The questions of the causes of illegal immigration are seldom addressed with level heads.  One side would have you ignore the causalities entirely and focus solely on the criminal and security aspects of illegal immigration.  The other side would have the debate steered entirely toward philosophical discussions of concepts such as “racism”, “bigotry”, “social justice”, and a more nebulous “fairness”.  There is a bonafide ideological schism between the conservative and liberal points of view; each viewpoint can be backed up with a logical argument.  It is when the arguments become specious, when straw men are set up to make disconnected points, when the causal factors of the current problem are not addressed that the argument is relegated to brash name calling and a counterproductive hatred is nurtured that assures the root causes will never be adequately addressed.

I will assert that the prime cause of illegal immigration is a byproduct of the beauty and genius of the Constitution of the United States of America: Freedom and Opportunity.  These are the very foundations of our country and who in their right mind would not want Freedom and Opportunity?   


Little Background
My ancestors fled lands that lacked opportunity (jobs, education, and even food) for America.  In many respects they, like the Mexican immigrant of today, were economic refugees.  They left with dreams of providing a better life for their posterity than they had.   They worked hard.  They faced opposition.  They sacrificed, struggled, failed and started over.  The first generation got by, the second generation got some education and joined the trades, the third generation went to college and became professionals: The American Dream.   The primary difference in my family’s story and that of today’s immigrant is that there was no governmental “safety net” and the concept of the “welfare state” was still a distant nightmare.  They came and succeeded or failed on their own effort, determination, sacrifice, deferred gratification and faith.   When things got hard they doubled their efforts; everyone pitched in, when failure was too much to compensate in some other way, family, community and church filled the gap.

The Cause
So a desire for opportunity and freedom is the core cause of illegal immigration.  The flip side of this is a lack of opportunity in their home country. The increased governmental services available today in the U.S.A. (food stamps, healthcare, housing subsidies, free public education) are an additional inducement that encourages illegal immigration.   A lack of enforcement at the employer level also encourages illegal immigration.

Conclusion
The fact that there is a mass of humanity that wants to be part of the American Dream should be celebrated; it is a testament to the enduring values that made America great.  Managing immigration in a sustainable way, integrating immigrants into non-hyphenated American society, giving boot-strap opportunity to all who are willing to earn their own way is the implied responsibility of all the free people of the world.