It's Not Broken And There Are No Loopholes.

Our immigration law works exactly as designed...back in 1952.

Allow me to push back against the near-universal framing of U.S. immigration law and policy as “broken” and/or full of “loopholes” such as asylum.

Try this analogy: Imagine a stretch of highway back in 1952, with 1952 (and older) cars poking along at 1952-era speed limits. It wasn’t broken. It worked just fine. In 1952. See below:

Federal immigration law has evolved from the 1880s to the present day, but the basic structure of the INA (Immigration & Nationality Act) was passed by Congress (over Truman’s veto!) in 1952. Sure, there have been modifications, one of the most serious being the 1996 IIRAIRA amendments, but the skeleton, and most of the musculature, still dates back to 1952.

Since 1952, our world has been transformed, and radically so. Communication and transportation are today unimaginably faster and cheaper than they were in 1952. World population then was less than 3 billion, vs. over 8 billion today.

Try driving a 1952 Chevy, with no seatbelts, no power brakes, no power steering, no airbags and no GPS at 80 mph on any major interstate today. That’s what it’s like for immigrants, including asylum seekers, as they try to obtain visas, work permits and humanitarian protection, under a statutory and regulatory structure designed for a very different time. 1952, to be exact.

You get the idea.

So, whether you call it “broken” or just outdated, keep in mind that it’s up to Congress (not the President) to fix the problem. For more (a lot more!) detail, see my 2004 essay, “CIR Seeks PLS.”

I welcome your comments, notes, chat, etc.