By SEN. MARCO RUBIO
We can all agree on one thing: our immigration system is broken. Now let us consider something thing that the Democrats often say: the GOP does not like immigrants. On the contrary, Republicans are pro-legal immigration. And we recognize that our legal immigration system needs to be reformed. We also recognize, because conservatism’s always been about common sense, that we do have an existing problem that needs to be dealt with in the best way possible.
Let’s pretend a moment. Let’s pretend that we are a single police officer trying to enforce the speeding laws on a stretch of freeway. Each hour thousands of cars pass all going 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. You have no backup, though, and you can’t pull over all these cars by yourself. Somehow you need to make a broken system work. Now what would be easier, simultaneously pulling over and ticketing hundreds of drivers (which we've already established is impossible) or simply raising the speed limit by 10 miles per hour? If you choose the latter course, what was “illegal” is now “legal.” You have no more illegality, and the system is fixed.
This is the decision we face today with immigration. Every year thousands of decent, hard-working immigrants with nothing but a dream and the shirt on their back cross various paths to arrive at our shores. Some of these paths are through deserts, some are through forests and some are through airport terminals. But each path leads to the land of freedom and opportunity.
Conservatives must understand that we are only two letters away from solving our broken immigration system.
Friends, we have learned over the past 20 years that it is too difficult to be that lone policeman watching cars speed by. Instead of apprehending, prosecuting and deporting millions of people – which is just too hard – we must embrace the simple solution. We must declare that what was illegal is now “legal.” Consider: what is “illegal” but a word? “Illegal” even has the same root word as “legal.” Conservatives must understand that we are only two letters away from solving our broken immigration system. We can do this without building fences, separating families or alienating the growing Latino vote.
If my fellow conservatives support me, I can convince most Americans that calling something that was “illegal” “legal” is the most simple way forward. Rather than making persons comply with our rules, let's work together to change them.