As the reality of the 2016 election begins to set in, both supporters and opponents of patriotic immigration reform are plotting/fearing what exactly President Trump can do on immigration. Of course, reforming legal immigration requires legislation. But reversing the illegal influx is easier—it could be begun with just one speech.

Typical of Lying Press propaganda, Time Magazine now pretends that it will cost $100-300 billion to deport all illegal aliens—which of course assumes that not one person will leave on their own, there are no economies of scale in deportations, and that Trump will do nothing to speed up the process. [The Insane Numbers Behind Trump’s Deportation Plan, by Ian Salisbury, November 14, 2016]

Reality check: There are simple and virtual costless steps that Trump can take to encourage millions of illegal aliens to self-deport.

My suggestion: Before he even takes office, Donald Trump should give a speech like this:

If you are here illegally, leave. You have no right to be here, and you should immediately prepare to return to your home country. My administration will initially focus on deporting criminal aliens. However, even if you are otherwise law-abiding, you will not get a free pass. You will not be eligible for welfare, you will not be allowed to work, and if you come across an immigration enforcement agent, you will be deported. Once we’ve deported the criminals, we will focus on those who have not left.

It is much more pleasant to leave on your own than be stuck in an immigration detention facility awaiting deportation. If you leave voluntarily, my administration will do what we can to make your transition back to your home country as smooth as possible. But if you do not leave on your own, we will use the full force of the law to punish you.

My predecessors did you a disservice by giving a wink and a nod to your illegal status. That ends on January 20, 2017. I know this will be a major disruption to your life, but my duty as President is to do what’s best for American citizens.

Self-deportation is exactly what moved the bulk of illegal immigrants once President Eisenhower began Operation Wetback in 1954. And in fact, there are already reports the illegal aliens are beginning to self deport. [ 1.4 Million Obama Amnesty Applicants on Deportation Hit List , by Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, November11, 2016]. Before Arizona even implemented SB 1070, illegal aliens began leaving the state because they feared they would be deported later [ Illegal Immigrants Leaving Arizona Over New Law , CBS News, April 29, 2010].

When the President of the United States makes this point clear, there will be even more self-deportations.

As a carrot approach, I suggest that President Trump can also magnanimously promise to make things easier on those who leave voluntarily.

For example: in 2004, Malaysia enacted an “Amnesty” for its illegal aliens. But Malaysia’s definition was much more precise:

“Malaysia has given illegal immigrants one last chance to leave without punishment, an immigration official said on Wednesday, after an appeal from poorer neighbor Indonesia, the home of most of the immigrants. . . The crackdown would go ahead but each illegal immigrant caught in a national swoop would get a final chance to quit the country, said Ishak Mohamed, director of enforcement in the immigration department, who leads operations against illegal immigrants. . . Facing the threat of jail, fines and, for men under 50, a whipping, nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants left Malaysia under an Amnesty during the last three months, Ishak said.” Malaysia dons velvet glove in immigrant crackdown, Clarence Fernandez, Reuters, February 2, 2005. Emphasis added.

When immigration enthusiasts pretend that a “path to citizenship” is not Amnesty, they are correct in a perverse sense—it’s actually worse than Amnesty. “Amnesty” refers to removing a punishment for a past infraction. When a library issues an Amnesty, they undertake not to fine you if you return the book. But a “path to citizenship” lets you keep the book forever.

Illegal aliens are breaking the law every second they are in the country. Deportation is not a punishment, it is a procedure to put an illegal alien in compliance with the law. Malaysia offering to forego caning in exchange for self-deportation is an Amnesty in the true sense of the word.

Of course, the U.S. doesn’t cane anyone. And ($PLC take note) I don’t think we need to. But there are plenty of punishments for illegal immigration beyond deportation. Depending on how the illegals got here, whether they were deported in the past etc. the punishment can range from 3 to 10 year bars from re-entering the country legally to prison time for criminal aliens and repeat offenders.

So this is what I propose: The Trump administration should offer an Amnesty from these punishments in exchange for self-deportation. If illegals leave in the first year of his presidency on their own, they will not be sanctioned by these criminal or civil penalties.

Trump could even allow them to “come out of the shadows” and give them a (very temporary) permit for three to six months to allow their children to finish their semester at school, sell any property they may own, and even work for a month or two to save up money for the move.

However, there must also be serious penalties for those who do not leave at the conclusion of this permit.

The speech will not cost a dime. There will be some administrative costs of implementing the “Amnesty,” but they could not conceivably be any more expensive than the administrative costs of any sort of legalization. This policy, combined with the real threat of serious consequences will put a serious dent in the illegal population.

In April of 2015, VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow correctly predicted that it would “only take one speech” by a presidential candidate to make patriotic immigration reform breakthrough American politics.

Now that Donald J. Trump is president, it would “only take on speech” to get millions of illegal aliens to self-deport.

Washington Watcher [email him] is an anonymous source Inside The Beltway.

Postscript:

Two videos about "Going Home" to go with this article, one from Northern Irish songstress Clodagh Rogers, ca1970.

The other, much shorter, from the end of the first Muppet Movie: