Oh, So That's Who Signed Off on the FBI Spy Operation Into the...
Chuck Schumer Is About to Be Taken Behind the Barn Over This Tweet
Watch Trump Roast a Reporter Over This Silly Question About the East Room...
Trump Administration Is Preparing Unprecedented Action Against Drug Cartels
Nancy Pelosi Just Made a Serious Threat Against ICE Agents
Some Democrats Are Sour on Mandela Barnes Running for Wisconsin Governor
Vance Bridges Faith and Diplomacy: Visits Church of the Holy Sepulchre Amid Peace...
Famous Berlin Drag Queen Under Investigation for Child Porn
NJ Democrat Councilman Calls ICE an 'Invasive Species,' Says Agency Should Be Eliminated
Anti-ICE Protestor Who Called for Violence a 'Human Rights Award' Winner
Vance Claps Back After Jen Psaki's Comments Regarding His Wife
NYC Gubernatorial Candidates Trade Blows Over Scandals in Heated Exchange
Jack Smith Justifies His Secret Subpoenas, Republicans Aren’t Buying It
Stephen Miller Torches Robert De Niro After Nazi Smear on MSNBC
Redemption in the Blink of an Eye
OPINION

Why Would We Want Bad People Here?

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Flickr/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

This week, news emerged that the Trump administration has been setting new standards with regard to incoming immigrants. According to Axios, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will now take into account the "positive attributes" of migrants entering the country; such attributes can include community involvement and educational level. Instead of simply seeking to rule out those with records of misconduct, the new system seeks to screen for better immigrants -- immigrants who will enrich America. 

Advertisement

Along the same lines, the CIS will now disqualify applicants who engage in or support "anti-American activity." As USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser explained, "America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies. ... Immigration benefits -- including to live and work in the United States -- remain a privilege, not a right." Metrics for anti-Americanism include "circumstances where an alien has endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused the views of a terrorist organization or group, including aliens who support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities, antisemitic terrorism and antisemitic terrorist organizations, or who promote antisemitic ideologies." 

Shockingly, there are those who are concerned about such standards. Presumably, America can't be truly free unless we allow in those who support terrorist groups; one day, if we're lucky, they can even run for mayor of New York or Congresswoman of Michigan. Such are the supposed blessings of liberty bestowed on foreigners by the free speech clause of our Constitution. 

Professor of sociology Jane Lilly Lopez of Brigham Young University told the Associated Press, "For me, the really big story is they are opening the door for stereotypes and prejudice and implicit bias to take the wheel in these decisions. That's really worrisome." This, of course, ignores that there are evidentiary standards for any allegations of anti-Americanism; skin color or country of origin wouldn't presumably be enough to bar someone on grounds of anti-Americanism. But for the left, the only excuse for a pro-American ideology must be some form of subtle racism. 

Advertisement

Meanwhile, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, objected that the new standards were reminiscent of McCarthyism. This ignores the fact that during the Cold War, America did in fact screen for membership in the Communist Party under the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, and that refugees and immigrants were screened by American law enforcement agencies to ensure that they were not agents of a foreign power or sympathetic to America's enemies. 

Undergirding all of these objections is a simple and ugly proposition: that becoming an American requires no actual investment in America, and that America ought to be a gigantic agglomeration of disassociated populations. Such a proposition would have been de facto impossible before the rise of the welfare state; people immigrating to the United States generally left places with greater security for an America without security but with grand opportunity, which meant that new immigrants had to learn English, learn a trade, and embrace the Anglo-American cultural and legal traditions of the country in order to succeed. With the rise of an enormous and durable social safety net, the math suddenly changed: People could immigrate to the United States without assimilating in any serious way, and could maintain their pre-American cultures in toto. Multiculturalism, as a philosophy, can only survive if effectuated by a state that subsidizes fragmentation. 

Advertisement

That process must now be reversed. And that can only be done by raising the bar to admission. Good immigrants make America stronger. Bad immigrants make it weaker. Treating all immigrants similarly isn't just foolish; it's dangerous. And the Trump administration is right for recognizing that root reality. 

Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM.

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join Townhall VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement