(Comments that lead to improvements in this plan are highly valued. )
One cannot unscramble eggs. There is not a workable perfect solution to the USA’s immigration dilemma. Taking a few points from each extreme position on immigration will weave together a plan that is unworkable and will not solve our long-term problem. We need courageous leaders with integrity who are willing to make decisions that may be unpopular now, but will provide a long-term way out of our current predicament.
GOALS:
- Foster respect for the rule of law.
- Discourage future illegal immigration by making it difficult to enter the USA illegally.
- Provide an easy, compassionate way for hard-working immigrants who came to the USA when our government invited them in without granting them legal status to gain appropriate documentation.
- Avoid vote-buying and other dishonorable practices
- Decrease the power of the “Coyotes” and other criminals who benefit from the current system
Note: Citizenship and the right to work legally in the USA are not synonymous. Currently, Green cards are a “path to citizenship” after 5 years. Therefore, I propose a new document: a Work Visa that must be renewed annually. Initially, this will be issued freely, but renewals can be limited in future years if the USA has so many non-citizen workers that they are causing citizens to be unemployed (this may not ever occur). The poorest “undocumented” workers cannot prove how long they have been here illegally, so basing anything on the number of years they have been in the USA is an untenable plan. Further, those who have been breaking our laws for longer should not have a big advantage over those who have respected our laws. High fines for workers are dangerous – poor people cannot come up with them, so they will be at the mercy of loan sharks.
SUMMARY: COMPASSIONATE BUT FIRM IMMIGRATION PLAN
- No automatic citizenship based upon location of birth (parents' citizenship determines the citizenship of a newborn). 2. Secure the border.
- Grace period, followed by strictly enforced penalties for hiring non-citizens without work visas.
- Annual work visas (not instant citizenship) immediately for currently employed workers, obtained only in their own country of citizenship. After grace period, deportation and jail for violators.
- Criminal element is largely self-deported. Remainder is deported and jailed in country of citizenship.
- No large fines for workers, but rather, modest annual work visa fees.
- Clearly labeled photo ID for all work visa holders (through DPS, etc). Education for their children. Employers must report if workers are laid off. Must leave the USA if no longer employable.
- Most immigrants will either become legal with a job, or are self-deported.
DETAILED PLAN
- Repeal the laws (pass an Amendment if needed) granting citizenship to anyone who is born on US soil. This is an outdated law. Currently people from nations all over the world use this law to bypass the intended process and gain permanent resident status. For instance, any terrorist who manages to enter our borders and deliver a child has a right to stay here to care for his “citizen-dependent.”
- Secure the border using mostly electronic monitoring systems to allow for free migration of wildlife, with fences or walls only in high traffic areas. Use crowdsourcing to monitor the camera activity. Citizens who are looking at computer monitors anyway can volunteer to check the video feed when a motion detector trips their assigned camera to ascertain if the movement was from a human or from an animal. Many citizens can be assigned to each camera. If several citizens report (click) that they see possible human activity at the same location, immigration officials can be dispatched to the area.
- After the border is secured, announce throughout the USA that there will be a 6 month grace period for everyone to gain legal status (as described below). Anyone without legal status after the deadline will be deported and their biometrics will be recorded so that they can never enter the USA again. Legal status can only be obtained from within their country of citizenship.
- During this 6 month period, the USA will have a large number of temporary immigration officials manning offices in countries expected to have a high volume of immigrants seeking legal status, such as Mexico and Honduras. Applications will be processed the same day, so that people who have jobs or own businesses in the USA will be motivated to go to their country of citizenship and become legal. All applicants will have photos and fingerprints taken (an electronic biometric record).
- All applicants for legal status will pay a small fee for an instant background check verifying that they do not have a criminal record in the USA. For same-day processing, they must also present certified letters of recommendation from their employer (or customers, if they own a business) with contact information so that the letters can be spot-checked. Presenting false documents is a crime that can be discovered with an internet search and will result in permanent exclusion from the USA.
- Everyone who shows they are currently employed in the USA and have no criminal past will be granted a one year work visa. This will further encourage ALL undocumented workers to apply. Those with criminal records will remain in their country of origin (and, they self-deported). Unemployed applicants will need to apply for an ordinary visa (not the same-day work visa).
- Employers: In order to reduce the power of the criminal element, there must be no penalty for having hired undocumented workers in the past. This will give employers courage to write letters of recommendation for their current good workers. However, after the 6 month grace period to allow work visas to be issued, there will be strictly enforced large fines for hiring undocumented workers. If a work permit holder is fired or quits, their employer must report this to immigration that month.
- After the 6 month grace period, anyone found in the USA illegally will be immediately transported to a jail in their country of origin. This will not be a large number – most will have complied with the quick and easy system to obtain legal status during the 6 month grace period. The same-day work visas are only for current workers. New immigrants must apply using the conventional system.
- The work visa must be renewed annually, and can be denied if the immigrant becomes unemployed, or if the USA chooses to decrease the number of immigrants working in our country in a given field.
- Legal immigrants can apply for a Green Card, which IS a path to citizenship, on a case-by-case basis.
- Any breach of the law beyond a minor traffic violation results in immediate revocation of the work permit and deportation (including dependents) to the interior of the country of citizenship.
- Anyone with a work visa will have a job and will therefore have no need for welfare, but will be able to get a photo ID such as a Driver's License clearly marked as a non-citizen license. (Without a photo ID many workers must rely on criminals to cash pay-checks). Work visa holders pay all taxes and their children will be permitted in the schools, but they are NOT yet citizens and cannot vote. If they lose their jobs and cannot find another within 3 months, they must return to their home country.