Ann Coulter on Immigration - Will She Ever Stop Being so Predictable?

     In a recent post, Ann Coulter takes on the Republican establishment in Washington for claiming "One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents."  (http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/did-i-move/) The Republicans are claiming this "principle" underlies their recent immigration reform efforts.  Coulter rightly diagnoses this as utter nonsense.  I don't recall the Federalist papers getting into this debate or any other recorded discussion of anything like this among the Founding Fathers.


     Where Coulter runs off the tracks, however, is with her standard reductio ad absurdum argumentation.  She argues, since we don't fail to punish parents who commit crimes because of the pain it will cause children, we therefore shouldn't try to fix the immigration problem through any means which attempts to avoid hurting the children of illegal immigrants.  While I agree with her that if a dad rapes a woman or mom robs a bank we don't avoid putting dad or mom in jail or excuse their conduct because it might hurt the children.  The difficulty here, however, is that many of the children of illegal immigrants were actually BORN in the United States, which makes them American citizens by birth.  So to take Coulter's argument to the extreme, we must either (a) deport American citizens, or (b) make them wards of the state after sending mom and dad packing.  Neither is a palatable option.

     Coulter, of course, argues the Democrats want easy amnesty because Hispanic voters are trending Democrat.  I don't doubt this is accurate.  My question is so what?  Coulter doesn't want easy amnesty because she's so . . . principled?  No, she doesn't want it because Hispanics tend to trend Democrat.  It's purely a raw political calculation for her, so she's mad at the Republicans for trying to come up with any solution that might result in more Hispanics because it could hurt them in elections.  Odd, that sounds like it's the Republican congressional leaders acting on principle, given the possible consequences.

     You see, I do care what happens to these American citizens.  Regardless of whether their parents are illegal or not, these American citizens have rights under the laws Coulter claims to cherish.  Thus, the simple-minded attitude she presents doesn't work.  I don't care for folks breaking the law, either.  Like Coulter, I am a lawyer and have a healthy respect for the rule of law.  However, first, I am a Christian who has compassion on people who find themselves thrust into circumstances over which they have not had any control.  The children of illegal immigrants who were born in America are in that situation.  Making sloppy comparisons (Palestinians using their children to commit acts of terrorism - really Ann?) hardly helps forward the discussion with any rationality.

     Any reasonable person recognizes the illegal immigration problem requires a solution.  However, ignoring the rights of children who are American citizens (whether we like it or not, these are American citizens) isn't the answer.  Since Coulter offered no clear solution other than the implicit "throw them out" I offer none either.  However, to dismiss the Republican effort with half-baked logic, flawed comparisons, and the prototypical Coulter snottiness serves only to keep Ms. Coulter in the limelight.  I guess she's accomplished her task.

   By the way, soccer is a great game, Ann.

“One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/did-i-move/#DLqLqIa6Fl0HuIO0.99

“One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/did-i-move/#DLqLqIa6Fl0HuIO0.99

“One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/did-i-move/#DLqLqIa6Fl0HuIO0.99

“One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/did-i-move/#DLqLqIa6Fl0HuIO0.99