President Swordsman Solves Immigration

Here's my idea of immigration reform.

First, let us dispense with the concept of 'amnesty'. It's a loaded term and it's used by hobgoblins like Senator Jeff Sessions to gin up the base. I think it's a silly term because with 12 million illegal immigrants, we can't even find them all much less round them all up and deport them. And even if we did, they'd be back here next month anyway.

I don't like giving people who have broken the law any sort of reward, but I would much rather have them legally working so we can track them (and for other reasons which I will get to) then working in hiding, anonymously.

I mean, what are we going to do, cry about it? What's done is done. Let's pull up our big-boy and big-girl britches and get something done that's useful.

So I'd like a Guest Worker Program. Make it open to everyone who is not a criminal or on a terrorist watch list. Putting quotas on for various things are not going to work because it's just going to make more illegal immigration for those that are denied guest worker visas. Limiting it by time is also a loser for the same reason. Yes, I know you fear that we'd be overwhelmed. I'll get to that in a moment as well.

The guest worker program should have a simple background check. Check with INTERPOL, the FBI, and any other agencies that track terrorists and criminals. If the potential guest worker is a terrorist, arrest them. If they are a criminal in their native land, send them back. Guest workers get a guest worker card. They have to report once a month to an INS office and prove they are gainfully employed. If they don't, they'd better have a good excuse, like hospitalization, or they're deported. Since you're registered with a government agency, that means you also get registered with the Social Security Administration and the IRS.

No system is ever going to work unless we dry up demand for cheap labor. Yeah, I know I've heard the hype about how illegal aliens do the jobs Americans won't do. I say that's total BS. What anyone means who says that is that they'll do the jobs for less than what the jobs are worth. I have zero respect for anyone who runs a company who hires illegal aliens that he knows are breaking the law. It's one thing for a guy to try and make more money to feed his family breaking the law. It's quite another for someone well off to do it so he can exploit a poor person.
We also need an exemption for seasonal agricultural workers and visas that are available for a finite limited period of time that the job actually exists.

I say we need Massive Penalties for Employing Illegal Aliens. Particularly with the legal guest worker program, there's no excuse for this. Hit them good and hard with fines. If they're caught twice, really slam them. If they're caught a third time, they get five years in jail. These people are some of the worst people we have in this country. They know they can treat illegal aliens like human garbage because they know they can't go to the police. They're willing to sell out American workers and break American laws and exploit poor people to make a lousy buck. No mercy. Oh, Mr. Burns? The IRS and the EEOC would like to have a word with you.

Make certain that anyone hiring guest workers has to treat them like regular workers. No more does anyone get to get around labor laws, minimum wages, OSHA regs, or anything else because you hired a desperate person trying to work for a living. If they break these laws, you go after them just like anyone else. If the illegal is discriminated against, abused, etc. they can go to the authorities just like anyone else.

Also, we require employers to report immediately when they have engaged the guest worker and immediately when the employment is terminated. This would work particularly well with seasonal workers, because the employer could tell ICE when a worker's contract is up and let them know when he's on his way out of the country. I have no problem with burdening employers with compliance needs if they feel it is so necessary to bring in someone from outside the country to work. I'd also like it to be a law that the company tries to hire a citizen first before they look elsewhere.

They also have to collect FICA, Federal Withholding, and health care just like anyone else. They also have to be paid a prevailing wage. No more hiring some guy from the other side of the planet because he'll work cheaper.

We also need Family Reunification, which we do now, but within reason. Spouses and children are not kept apart. Children born here are citizens, just like the Constitution states in the 14th Amendment. If their parents are paying taxes and are law-abiding citizens, I don't see why anyone should have a problem with it. Likewise spouses. If they're husbands/wives are supporting them, so be it. If you don't like the concept of anchor babies, it will take a Constitutional Amendment to repeal part of the 14th and that's patently unreasonable.

This means that ICE and INS will have a lot less border crossings to deal with and those that do try to come in illegally are likely bad apples and should be dealt with accordingly. Leave the guys coming here for work alone. Go after the terrorists, the criminals, etc.

We do need More Agents on the Border, but only if we first have the guest worker program and the drying up of demand for cheap labor. Otherwise, extra agents won't make a dent. A fence is useless. Just for clarification: tunnels, airplanes, boats, Canada, wirecutters...

Oh, and with all the extra immigrants paying tax revenues and FICA, I just saved Social Security and Medicare for a while longer.

We also need a Path to Citizenship. I don't want a generation or more of some kind of underclass that can't get work and can't leave like France has. Who can blame these people for finally losing it and rioting? I don't condone it, but I understand their frustration at French society. I say that it takes 5 years. You have to be continually employed and you need to have no felonies on your record. If an illegal immigrant loses his job through no fault of his own, I have no problem with him collecting unemployment. He's paying for it through taxes like everyone else anyway. If the unemployment runs out, he gets deported if he doesn't get another job. I also don't care about misdemeanors. I'm not interested in deporting people for jaywalking. So, 5 years, you pass the test (which is hard already, BTW) and you're in. Take an oath and you can vote, etc. You're now a citizen. Enjoy.

If you're not okay with letting people slide because they broke the law when they came here, then tell me your solution. If they don't want to be citizens, that's cool. Obey the law, pay taxes, have a good life. I have no problem with that.

The process for becoming a citizen needs to be streamlined. Most people I know (and I don't know if this applies to you all or not) have zero idea how hard it is to get into this country for most people. If you are Caucasian and educated, it's easy. If you are just educated, it's relatively easy. If you're a regular guy who works on a farm, forget it. You might never get in. That's just ridiculous. We're telling people "you can't come here because of your race or education" and then we're surprised when they come here anyway.

What say you?