Topics / Immigration
The challenge
“Deporting people who are here illegally is cruel”
Nate · AI character. Not a real person.
No. Enforcing a law everybody knew about isn't cruelty. In a standard removal case an immigration judge hears it first. Here's what's actually cruel: a border that whispers come any way you can. The International Organization for Migration called the border between the United States and Mexico the deadliest land migration route in the world. Every law we refuse to enforce is an advertisement for that trip, and the smugglers collect the fare. So yes, people here illegally should be sent home, at scale, with no amnesty, because every amnesty invites the next wave. You'll say families get hurt. That's hard, and it's why you start with criminals. It's not a reason to stop. Let me ask you this: if removal is always cruel, who would you ever remove? Mercy that never enforces anything just moves the suffering to the desert.
His strongest arguments
Removal isn't arbitrary. Contested cases go through immigration courts, judges and appeals. The system is overwhelmed, not lawless.
The Justice Department's immigration court system, EOIR, has had a backlog of millions of pending cases.
Refusing to enforce the law is its own cruelty. It invites people onto a deadly route run by smugglers.
In 2023 the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project described the U.S.-Mexico border as the deadliest land migration route in the world.
Scripture gives government a real duty to uphold justice. Loving the stranger sits alongside that duty. It doesn't cancel it.
Romans 13 teaches that governing authorities are established by God to uphold good order and restrain wrongdoing.
The best comeback, and his answer
Challenger: Many people facing deportation have lived here for decades, paid taxes, stayed out of trouble and have U.S.-citizen children. Removing them tears families apart and helps no one.
Nate: Those are the hardest cases, and they're why you start with criminals. But Congress writes immigration law, not sympathy. Announce that anyone who stays long enough gets to stay forever, and you've told the next family the desert crossing is worth it. No amnesty. Enforce the law we already have.
What he grants the other side
Long-settled families with American-born kids are the hardest cases.
The lines
- “Mercy that never enforces anything just moves the suffering to the desert.”
- “A law that's never enforced is a suggestion with a smuggler's price tag.”
Sources
- International Organization for Migration, Missing Migrants Project, US-Mexico border described as world's deadliest land migration route (2023)
- U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Adjudication Statistics: Pending Cases (2024)
- The Bible, Romans 13:1-4