Our "Big Daddy" Immigration Policy
Today marks the 19th anniversary of the
release of the movie “Big Daddy.” While
not originally intended to serve as a thought provoking allegory for problems
faced by the Federal government, the movie has some interesting metaphors for
United States Immigration Policy.
The movie focuses on Sonny, played by Adam Sandler,
whose girlfriend, played by the rare Hollywood conservative Kristy Swanson,
dumps him because she does not think he has stepped up to the plate and
embraced adulthood; citing his decision to live off a court settlement rather
than look for a real job. Not long after
he gets dumped, a five-year old boy named Julian shows up at Sonny’s
apartment. The boy’s mother can no
longer take care of him and she sent to him to Sonny’s apartment so he could
live with Sonny’s roommate, the boy’s biological father, who has just embarked
on an overseas trip. Initially hesitant
to take care of the child, Sonny thinks that introducing Julian to his girlfriend
will help him win her back, only to discover that she has already started
seeing a much older man.
After his plan of winning back his girlfriend fails to pan out, Sonny decides to try and get Julian reunited with his mother, only to discover she has died of cancer. While he waits for a foster home, Sonny takes care of Julian relying on some unorthodox parenting methods best described as “laissez-faire.” Towards the beginning of the movie, Julian wets the bed. Rather than actually solving the problem by changing the sheets, Sonny instead decides to cover it up with newspaper; which creates a whole new set of problems. As he tries to go back to sleep, he cannot sleep because Julian keeps rolling over on the newspapers. Also, the newspaper did nothing to remove the stench of the urine.
Sound familiar?
The United States of
America can trace many of its problems with
the immigration status quo to the 1986 amnesty bill officially known as the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 or the IRCA, and sometimes referred
to as The Simpson-Mazzoli Act. Congressional
leaders ensured the American people up and down that the amnesty would only
apply to a narrow group of people and that it would serve as a one-time
solution to a problem that Congress would instantly work to address; namely an
insecure border. The amnesty did nothing
to solve the problem of uncontrolled illegal immigration into the United States . Many of the people who received amnesty
brought in their relatives under our “chain migration” system, which gives
preference to immigrants who already have relatives living in the country,
regardless of whether or not their presence in the country will serve as a net
positive to the economy and social fabric of the country. Many people who did not receive amnesty under
the IRCA ended up running
to the courts, complaining that the amnesty did not apply to them. The courts complied, meaning that the number
of people who actually received amnesty under the IRCA far exceeded the number
originally intended in the original bill.
Or did it?
Throughout “Big Daddy,” Sonny continues using newspapers to clean up Julian’s “messes,” including spilled milk and vomit. Similarly, many people in the United States Government appear to have learned absolutely nothing from the 1986 amnesty. According to Numbers USA, the Immigration and Reform Control Act served as a blanket amnesty to roughly 2.7 million illegal immigrants. Subsequent amnesties passed in 1994, 1997, 1998, and 2000; leading to the legalization of approximately 6 million illegal immigrants. Leaders in both parties have attempted to shove through two amnesty bills since the most recent amnesties passed in 2000. The McCain-Kennedy Act of 2006 and the Gang of Eight bill in 2013 would have given amnesty to even more illegal immigrants, sending a signal to those living south of the border that if you make it to the United States, the politicians will feel bad for you and give you amnesty.
So the American people confronted the political
establishment in 2016 for their failure to get immigration under control, the
same way Julian’s teacher confronted
Sonny in “Big Daddy,” scolding him for teaching the boy bad habits such as
tripping skaters with sticks, and peeing wherever he wants to. The American people elected Donald Trump
President, a man who had not ever held public office and began his Presidential
campaign by highlighting all of the problems caused by illegal immigration.
The lecture from Julian’s teacher in “Big Daddy”
prompted Sonny to change his parenting style.
The discussion on immigration has not surprisingly continued into the
Trump Presidency; after all his intention to combat illegal immigration made
Donald Trump stand out in a field of sixteen other candidates in the Republican
Party. Unfortunately, it does not look like the political class has learned its
lesson the same way Sonny learned about the error of his ways in “Big Daddy.” More than a year after the inauguration of
President Trump, construction on the wall has not really started.
Some of the President’s advisors attempted to convince
the President construction on the wall can only get started if he gives amnesty
to the roughly 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the country as children
who President Obama shielded from deportation under an executive order known as
DACA. In an effort to get Democrats on
board with his immigration priorities earlier this year, President Trump proposed
increasing that number to roughly 1.8 million.
The effort failed; the Democrats could simply not bring themselves to
support any proposal that actually reflected the President’s immigration
priorities (i.e. building the wall, ending chain migration and the diversity
lottery, which Chuck Schumer had previously supported), even if it meant
amnesty for the DACA kids that they supposedly care so much about.
As the debate about immigration heated up last week,
the House of Representatives held a vote on the Goodlatte bill, the lesser of
two evils that House Leadership agreed to vote on in an effort to shut up the
amnesty squishes pushing for the discharge petition. Thanks to “no” votes from 41 House
Republicans, the bill failed to pass. Most conservatives on the Freedom Caucus
decided to give the bill a chance, obviously seeing it as far superior to the
“compromise” bill. Most of the “no”
votes came from Republicans who signed a discharge
petition that would have forced votes on a series of immigration bills
against the wishes of House Leadership and/or wrote a letter
to House Speaker Paul Ryan encouraging him to hold a standalone vote on
protection for the “Dreamers.”
Democrats suddenly become fiscal conservatives when it
comes to national security; citing the high costs of the wall and the
construction of more detention centers.
Wouldn’t it make much more sense to make it so that we don’t need to
build more detention facilities? The
wall requires a one-time payment of $25 billion while the transfer payments
that American taxpayers hand over to illegal immigrants right now totals more
than $100 billion according to the Federation for American Immigration
Reform.
Back to “Big Daddy,” Sonny uses the kid as a pawn to
pick up girls in the park, similar to the way many illegal immigrants use
children as pawns to allow them to remain in the United States . Unfortunately, many adults who claim to have
a biological relationship to the child they have brought with them have outright
deceived the Federal government. A Senate
report found that the Obama Administration placed illegal immigrant
children in the hands of human traffickers claiming to have relationships with
the children, many of whom ended up sending the migrant minors up to Ohio to work on an egg
farm.
The “Big Daddy” analogy also applies to other areas of
public policy as well. Rather than pass a budget that will last the whole year,
the Federal government has spent the past several years funding the government
for months at a time with continuing resolutions; basically the equivalent of
covering it up with newspaper.
As Milton Friedman pointed
out, “It’s just obvious that you can’t have free immigration and a welfare
estate.” The establishment fails
miserably to realize this. Most of the 10,000 unaccompanied minors and roughly
2,000 family units who have crossed our southern border illegally come from Central
America, meaning that they first have to travel through Mexico . The parents of many of the unaccompanied
illegal immigrant girls give them birth
control pills because they expect them to get raped on their journey. Does the United States Government really want
people to make this dangerous journey? Considering
the fact that Mexico has
nine US consulates and one US embassy for those legitimately fleeing
political violence to take refuge in, many of the recent arrivals at the
Southern border have come to the United States to take advantage of
our government benefits. Employers who
have already enslaved many politicians in the Republican Party will all too
happily take advantage of them. They
learned from the 1986 amnesty and the government’s continued obsession with
giving illegal immigrants amnesty that most United States politicians and their
allies in the mainstream media are suckers for sob stories who have become “all
talk” when it comes to securing the border.
Back to “Big Daddy,” Julian keeps demanding that Sonny
play a tape of his favorite song, “The Kangaroo Song,” which he always listens
to after his nap, despite the fact that Sonny would rather watch the hockey
game. Julian keeps uttering the phrase
“Kangaroo Song” until Sonny gets tired of his whining and finally gives
in. That’s basically how Republicans handle
the Congressional Democrats; consistently giving them what they want just so
they stop whining.
If the American people want any of the problems with
our government, especially our immigration policy, to change, they will have to
start electing politicians who want to solve the problems at the source rather
than just covering them up with newspaper.
While the “Big Daddy” approach to parenting provides a source of
entertainment that still makes people laugh nearly twenty years after its
original release, in The “Big Daddy” approach to government has failed the United States
miserably.
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