by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n Forgotten in the latest hype about illegal immigration is the cycle of lawlessness that follows illegal entry into the United States. The simple fact is that once someone chooses to enter the U.S. illegally and remain here illegally, breaking the law, either deliberately or through indifference, becomes easier and habitual: obtaining false IDs, avoiding normal bureaucratic requirements, violating zoning laws, etc. And when the host, whether federal, state, or local government, sends a message that the issue is now entirely political rather than legal, often the illegal immigrant senses that he is (and should be) generally exempt from the mundane laws that others must follow.<\/p>\n About a few hundred yards from my farm, there are several trailers, and dozens of people living out behind a single-family dwelling, in violation of zoning laws, and general water, sewage, and health codes about outdoor structures. I am currently waiting to hear from authorities that the dogs who bit me last week on a morning bicycle ride prove not to be rabid; the owners, who did not speak English and were not willing to volunteer any information to me, had several dogs without vaccinations, licenses, leashes, etc. who, without their owners\u2019 worry, run into the (busy) road to bite those who happen to pass by.<\/p>\n In essence, in rural central California, the most highly regulated among the states, there are\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0no longer building codes, dog ordinances, health requirements, or any of the basic rules and regulations of a civilized or caring society. To the degree that the state cannot ensure near-instant parity for the arriving impoverished foreign national without English, education, or legality, it is felt to be culpable, without much worry about the new arrival\u2019s responsibility to come legally, learn his adopted country\u2019s language, and follow all his new country\u2019s laws.<\/p>\n Most drivers now assume that there is some chance that in any rural car wreck the other driver may flee the scene, leaving his abandoned vehicle without registration or insurance. You now cannot walk or ride a bike on a rural road you grew up on without fear of being bitten by unleashed dogs without rabies vaccinations; if one finds the addresses and owners\u2019 names amid the trash thrown out weekly alongside rural roadsides, there is a general understanding that the authorities \u2014 in a state that shut down 250,000 acres of irrigated farmland out of purported worry for the delta smelt \u2014 will not do anything, and wants that known to avoid bothersome calls. In rural California, everything is now seen as open game for recycling and therefore in danger of disappearing \u2014 from copper wire to an ancestral iron plow in the yard. I say \u201ceverything\u201d since my town\u2019s manhole covers and commemorative bronze plaques on churches and buildings have also been disappearing.<\/p>\n In general, the message of the myriad ramifications of illegal immigration is that the offenders are exempt from any government oversight, the hosts must make accommodations, those who pontificate on the issue live, work, and attend school far from the areas of concern, and to write a brief note about such an illiberal practice as illegal immigration earns the charge of illiberality. Meanwhile, as California faces a $16 billion annual budget deficit, the state legislature is discussing whether we should accept multiple parents as legal entities.<\/p>\n \u00a92012 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner Forgotten in the latest hype about illegal immigration is the cycle of lawlessness that follows illegal entry into the United States. The simple fact is that once someone chooses to enter the U.S. illegally and remain here illegally, breaking the law, either deliberately or through indifference, becomes easier and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[111,16],"tags":[1014,77,268,1031],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-an","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10722,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/california-the-rhetoric-of-illegal-immigration-and-the-perils-of-ignoring-thucydidess-warning\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":0},"title":"California, the Rhetoric of Illegal Immigration, and the Perils of Ignoring Thucydides\u2019s Warning","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Eureka Vocabulary changes always reflect the agendas of a political debate. The fight over illegal immigration plays out by altering words and their meanings. Take the traditional rubric \u201cillegal alien.\u201d The English has been clear and exact for nearly a century: illegal alien (cf. Latin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thucydides"","block_context":{"text":"Thucydides","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/thucydides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1322,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/illegal-immigration-is-immoral\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":1},"title":"Illegal Immigration Is Immoral","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Illegal immigration has been in the news daily during the Republican primary campaign, even though a depressed economy here, stronger border enforcement, and vast new finds of petroleum in Latin America may soon radically curtail the number of illegal entrants into the United\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2538,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/illiberal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":2},"title":"Illiberal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Recently, in symbolic fashion, spectators of Mexican ancestry in Pasadena\u2019s Rose Bowl did not merely cheer on the Mexican national soccer team in a game against the US national team \u2014 such nostalgia would be natural and understandable for recent immigrants \u2014 but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8628,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-illegal-immigration-finally-turned-off-the-public\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":3},"title":"How Illegal Immigration Finally Turned Off the Public","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If there were not a Donald Trump, he would likely have had to have been invented.\u00a0 by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media Why did the illegal-immigration issue launch Donald Trump\u2019s campaign? Why did his recent tense press conference exchange with Univision\u2019s Jorge Ramos please even some of Trump\u2019s liberal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shot and chaser: Democrat activist Jorge Ramos of Univison badgers Donald Trump; is (temporarily) deported from presser by Trump\u00e2\u0080\u0099s security. (AP Photos\/Charlie Neibergall)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/trump_ramos_8-30-15-1-500x213.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1109,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-illegal-immigration-moral\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":4},"title":"Is Illegal Immigration Moral?","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services We know illegal immigration is no longer really unlawful, but is it moral? Usually Americans debate the fiscal costs of illegal immigration. Supporters of open borders rightly remind us that illegal immigrants pay sales taxes. Often their payroll-tax contributions are not later tapped\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2010"","block_context":{"text":"December 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/december-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4366,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/illiberal-aspects-of-illegal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":643,"position":5},"title":"Illiberal Aspects of Illegal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services A group of citizens calling themselves the Minutemen patrols the border looking to stop illegal immigrants from entering the United States. Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, states that Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. are \"are doing jobs that not even blacks want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2005"","block_context":{"text":"June 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/june-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":644,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}