs that Americans will not do simply because the vast majority of Americans able to work will have jobs which they prefer. Businesses will need new immigrant workers not because they wish to pay illegal aliens slave wages since these immigrants are “in the shadows” and lack any true bargaining power but because there will simply be a labor shortage due to a strong economy.

Instead, those like the Vice President wish to bring in new people who are likely to become dependent upon the government. They want more Nanny State supporters and new potential slaves of the state. The country can either sustain a bloated Nanny State or relatively open borders. It cannot sustain both. Progressive Democrats and RINOs need to make up their minds on which they prefer.