I rarely weigh in on live political topics because they tend to be too contentious. I tend to focus on systematic problems that can be solved rationally. The reason that this is an exception is that this is one of those topics I studied to some extent and was excited to see Congress be proactive about the problem. My excitement waned as I read this 370-page bill.
I listened to the politicians spinning this bill on both sides. House Republicans are likely not to even vote on the bill in the House. Democrats say that Republicans are getting border control and are purposely dragging their feet because it’s an election year. The left-wing is disappointed that there isn’t greater accommodation for a pathway to citizenship for the millions of migrants residing in the country awaiting asylum claims.
I think the bill is a good solution to the wrong problem. My heart breaks for Senator Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona who crafted much of the immigration portion of this bill. I watched her attempt to sell her hard work in an interview on Fox News with Bret Baier. She believed that she had made a valiant effort to fix the problem… and would be disappointed to see her hard work be in vain. I do think she made a great effort, but it was in vain.
The McDonalds Analogy
I have a habit of creating analogies to try to explain complex problems understandably.
Here goes…
Let’s say that you have a McDonalds restaurant. This McDonald's only has a drive-through. People are getting slow service in the drive-through. Cars are backed up and waiting 40 minutes to get their meal. People in the neighborhood are hungry and decide they will enter the kitchen and make their meals. Some people walk into the restaurant and get rejected as they try to enter the kitchen. Pretty soon, enough people try to enter the kitchen that the manager allows a few to make their meal in the kitchen. Pretty soon, the people in the long wait line in the drive-through see that they will get better service if they enter the kitchen and make their meal.
The manager decides that there are hungry people, and they need to eat, so he will expand his kitchen to include a larger area for people coming into the kitchen to prepare their meals.
The problem with this solution is that this slow McDonald’s made it easier for people to sidestep their slow process and get what they needed. This sounds like the “nice thing to do.” Unfortunately, it is an unsustainable solution. This McDonald’s might as well close their drive-through and create a food line. Their restaurant has failed.
How this Immigration Bill Failed
In the interview with Fox News, Kyrsten Sinema claimed that the bill would end “catch and release.” Catch and release is a policy that allows border patrol to catch illegal entrants, have them complete an asylum application, and then release them into the U.S. to process their application 8 years in the future… if they show up for their court date. This is one of the biggest problems with sanctuary cities that are being overrun with migrants who can’t work and cost a lot to house and feed.
The bill included a facility to house 46,500. The number of migrants that are currently residing in the U.S. awaiting an asylum hearing is nearly ten million. Such a facility would not be sufficient to detain entrants.
The bill does include the addition of more lawyers, asylum officers, and judges to get through the asylum claim backlog quickly. This is a good thing. However, it is the same as our McDonald's creating a larger self-serve kitchen. It streamlines the illegal form of entering the U.S.
The Right Fix for McDonald's
The right fix for McDonald's was to improve and streamline their drive-through to be able to give people their meals in 10 minutes or less. McDonald's has done this with two drive-through lanes, a payment window ahead of the service window, and parking lanes for people when their meal is holding up other customers.
If McDonald’s wants to continue to be gracious to people who cannot afford to purchase a meal, they can create a system that processes such claims outside of their restaurant. They would reinforce the locks on their doors and educate hungry people on the process of applying for free meals.
The Right Fix for the U.S. Immigration System
The border wall is analogous to locking the doors at McDonalds. We have conditioned migrants that illegal entry is the best way to enter the U.S. The sooner this wrong messaging stops, the better. Donald Trump’s “stay in Mexico” policy and Barack Obama’s “apply for asylum in your adjacent country were both better solutions for asylum applications than what we are experiencing in the Biden administration. In Joe Biden’s defense, he did try the app to get migrants to set appointments at ports of entry. It was a failure because it was still easier to break in.
The next step is to streamline legal immigration. The U.S. needs more migrants than it currently allows entrance to with legal means. This is analogous to McDonald's streamlining their drive-through. Our current legal immigration limit is 650,000. It needs to be closer to two million. The lawyers, courts, and immigration officers must be staffed to manage this increased flow of legal migrants. Senator Schumer tried to convey this fact when being challenged on this current bill. He indicated that our natural birth rate is lower and our country needs people. He’s right on this point.
Asylum claims must be processed in a different place than our border. Barack Obama and Donald Trump had the best strategies. They turned away applicants at our border and either detained them or rejected their claims because they were not following their rules.
As compassionate as we want to be, there must be a hard limit on the number of migrants we can take into our country who do not have a work skill that will contribute to our economy. Many migrants will need social services or charity to get started. However, we do not have infinite resources. There must be a structured acceptance or rejection of asylum applicants that is not dependent on the whim of an asylum official as it is stated in the current Senate immigration bill.
About the Author
Jeff Schuster is an accomplished businessman, engineer, business coach, and writer. Three of Jeff's books are attempts at helping people understand and solve political problems that are being made worse by political partisanship. His first book, Trial & Error, is a collection of 14 short stories. ReEngineering Education is a story of innovative education reform amid political corruption. Engineering Unity is Jeff's most recent book published in August 2023 addressing political polarization on wedge issues that politicians use to divide us. You are welcome to join our private Facebook group called Reengineering Politics where we discuss politically polarizing topics civilly.
Comments