Immigration experts covering the border situation warn that any new amnesty program would only make the current crisis worse. “Amnesty is never about the current population being amnestied, it’s about what that amnesty says to the prospective next population that sees that happen, and is incentivized to come in the hope that they’re going to get it next,” says Todd Bensman, senior fellow with the Center for Immigration Studies.
Bensman warns that granting amnesty or any “pathway to citizenship” is a huge magnet to young foreigners. “You’ve got people pouring in already to reap the rewards of being temporarily legalized in the country,” he says. “This is certainly going to worsen that problem.”
Instead of taking up amnesty bills, Congress should act to address the current border crisis, according to Bensman. “Get control of the border, make sure children are not coming in and are not incentivized to come in, and fix the problem before you make it worse,” he tells KTRH. “And that’s what a DACA bill does, is make the problem worse.”
“It seems so obvious that this just incentivizes mass illegal immigration and dangerous trips that will result in death.”