Unbaiting the mousetrap (originally written Jan. 29, 2017)

President Donald Trump has reversed that old adage, "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door," by asking Congress to fund the Mexico Friendship Wall (my name for the Mexican border wall). He is just fulfilling one of the campaign promises that got him elected by 62 million people or 47% of the voting population in November. Republicans knew he would do it, but those on the far Left thought the wall was just one of his many campaign slogans. This first week in office has shown many 'doubting Thomases' that the President takes his promises, seriously. I've heard many analogies about illegal immigration. One is, "What if your daughter was getting married and a couple hundred uninvited guests turned up, insisted on consuming your salmon fumé and drinking your champagne that cost you $40/bottle? Then they demanded to dance the first dance with the bride and when the gifts were opened grabbed a few of them for themselves, and afterwards, when the festivities ended, decided to camp out in the banquet hall and refused to pay their fair share of the costs?"

Another was, "What if you were watching the Superbowl with your family in your living room and a dozen strangers broke down your front door, plopped themselves down on your sofa and insisted you change the channel after having left their dirty clothes and muddy footprints on your new shag carpet, after which they commandeered your bedroom and told you and the missus to sleep on the floor...and in the morning, they announced that they were staying on for a few years?"

Most of us would probably object, strenuously, citing our right of private property. Asserting our right to a strong national border is much the same. It's up to us to refuse entry to anyone not having an invitation (legal documents). The U.S. is one of the most generous countries in the world when it comes to accepting legal immigrants - a million a year in fact - some having waited years for the privilege of a coveted permanent resident visa. These are, for the most part, non-Caucasian immigrants, I might add, from all over the world. As I said, the process is a long one. Sometimes it takes years to complete, and while they've been waiting, hundreds of thousands have 'crashed the party' by sneaking through our southern border, after which they've thumbed their noses at our immigration laws and promptly declared themselves 'asylum seekers' to our Border Patrol.

During the Obama years, this was the preferred method of gaining access to the USA, as border officials were required to allow the 'asylum seekers' to stay here while a court date was arranged for them. Most simply ignored the court order and disappeared into the woodwork. Then there are the 'visa overstayers' - people who came to the U.S. with a legal tourist visa and decided they liked it here, and stayed...permanently. They too, have disappeared into the woodwork. The estimated size of that group is 42% of the total illegal immigrant population, maybe five million people.

Those supporting open borders don't seem to think this is a problem. They view our country like some kind of open bar with a free smorgasbord, and that any one of us who would dare to  criticize these underprivileged people is some kind of bully, statist or racist. We are vilified for wanting law or order in our immigration system. Our new President is not going to make many friends with the 65 million people that voted for Hillary Clinton with his executive orders, nor is he going to become bosom buddies with Mexican President Nieto by building the Friendship Wall OR when he signs an executive order that cuts off U.S. aid to those countries that will not take back citizens that have committed crimes here. The rubber will meet the road soon, and Americans will, once again, choose sides on the immigration debate. I can only hope that our Congress will act swiftly, in a bi-partisan fashion, to enact a new, comprehensive immigration law that will protect our borders, ensure the safety of our citizens and, yes, treat the general non-criminal illegal immigrant population with civility while we find a solution for the 11-13 million of them who have not broken any other laws and want to remain here.

Stephan Helgesen is a retired U.S. diplomat, now author and political strategist. He has written over 600 articles and six books on politics, economics and social trends. He can be reached at stephan@stephanhelgesen.com