Immigration Reform Part 3: The Strategic Imperitive

In Part 2 of this four-part series, we looked at how decades of broken promises, political gamesmanship, and misplaced compassion pushed America’s immigration system to the brink. But simply pointing out failures isn’t enough. If we want to restore order, public trust, and fairness, we must go beyond slogans and quick fixes. We need a strategy, a clear and practical framework that explains not just how we handle immigration, but why.

This strategy must support America’s security, economic, and cultural interests while allowing room for responsible compassion. Only then can we provide a humane and disciplined path forward that gains the confidence of the American people.

Tactics Are Not Strategy

The Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz said war is “politics by other means.” Tactics, he argued, are useless without a clear purpose. Immigration policy is no different. Deportations, walls, visa limits, or legalization are tools, not solutions.

Some advocate for mass deportation as the answer. Others support open borders, citing compassion as their reason. Both overlook the main issue: what kind of society are we building, and how does immigration help us get there? Open-border advocates argue that compassion and global humanitarian duties take precedence over national interests, but no country can thrive with unlimited generosity. Mass deportation alone ignores the need for legal paths and economic factors. Without a shared vision based on our nation’s needs, economic growth, cultural unity, and security, we end up with reactive enforcement, unpredictable policies, and a growing gap between what the public expects and what the system actually delivers.

How Immigration Policy Lost Its Way

The United States is an idea built on liberty, responsibility, and unity. However, recent immigration policies have shifted away from these principles, often driven by sentiment, corporate interests, or political gain. Corporate lobbies push for cheap labor. Activists promote demographic change. Politicians modify rules to sway elections. What’s missing is a plan to align immigration policies with America’s long-term interests.

A firm immigration policy starts with clear questions: Who can support our economic interests? How do we bring them in legally and sustainably? How do we ensure they assimilate and follow our laws? These questions focus on the nation’s interests rather than short-term gestures or ideological victories.

Progressives often quote the Statue of Liberty’s poem, “Give me your tired, your poor…,” as if it’s law. But the Statue, a gift from France, celebrated liberty, not open borders. Emma Lazarus’s poem was a later addition, expressing sentiment rather than a strategy.

Historically, immigration met America’s needs. In the 19th century, immigrants were pioneers settling the frontier to support the nation’s expansion. During industrialization, another wave of immigrants contributed to the growth of factories and the economy. Most came from Europe, sharing cultural roots that eased assimilation. They worked to adopt American values despite facing challenges like discrimination.

The 1965 Immigration Act: Noble Intentions, Strategic Failure

The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted as part of a larger effort to end racial discrimination in the United States. Its goals were noble, but its outcomes were strategic failures. By emphasizing family reunification and diverse representation over national interests, immigration shifted away from regions sharing America’s historical, civic, and religious roots, especially Europe. It moved toward countries with less cultural similarity. According to the Migration Policy Institute, European immigration has fallen from 85% before 1965 to just 13% today, while arrivals from Latin America and Asia have increased—often driven by extended family connections, rather than skills, civic fit, or economic need.

The goal of ending racial quotas was fair. However, in doing so, we lost a clear plan for choosing immigrants based on what benefits the country, and their suitability for assimilation. The outcome is a system guided by emotion instead of contribution, and diversity without unity. Immigration is not a global charity effort; it’s a sovereign choice about who joins the national project and under what conditions. It’s time to bring back that purpose with transparent standards, fair expectations, and a renewed commitment to the American ideal.

A Demographic Crisis Few Want to Face

Many people worry about the cultural and political consequences of unrestrained immigration. But to honestly face reality, we must also consider the inescapable math of our nation’s fertility crisis. 

Without immigration, the U.S. population could decrease by about 25% over the next 60 years, falling from 334 million in 2025 to about 251 million by 2085, due to a low fertility rate of 1.6—well below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. This major decline would reduce the workforce, strain the tax system, and weaken America’s global influence, leading to economic and social challenges. To support healthy economic growth and address an aging population, the U.S. needs an annual growth rate of about 0.75%, which requires approximately 2.5–3.2 million immigrants each year to reach around 527 million by 2085. Strategic immigration, focused on economic contribution and integration, is essential for a prosperous and dynamic future in the United States.

These are staggering numbers, and if this influx of immigrants is unstructured, unassimilated, or ideologically incompatible with American values and institutions, the very character of the nation could be permanently altered. This is the conservative paradox: we require immigration, but we must have it on our terms—strategic, selective, assimilative, and aligned with national interests.

If we maintain the immigration rate needed to counteract our declining birthrate and maintain a healthy population growth rate, the foreign born population in 2025 would be close to 100 million or nearly 20% of the population. This would mark the highest share in U.S. history, exceeding the early 19th-century immigration wave (which peaked at around 14.8% foreign-born in 1890). This isn't necessarily bad, but it is fundamentally transformative. If we don't guide that change, it will shape us.

Immigration is essential. So is assimilation. Without both, the unum disappears.

But immigration is only part of the story. We also need to ask: Why are native-born Americans no longer having children? What about our economy, culture, or sense of national purpose has caused our fertility rate to plummet? We require a national revival of family growth, a renewed belief in the future, and cultural and economic conditions that support young families.

The reality is apparent: Without immigration, we fall apart; without structure, we fade away. Only through a realistic, strategic, and values-based approach to both immigration and cultural renewal can the United States succeed in the years to come.

Europe’s Warning: When Multiculturalism Replaces Unity

Europe’s recent experience highlights the risks of immigration without proper integration. Europe has a lower fertility rate than the U.S., with some countries as low as 1.2. Europe needs millions of immigrants or an immediate reversal of its declining fertility rate. Its current immigration policy is failing to assimilate recent arrivals.

Many European countries adopted multiculturalism to address labor shortages and declining populations, believing that different cultures could coexist with mutual respect and tolerance. However, tolerance without shared values weakens societies, and diversity without unity leads to division. Instead of promoting integration, many European nations allowed separate communities to develop—maintaining old-world customs, legal systems, and loyalties. The outcome has been increasing crime, radicalization, and mistrust in cities like Malmö, Paris, Brussels, and Dublin.

Europe faces a distinct challenge. Unlike the United States, which was founded on civic ideals of liberty and equality, European countries are deeply rooted in their ethnic and ancestral heritage. France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland are not just political borders; they are historical civilizations with long-standing cultural traditions. I once visited a small German village along the Rhine where the same families had operated a bakery and brewery for over a thousand years. While our lederhosen-clad guide spoke proudly of tradition, a woman in a full burka passed by. The difference was clear. This wasn’t just immigration; it was a cultural clash. Bringing in millions from the Middle East and Africa to aging European populations might help with demographic decline, but it also risks erasing the very culture it seeks to protect.

This isn’t about race or religion—it’s about civic compatibility. Multiculturalism presumes that all cultures are interchangeable, but sharing space doesn’t mean sharing values. America should learn from this. Our strength comes from a civic identity that’s open to everyone—but only if newcomers accept its core principles. A society that forgets its values, or refuses to expect them from others, won’t last. Tolerance without standards isn’t compassion; it’s surrender.

America should take this warning seriously. Our strength doesn't come from mimicking Europe's tribal origins but from reaffirming the civic identity that defines us as Americans. That identity must be safeguarded—not through hostility or exclusion, but with clarity and confidence, because a society that forgets its core values will not endure.

Cultural diversity can strengthen a nation, but it depends on newcomers adopting core democratic principles. It’s worth questioning whether beliefs like favoring Sharia law over constitutional governance or a visa applicant insisting his wife wear a full burka align with the civic values vital to a free society. Tolerance without standards isn’t kindness; it’s surrender.

The Core Objectives of a Strategic Immigration System

To reform immigration effectively, fairly, and sustainably, we need to establish a clear strategy based on solid objectives. These seven pillars form the foundation for a system aligned with national interests, civic unity, and responsible compassion.

1. Serve the Economic and National Security Needs of the Country.
Immigration must be aimed at filling genuine gaps in both high- and low-skill sectors while protecting American workers and enhancing national security through strict identity screening and enforcement. The system must be adaptable, with the flexibility to respond to changes as fertility rates fluctuate and industries evolve.

2. Attract and Retain Human and Economic Capital
America must prioritize immigrants who will innovate, invest, and contribute—especially in science, technology, engineering, skilled trades, and entrepreneurship. Canada’s points-based system, which rewards education, work experience, and language ability, provides a proven example. We should aim higher.

3. Ensure Assimilation and National Unity
Diversity without assimilation is not strength—it is fragmentation. A functioning nation requires a shared language, civic understanding, and a sense of allegiance to shared values. Newcomers are expected to have a basic working knowledge of English and will be supported in further developing it. Assimilation should be structured and encouraged, not assumed. A 2018 Pew Research study found that 90% of Americans believe speaking English is essential to national identity. That isn’t prejudice. It’s practical wisdom.

4. Support Labor Market Flexibility
Our immigration system must adapt to real-time labor needs through seasonal and skills-based visa programs, particularly in sectors such as agriculture and construction. However, flexibility should not create dependency. Programs must prevent exploitation and avoid creating a permanent, disenfranchised labor underclass.”

5. Restore Credibility Through Accountability
Immigration policy must be measurable and transparent. Are immigrants self-sufficient within five years? Are overstays being identified and removed? Are laws being enforced consistently? In 2022, ICE reported over 600,000 visa overstays—yet enforcement remains weak. When the gap between promise and practice widens, public trust deteriorates.

6. Solve the Due Process Paradox. The courts have confirmed that non-citizens are entitled to due process rights. That principle must be maintained. However, when those rights are exploited to delay or obstruct enforcement, the system breaks down. By 2023, the immigration court backlog exceeded 2.8 million cases, with some taking more than five years to resolve. People with expired visas often vanish into the interior and then reappear to restart the process—sometimes aided by activist organizations whose goal is not justice but delay.

We must distinguish between legitimate legal review and systemic obstruction by imposing statutory limits on continuances and appeals, facilitating expedited removal for clear violations, such as visa overstays, and ensuring complete due process for complex asylum and humanitarian claims. Laws that cannot be enforced are not only ineffective, but also pointless.

7. Revising Humanitarian Exceptions: Amnesty, Parole, and Refugee Entry
A principled policy must include space for compassion. However, this space needs to be clearly defined; otherwise, it could be misused and harm public trust. Amnesty was initially intended for those facing political persecution, not for individuals fleeing high crime areas, struggling economies, or cultural differences. Parole authority, once used sparingly for urgent cases, is now broadly applied by executive order to admit entire populations. Refugee resettlement, formerly limited to victims of war and genocide, now covers a wide range of social and identity-based claims, often driven by cultural conflicts rather than persecution.

This damages trust. If Americans believe compassion is being exploited as a loophole, they will seek to eliminate it. We must refocus eligibility on direct, personal persecution instead of broad conditions, require claims to be filed before arrival whenever possible, and control parole and refugee numbers through Congressional oversight and caps.

This blueprint, centered on sovereignty, merit, and national unity, lays the foundation for reform. In Part 4, bold proposals and specific policies will be presented to make this vision a reality.

America’s immigration system has failed for decades. It’s time to get it right.

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