George Will appeared on Fox News Sunday this weekend to discuss the border crisis with panelist Kirsten Powers and host Chris Wallace. Will surprised Wallace when he said the US policy should be to welcome the children and begin the assimilation process.
"You're going to go to school and get a job and become Americans," Will said the nation's message should be. "We're going to get tons of e-mail," Wallace said after Will stated his position.
Here's the full exchange:
CHRIS WALLACE: How do you respond to Kirsten and her talking about Republicans who don't want to deal with immigration except deporting children? And is there a right way to deal with the problem?
GEORGE WILL, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Well, I think Kirsten is largely right. My view is that we ought to say to these children, welcome to America. You're going to go to school and get a job and become Americans.
We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county. The idea that we can't assimilate these 8-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous.
Long term, Chris --
WALLACE: You've got to know -- I mean, I can feel them clicking off that we're going to get tons of e-mail of people saying this guy doesn't understand the border. Why should we be dealing with Central America's problem? We can't import the problem. They have to deal with it there, and our border has to mean something.
WILL: We can handle the problem is what I'm saying. We have handling, the same as they call the wretched refuge of the teaming shores a long time ago and lot more people.
Long term, the most effective legislation passed concerning immigration wasn't an immigration bill at all. It was Bill Clinton's greatest act, passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement that put North Americans on the path to prosperity. We need to do something similar for the countries in which these children are fleeing, including the fact of trying to get Americans consuming so much of the drugs that are imported from these countries.
Of course, Will did not address the fact that US immigration policy has not been "You're going to get a job." In fact, the policy has been to expand entitlements and benefits for immigrants who enter the country illegally; therefore, the assimilation process Will pines for doesn't happen at all.
(Transcript via RCP)
