20 February—What’s so attractive about living in the United States of America that multitudes of people are motivated to risk everything, including their lives, to get in? Certainly the political climate here is—or was, at any rate—more stable and less dangerous than in almost all other countries. Francis Scott Key’s land of the free and Emma Lazarus’s sunset gates and golden door, and all that. The Constitution does a damn good job—but only as long as it’s respected.

America also has the well deserved reputation of being the land of opportunity where just about anybody can succeed; and it boasts one of the most lucrative—make that benevolent—welfare systems for those who can’t succeed. And all children born here are automatically citizens—unless, of course, Donald Trump and his disreputable cronies are able to throw out the Constitution.

So it’s clearly worth coming to America and living here. What, then, are the advantages of being a citizen? In no particular order, citizens can vote, get government jobs, not be deported (even if they’re naturalized and/or have dual nationality), and receive various federal benefits. An American passport can get you lots of places (but keep you out of others). And a citizen can legally own a gun (although with numerous unconstitutional restrictions all over the place; and according to the Constitution you don’t really have to be a citizen).

In practical and realistic terms, though, is U.S. citizenship really necessary? Certainly a real passport is out of the question, as are lots of cushy government jobs; and you can be deported. But voting, federal (and state and municipal) benefits, and guns are there virtually for the asking, even for non-citizens; even, truth be told, for what used to be called illegal aliens or immigrants but now are called—by the politically correct, anyway—undocumented residents or visitors. How does “undocumented citizens” sound? That’s where it’s going.

Most of these national trespassers are essentially economic refugees who simply jumped the queue—or avoided it entirely. Nothing wrong with wanting a better life, to be sure, but there are laws that are there for a reason. Getting spurious documentation isn’t that hard, so getting a Social Security number and all that goes with it is pretty easy. And in many states, including Connecticut (of course), people who can’t establish their legal presence in the country and/or may not have Social security numbers, can still be issued drivers’ licenses and enjoy all the traditional benefits of a welfare-heavy state.

Non-citizens can in fact vote on certain matters in some states, not yet including Connecticut; and there’s no reason they shouldn’t have a say in local taxes and politics, for instance, and even national matters, when you think about it. Aren’t the undocumented affected by legislation almost like the documented? But since election officials have by federal law to take a voter’s word about his citizenship anyway, what difference does it make?

Of course, there’s the fairly stiff penalty of perjury for lying on a voter-registration application. But illegals tend not to be interested in voting except for the wrong reasons, so even in the unlikely event they’re found out . . .