A strong contender for dumbest political controversy of recent weeks is the criticism directed at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for his remarks on reducing the number of immigrants who illegally overstay their visas in the United States.
Speaking Saturday at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Christie noted that a large number of immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally — about 40 percent — entered the country legally but then remained after their visas expired. It’s time to have a system that can effectively track when they enter and ensure that they leave when their legal permission to stay ends, Christie said.
To suggest that it’s technologically feasible, Christie brought up the ease with which the shipping company Federal Express can track a package anywhere in the United States. “At any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is,” Christie said. “It’s on the truck. It’s at the station. It’s on the airplane … Yet we let people come to this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them.”
“We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in,” Christie added. “However long your visa is, then we go get you. We tap you on the shoulder and say, ‘Excuse me. Thanks for coming. Time to go.'”
Christie’s suggestion struck some observers as not just wrongheaded but insane. “One of the few Republican presidential hopefuls who hadn’t been espousing crazy ideas about immigration apparently did not want to get left behind,” said Slate.
“Not that long ago [Christie] was regarded as a strong contender for the presidency,” wrote the New York Times’ Paul Krugman. “Now [he] looks pathetic — did you hear the one about his plan to track immigrants as if they were FedEx packages?”
Gawker asked: “Does Chris Christie Want to Put Bar Codes on People to Track Their Movements?” And on CNN, a Democratic strategist named Liz Chadderdon said, “It’s a ludicrous idea … are we talking about stamping bar codes on people when come into the U.S.? That sounds an awful lot like what was happening in Germany 60 years ago.”
Where to begin? First, Christie did not suggest “stamping bar codes” on anybody.
Second, are the critics aware that there is broad bipartisan support for a high-tech system — more sophisticated even than FedEx — to track the entry and exit of immigrants in the United States? Congress has passed laws requiring such systems multiple times, although no administration has gotten around to actually enforcing them.
When lawmakers considered requiring a biometric system — to track immigrants through an iris scan, a fingerprint or facial recognition software — as part of the Senate’s Gang of Eight comprehensive reform bill, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer supported the idea. “It’s a very good and responsible proposal,” Schumer said as the bill was being considered. “It mandates … a biometric exit program at our largest airports. It’s a good start.” (The biometric equipment was left out of the final bill, which nevertheless included a lower-tech entry-exit tracking system.)
So Democrats support tracking immigrants every bit as closely as anything Chris Christie has ever discussed. One might say they support tracking immigrants like FedEx tracks packages, although FedEx doesn’t scan people’s irises.
Third, just where are the critics living? Have they ever traveled outside the country and then returned? The barcodes on travelers’ passports are scanned going and coming — tracked like a package.
And have the critics been in any large office buildings lately? ID is often required, and in some cases, anyone entering has to present a card which is scanned on the way in and the way out — tracked like a FedEx package.
Have the critics ever noticed the advertising on their web browser changing as they move around the country or the world — tracked like a package?
Perhaps it is sad, perhaps it is regrettable, but it is a fact of contemporary life that people who have done nothing wrong are tracked like packages every day. There’s no reason why the technology employed in airports and office buildings — and yes, in shipping companies — shouldn’t be used to identify those who ignore the legal requirement to leave the country when their visas expire.
Chris Christie was right, and calling him a nut, or worse, doesn’t change that fact.
