Peter Brimelow writes: Many minor public figures often complain that students email wanting them to write their papers for them. But actually I found these questions posed recently by this high school student—who does exist, her teachers assured me!—quite stimulating. Note, however, that she confuses illegal aliens with citizens, which I think is evidence of the Orwellian pitch to which Main Stream Media rewriting of this issue has now risen.

How long have you been involved with immigration issues?

I really started thinking about immigration in my first year in college in England, as a result of Enoch Powell's 1968 (aargh!) speech on immigration into the UK, in my opinion one of the greatest in the language.

Subsequently, I observed the contradictions of US policy as a student at Stanford and an immigrant myself, first to Canada and then to the U.S. This is discussed in my 1992 National Review cover story Time To Rethink Immigration, sometimes credited with restarting the modern debate, which grew into my 1995 book Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration Disaster.

What role, if any, do you play in the immigration process?

Immigration turns out to be a Third Rail Issue in American politics and any dissent is ruthlessly suppressed. After Bill Buckley betrayed the patriotic immigration reform cause in 1998 and purged National Review of immigration patriots, there was literally no outlet in the Main Stream Media for facts and analysis antithetical to the immigration enthusiast consensus. But the internet set us free and we launched VDARE.com on Christmas Eve, 1999.

Do you feel it is too difficult to become a legal citizen in the United States?

Yes and no. The legal immigration process is extremely complex and cumbersome—and also suppresses, since the 1965 Act, immigration from the traditional sources of Northern Europe and Canada. On the other hand, the absolute number of immigrants is far too high, especially given current unemployment rates

What are your thoughts on the country's current immigration policies?

Madness, both in quantity and quality (skill levels, assimilability etc.) Also a serious moral hazard, in that very large numbers of U.S. residents began their career here by breaking the law.

Do you believe undocumented immigrants fuel the economy by being consumers in the states?

In fact, there is a ton of evidence that they are a net drain because of the welfare state, especially when their anchor babies are considered. As Milton Friedman said, you can't have mass immigration and a welfare state.

What do you see as being the resolution for the yearly rising number of undocumented citizens in the country?

“Undocumented citizens”? They’re not citizens, they’re illegal aliens. (Of course, George W. Bush used to make the same mistake).

The rational resolution is elimination through strategic deportation plus attrition through enforcement. Closing the anchor baby loophole  is also important.

This Israelis have already done this. Of course, their government actually cares about its people.

How would you respond to those arguing from the humanitarian viewpoint that everyone is entitled to the same opportunities/ way of life?

This reminds me of Pierre Trudeau's response to a similar goo-gooish question about the Canadian constitutional debate: "I would tell them merde!" [Trudeau, by George Radwanski, 1978, p. 94]

The fundamental obligation of a government is to protect its people, just as the fundamental obligation of a father/ mother is to protect his/her family. That doesn’t exclude charity to bums on the street, but it is far superior to it.

The only way to ensure "that everyone is entitled to the same opportunities/ way of life" would be to conquer the world and rule it, which is what the British actually did in the nineteenth century. It used to be called “The White Man’s Burden.” But how did that work out for everybody?

 What do you think would legislatively be the best approach to solving the debate over illegal immigration?

Secure borders, interior enforcement to stimulate self-deportation.

What are your thoughts on undocumented immigration and the impact on the country's health care and education system?

By "undocumented immigration" you mean illegal aliens, right?

It's catastrophic, especially through Emergency Rooms and through Plyler vs. Doe,  the Supreme Court decision that says that local school boards are required (by the Constitution) to educate not only the children of illegal aliens, but children, up to high-school age, who are illegal aliens themselves.

Has immigration personally affected you in any way?

1)  I am an immigrant. It affected me. 2) Conventionally considered, getting interested in the immigration issue has been distinctly unhelpful for my career in the US Main Stream Media, which was otherwise coming along quite well.

But I took to heart Powell’s warning:

At all events, the discussion of future grave but, with effort now, avoidable evils is the most unpopular and at the same time the most necessary occupation for the politician. Those who knowingly shirk it, deserve, and not infrequently receive, the curses of those who come after.

At all costs, I do believe my children (youngest now just2 1/2 and 8 months, see right) will at least exempt me, during what appears on the current course to be an inevitable doom, from what Powell described as "the curses of those who come after."

May God help them—and America.

Peter Brimelow [Email him] is the editor of VDARE.com.