Illegal immigration seems to be such a polarizing issue. The arguments we hear are “we have to secure our border” and “you’re racist”. Seems like the people that want our nation to actually be secure are evil, insensitive, racist bastards that hate Mexicans. Or so the morons on the other side of the argument would have us believe.
First, let’s get passed that. There is nothing, what-so-ever, even remotely racist about wanting to prevent people from entering our nation illegally. If that’s the best you can come up with, just shut your mouth and go watch American Idol. You’re too ignorant by half to participate in the political process, and I beg you to not breed or vote. Ever.
On to the other argument. It seems like everyone who wants to try to stop illegal immigration is yelling the same thing. Secure the border. Build a fence. Fly the drones. Blah, blah, blah. They’re only looking at half the problem.
The entire problem isn’t that people are streaming across the border in droves. Those people are (mostly) coming up here in search of a better life for their families and themselves. Who can blame them for that? Still, we cannot allow people to simply stroll across the border into our country. I also don’t sleep with my front door wide open. Sounds like a stupid idea.
What needs to happen is a two fold solution. First, we need to make it extremely easy to come to this nation LEGALLY. The biggest influx of illegal immigrants seems to be from Mexico. There are a lot of political and economic reasons why a Mexican citizen might want to get the hell out of there and head North. I’m not going to get into that. You want to know more, do a little research.
So set up border checkpoints. Every mile, you put in a shack with 3 armed guards. They are tasked with two jobs. First, they are to watch the surrounding area for any sign of illegal activities. Like people running across the border. Anyone running across the border is identified as a national security threat and shot on sight. It is an act of war to have large volumes of people crossing into another nation. Treat it as such, and the rest will be more reluctant to come running.
Second, anyone who approaches this shack and asks for permission to come in as either a guest working (for the large group of migrant workers the come up in the spring and summer) or as a more permanent resident, shall be questioned briefly, and if they have any form of ID that will be taken. They will be finger printed, run through the FBI database to verify that there is no known criminal activity associated with that person, and they they will be admitted into this country. They will be given a resident worker card, which expires in one year. During their year, they can work anywhere that will hire them, and will collect their checks (with the proper amount of taxes withheld) and live their lives as they see fit.
If during their year they are caught in the commission of a crime (after proper due processes have been observed) they are immediately deported, and the database is updated so that their fingerprints will be flagged as no reentry. If at the end of their twelve months they haven’t presented themselves at another border station to go home for at least 6 month or applied for citizenship, they are added to the no reentry list and a bench warrant shall be issued for their immediate arrest and deportation.
Anytime during their initial twelve month visit, they can apply for citizenship. The application for citizenship will automatically extend their privilege to stay in the United States for the duration of the process. If they are turned down for whatever reason, their permit to be in the US will expire 60 days after such rejection.
The problem with illegal immigration is caused, in large part, by the simplicity of coming into this nation illegally, compared to how complicated and time consuming it is to get here legally. The simple solution, then, is to make it extremely difficult and dangerous to try to come in illegally, while at the same time making it easy and quick to come here legally. People will pick the easy method every time.
It seems this is a rather elegant solution, and fairly simple to implement. So why the hell don’t any of the politicians that are up their screaming and yelling at each other about immigration have a similar plan in the works?
As a legal immigrant and naturalized US citizen, I agree with all you have said. Infact, I been saying nearly the same thing for many years. Furthermore, giving amnesty and a short-cut to US citizenship to illegals ahead of everyone who has entered the country legally is a slap in the face for those who have gone through the lengthy process or those who are still waiting for their turn to become citizens.
ReplyDeleteIt would be physically impossible for me to agree any more. If they are already here, they have already violated our laws be being here. I do, however, believe that we could offer the same deal to them. For instance, switch the program over to how I described, then give every illegal immigrant currently in the country 90 days to get to their local INS office and apply for the one year card. After that, you're caught in the US, you're fingerprinted, put on the no reentry list, and tossed out on your butt.
Delete