US immigration law is a confusing business - we still don't understand why Nigella was denied entry to the country earlier this month yet Keith Richards, for instance, is welcome. And it's even more complex for the 11m undocumented Latinos there. But one person who won't be asked to leave any time soon is Justin Bieber.
Following the Canadian terror's January arrest for drag racing in Miami, a We The People petition was launched requesting “to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked,” claiming, he “is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth.”
More than 270,000 people signed it, which seems like a rather large number until you consider Biebs has 51m Twitter followers.
Now the White House has posted its official response...
Sorry to disappoint, but we won’t be commenting on this one.
The We the People terms of participation state that, “to avoid the appearance of improper influence, the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government in its response to a petition."
So we'll leave it to others to comment on Mr. Bieber’s case, but we’re glad you care about immigration issues. Because our current system is broken. Too many employers game the system by hiring undocumented workers, and 11 million people are living in the shadows.
That status quo isn’t good for our economy or our country. We need common-sense immigration reform to make sure everyone plays by the same set of rules.
Not only is it the right thing to do morally, it’s the right thing for our country: Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next 20 years. For those of you counting at home, that’s 12.5 billion concert tickets -- or 100 billion copies of Mr. Bieber’s debut album.
So in other words, Bieber is free to slink around Coachella in Ian Brown's old bucket hat for another weekend. But a much wider debate has been opened, which is always a good thing. If the human doodle pad is what it takes to raise awareness about politics, that's fine with us.
You can read the White House’s full posting, which goes on to make the case for immigration reform, here.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.