Treating symptoms of illegal immigration will not work

Illegal immigration

The immigrants flocking to our shores are looking to establish themselves here because American citizenship offers the best opportunity and best life positions compared to where they were born. But that is the problem. We cannot afford to let everyone into our country from other parts of the world whenever they choose to migrate here. Solving the problem of our immigration entrance queue requires an imaginative approach; clearly our traditional solutions no longer work; and open borders are not fair to many Americans.
For instance, too many Mexicans here would threaten the hard-won economic and political gains of other minorities who have finally moved up our social hierarchy by defeating discrimination, daunting political odds, and class prejudices. Many African Americans, Native Americans, assimilated Chicanos and Asians, and young whites at any time are trying to establish themselves in the workplace. Although it's not the fault of many immigrants, legal or illegal, too often they come here with a clannish aversion to our values of social tolerance and political fairness. Every poll of first-generation Mexicans and Cubans indicates the general presence of widespread racial prejudices among them(against African Americans, Chinese, Arabs, and, of course, "gringos"). In time those prejudices will surely vanish, as the immigrants embrace established American values. But the first and second generation, led by a Roman Catholic Church which seldom challenged the immigrant racial prejudices of earlier Catholic immigrants, will follow rather than diverge from the pattern of racial preferences of past immigrants. And that is what bothers many Americans, particularly minorities.
Although Mexico is not altogether a failed country, in the way that Kosovo was during the Clinton administration, its northern border governments are failed states without effective justice systems to protect its citizens. By now it should be clear that it is in Mexico that we must address the problem of illegal immigration to the US.
The American government ought to cut a deal with Mexico to let the US administer its justice, police, and military. We ought to establish business and employment opportunities that attract Mexicans to remain in Mexico. For measures applied only in the United States to stem the tide of illegal Mexican immigration will leave the source of the problem untouched.
Mexico's illegal aliens do not originate in the U.S. They come from Mexico. And the presence of millions of illegal Mexicans here is merely a symptom of the failure of Mexico's state governments.
Turning to either amnesty or massive deportation in the U.S. alone will only deal with the symptom. Neither measure will deter future economic needs for illegal migration from Mexico. For a permanent deterrence we must use our hemispheric influence to reform the Mexican government (with the advice and consent, of course, of the Mexican government). But we may have our hands full persuading the Mexican government to relinquish some of its sovereignty so that it appears as our colony, temporary as that role may be. Failure of the US to intervene directly in Mexico will leave the source of illegal Mexican immigration to the US as a challenge for future administrations.