Immigration Reform - Common Sense and Principles

Original Publication Date: 04/29/2013

Immigration Reform - Principles vs Pundits

I often sit back and listen to the various pundits, commentators, politicians, and so-called journalist comment on the current topic of immigration reform. Everyone has an angle and trying to promote the issue for their own gain instead of what is right for the United States (US) and more importantly the immigrant. As an arm chair politician sitting here on the beach I figured I would weigh in on the topic and maybe spur some activity in your grey matter. I believe any reform of our immigration system should contain the following provisions:

Border Security

We must solve the issue of how to secure our borders. It is not only important to stem the flow of illegal immigration but more importantly a national security issue. The governments have shown their inability to properly solve the issue and have only paid lip service. If you recall in the 1980's they promised to do this in the amnesty bill. What was the result? Well you now have another 11 - 20 million more illegal immigrants depending what source you trust (ie. White House, Patriot Project, ....). Bottom line too many people cross the border illegally which opens this country up to both economic turmoil as well as a security risk. So the question becomes how do you solve the problem? I don't believe there are any fool proof methods, but I believe we can do a better job by implementing: Fencing across the whole border, Increase border patrol staffing, drone surveillance, and various technologies from simple cameras to infrared sensors. There are various other methods but I believe you get the point. Why haven't we done this? Well there have been some movements in some of the areas. For example about 1/3 of the approximately 2000 mile southern border is fenced. Some technology was tried and failed. All in all it has been a political and budgetary football, and what has been lost is the security of the USA. I believe it can be done economically similar to what Israel has had to do. I also believe unless you solve this problem you will always have a flow of immigrants coming across the border illegally. To me this is an independent issue and should never be tied to any comprehensive reform model. You MUST do this.

14th Amendment Revision

I never understood the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment of the constitution that automatically bestows citizenship to children born in the USA whether the parents are citizens or not. Turns out we were all fed a bunch of lies and the 14th amendment does NOT mean this. I personally think your citizenship status should be dictated by the citizenship of your parents rather than what piece of land you were born. And basically the constitution backs this up as you must be under the jurisdiction of the USA in order to be a citizen. For example, if a foreign ambassador is residing in the USA and has a baby, that baby is a citizen of the ambassador's country. So why, for the non-diplomats or other exceptions, if you have a baby on US soil that baby automatically confers US citizenship? Again, it doesn't and liberals have brainwashed millions into thinking it does. To me the baby should confer citizenship of their parents. Overall, if you would tie citizenship to the parents or legal guardian's citizenship this would decrease the incentive to jump the border to reap the benefits of this country without contributing to the country. It also solves the so called issue of separation of families you hear politicians bring up during debate. Either you are all citizens or not? Seems simple enough so why hasn't this been changed? It is time for congress to use their constitutional powers and pass legislation that eliminates the anchor baby concept. We are done being used by illegals to have a baby and sign up for welfare benefits and create chain migration.

Legal Immigration - Value Added vs Open Access

Lack of skilled or technical workers in science, math, ... is often touted as need of our country to import talent from other countries. So if that is the case then why do we accept all comers to this country? I understand that has been a principle of the United States as we are a country of immigrants, but should this not change based upon what is good for the country and the immigrant? If you look at businesses they decide what skills are needed in order for the company to be productive. I think our country should incorporate this philosophy into who is allowed to immigrate to our land. In this way if the immigrant has the skills that are needed it sets them up for success to make a decent living in our country. I am not saying this should be the lone criteria, but one of the many. I think with the appropriate security, vocational, educational, and cultural review we can provide a win-win situation. Our country will gain value added skills and individuals while the LEGAL immigrants have the greatest potential to succeed in their new land.

Path to Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants - umm NO!

The catch phrase of the day. Why don't you call it what it is - Amnesty? We were founded with a set of principles, and a crucial one was the rule of law. So why should someone that breaks the law be given a pass? I hear the violins playing when I say that, and the generosity of America come pounding down full force. I need to understand why is it advantageous for the US to give citizenship to people that had no regard to the law. I understand the illegal immigrant may have felt that their only option was to come to our great land for a better opportunity, but if you didn't do it legally then you have to pay the consequences for those illegal actions. Just like citizens that commit an illegal action there are consequences. So what do you do with the 11 million or so illegal immigrants? To me you deport them back to their country of origin. As part of that process you take a DNA sample and Biometric analysis. This is stored in a database. If they are caught a second time then they are thrown in jail. This may sound harsh, but I think it is the right thing to do for both the US, the illegal immigrant, and legal immigrants. I believe that as illegals learn that there are strong consequences for their action it will act as a deterrent to their actions.

Penalties for Businesses and Government Agencies As for any immigration reform package there has to be stiff, enforceable penalties for businesses that choose to break the law. All businesses would be required to e-verify potential employees. As part of that process any new employee would be uploaded to a national database. Random audits would be performed and if any employee is found to be an illegal immigrant that business would be fined $500k per individual and placed on probation. The illegal immigrant would go through the process of deportation or detainment depending on if this was their 2nd time of being caught in our country illegally. Likewise, if any governmental agency provides assistance (ex. Welfare, Social Security, ...) to an illegal immigrant they would be penalized as well. Their budget would be reduced by the amount of funds lost to illegal immigrants. This would force governmental agencies to cooperate and research a new applicant prior to providing the service/assistance. Under no circumstances should assistance programs be given to a non-citizen. Those programs are safety nets for the citizens of our country not the world. Identification and Registration of Non-Citizens The final piece of immigration reform would be to require any non-citizen in this country to not only provide identification (Green Card with Photo, Passport, ...) but register in a national database with the purpose and length of their stay. We could leverage the sex offender database infrastructure to help with this registration and tracking process of non-citizens. Any non-citizen that has not registered could be deported to their country of origin. Government Assistance - Mandatory Work Those citizens that are physically and mentally able to work will be required to work in order to receive government assistance like Welfare, Medicaid, .... Many of these individuals could be paired up with businesses that currently hire illegals to perform jobs. This will help the farmers and businesses that need a labor force and at the same time provide a chance for the citizen to learn a skill or earn their government assistance. In the end, I believe it decreases the incentive to hire illegal immigrants while providing work for the citizen as well as reimbursing the state for the assistance provided to the employee. I think if we implemented this 7 point plan it provides a long term solution to a problem that has chronically plagued this nation. It moves incentives from doing the wrong thing to doing what is right. It provides a way to minimize the cost of dealing with illegal immigration. Citizenship in this country is more than a gift, it is an opportunity to a life only dreamed about. Part of obtaining it requires hard work, sacrifice, and time. In the end, I believe this plan provides benefits not only to the US but to the immigrant. Make Each Day Count!

Beach Bum Philosopher