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Probationary Presence…another Immigration Law Reform Proposal

by on Apr. 17, 2011, under border issues, border patrol, immigration law reform, politics

Updated May 11, 2011L

President Obama didn’t change the nature of the debate on immigration law reform with his speech in El Paso May 10th.

Two problems:

First, Obama is buying the Department of Homeland Security’s claims the border is safer therefore it is time to proceed with immigration reform.

The borderlands people aren’t buying Janet Napolitano’s statistical razzle dazzle. We don’t want any gaps left in the border where (especially) drug cartel smugglers have free reign to run around our countryside. As long as the border is still open to illegal entry and drug smuggling immigration law reform is simply not going to happen

Second, Obama’s immigration reform still looks like “amnesty” to many.

The terms and conditions whereby those who broke the law and illegally entered the country or overstayed their visas would be allowed to stay have to be tougher than what Obama proposed.

Lets start with the premise that the law being broken was a misdemeanor….which it is.

Often people charged with a misdemeanor are given probation and if they serve out their probationary period without getting into further trouble, the charges are dropped and their lives go on.

Maybe even illegal immigrants put on probation would have to do some community service….wouldn’t that be interesting….not only bring 11 million illegal aliens above-ground but put put them to work helping America.

So how about creating a “probationary presence” program which puts those who illegally entered the country or overstayed their visas (and did not commit any other crimes ) on probation.

Here is an earlier version of my “probationary presence” 14 point immigration law reform proposal:

Do you think we might be able to get a bi-partisan solution to the illegal immigration problem?

It is foolish to think the US is going to kick out 11 million undocumented aliens currently living in the country.

We need a package that:

– creates a path to legal residence (that is not “amnesty”) for those already in the country,

– increases the penalities for illegal entry or overstaying a visa, and

–secures the border so that we don’t continue having a flood of illegal immigrants crossing our border.

What are we going to do about people who want to cross our border to work?

How can we clean up the mess that is our immigration law without creating “amnesty”?

First…what do you mean by “amnesty’?

It seems like any proposal to resolve the immigration mess is called “amnesty”.

If it is obvious that kicking out 11 million people is impossible, then we  need to quit calling every solution to allow legal residence “amnesty”.

The following proposals attempt to address the issues raised by all sides of the immigration debate:

Instead of “amnesty” …dealing with the existing pool of illegal aliens in the country needs to be seen as “probationary presence”. They will have to earn their right to stay. The concept of “probation” is exactly what it means…the illegal immigrant broke the law, so as part of the resolution they are on “probation”.

First: Improve visa tracking system: Let’s understand the 11 million estimate of undocumented aliens in the country now… Estimates are that half of them – 5 or 6 million – entered the US legally, and overstayed their student or visitor visas. Remember all of the 9/11 terrorists got into the US legally.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) utterly failed to keep track of people who got into the country legally.

If banks can track us via our debit card use, and we can be tracked by our cell phone use, then certainly the US government can come up with a way to require people with student or guest visas to report in and keep track of them.

Any immigration law reform must have provision to improve tracking and reporting of legal entrants.

Also, anyone on a legal visa who is convicted of a crime other than a routine traffic offense must be immediately subject to deportation. That includes failure to report in as would be required. This will require a visitor or Guest Worker visa card with tracking capability and verification of reporting in monthly. Thus, a scan of the card would show whether they had checked in as required.

Second: “probationary preserce” penalties for existing illegal entrants and visa overstays: Those who entered illegally cannot be rewarded for having broken the law. Everyone seems to agree on that. To do so only invites more illegal entry. Illegal entrants should not be granted a resident or work visa unless several things happen. They include:

–admitting the crime of illegal entry
–paying a big fine at least equal to what “coyotes” charge to smuggle people into the US
–going to the end of the line for citizenship eligibility
–having to wait twice as long to gain citizenship
–background check for criminal record
–demonstrating proficiency in English
–paying all back taxes owed

Those are elements most people agree to…but still refuse to go forward with.

How about adding that in order to get to stay in the country, someone who entered the country illegally also has to perform some amount of community service. This is “probationary presence”.

Third: Self-deportation option: If someone in the US is here illegally, admits their illegal entry and pays the fine, and deports themselves, they would then be eligible for legal entry and a citizenship path the same as others who enter legally. The difference (and incentive) would be they wouldn’t have to wait twice as long to gain citizenship. The other conditions and qualifications would still apply.

The problem with this is the INS processing takes so long there is no incentive to self-deport. Someone who self-deports needs to get their case resolved inside of a year.

No one with a felony conviction or a misdemeanor except routine traffic violations would be eligible in any case. The only exception would be them admitting to the crime of illegal entry, hence the fine. Note…the “crime” of first time illegal entry is a misdemeanor.

Fourth: Increase penalties for new illegal entry and new overstaying a visa: The penalties for illegal entry and overstaying a visa need to be increased. It is not even a crime to overstay a visa.

Illegal entry needs to be upgraded to a felony, as well as overstaying a visa for more than 60 days.

Immigration law reform—overstaying a visa should be a crime

Fifth: Establish a Guest Worker Visa Program: We need a Guest Worker Visa Program that allows people to enter into the US and work, provided they go back home. I suggest that whatever Mexico requires for a US citizen to get a worker visa to live and work in Mexico be identical to what we require.[Note: Mexico has very difficult requirements to get a worker visa in their country so they’d probably have to change their laws to allow more Americans to live and work in Mexico.]

A Guest Worker Visa would NOT be a path to citizenship. That would require a separate application. All people applying for a Guest Worker Visa should have a criminal record background check and be subject to effective tracking as proposed in item one. This of course assumes we cn fix our visa tracking system.

Sixth: Guest Workers must pay taxes and not be eligible for welfare benefits: A person allowed into the US on a Guest Worker Visa would be required to pay all taxes. They would not be eligible for federal funded health care and other US or state taxpayer funded benefits.

Seventh: No Social Security benefits for Guest Workers: Those on a Guest Worker Visa would be subject to a payroll tax like our Social Security and Medicare systems…but these funds should be repatriated to their home country. Thus if they wanted the benefits they paid for, they need to go home. They would not be eligible for a US Social Security number, they’d have a Foreign System Benefits number and program. The cost of this would come from the deductions from their pay checks.

This item hits an interesting spot in the debate, since many illegal workers pay into our Social Security System and don’t receive benefits, which is a windfall to the US system.

Eighth: Guest Workers protected as far as labor laws are concerned: Crucial to the success of a Guest Worker Visa system is providing worker protection rights to these guest workers. The benefits US companies get by not paying fair wages to guest workers must be eliminated. The illegal worker system is a kind of slavery, where companies take advantage of the illegal status of their workers, don’t pay for overtime and such, then call in “la migra” to deport workers who complain.

We must eliminate the abilities of employers to exploit guest workers at the expense of US citizens getting the jobs.

Ninth: Guest Workers must have real job waiting: An applicant for a Guest Worker Visa must show there is a real job waiting for them, and if they leave that job, that they are gainfully employed in another job within 60 days of notice of loss of their job, or be deported.

US companies actually recruit for workers in Mexico. But we cannot keep the slavery system going where if a company lays off a guest worker then that person faces immediate deportation.

Tenth: Increase penalties for hiring undocumented aliens, give states power to enforce this: The penalty for hiring undocumented aliens needs to be greatly increased, and states be allowed to pass laws punishing licensed business that hire undocumented aliens. We need to eliminate the litigation over state powers to use business licensing as a means to punish companies that hire illegal aliens.

Eleventh: Increase the pool of visas for Guest Workers: The pool for Guest Worker Visas needs to be bigger than currently exists, and the processing must be faster. Part of the incentive for illegal entry is it is almost impossible for a worker to get legally into the US in his or her lifetime. The cost of a faster process must be covered by the fees charged to applicants for a Guest Worker Visa.

The quota system that has been used needs to be dropped. We need as many construction workers as we need computer engineers. Do we really care whether they come from India or Mexico?

Twelfth: Change application for Citizenship: The process to apply for citizenship needs revision so that someone who really does want to join us, can. The same requirements for the Guest Worker Visa would apply such as proficiency in English and a clean criminal record. But additional requirements should be added like performing community service work.

Becoming an American is not about what color you are or what language you speak. It is about buying into our values of hard work and democracy. We were all once immigrants and our country is built on ideals and values, not race or religion or nationality.

When immigrants come to America to share in our freedom and opportunity, they choose a path to be one of us.

We should figure out a way so they can prove that commitment.

Thirteenth: Grant states and local governments defined immigration enforcement authority: The SB 1070 mess needs to be resolved. Certainly standards and guidelines can be passed and adopted by Congress that allow states and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws without getting into issues like racial profiling. There has already been a program in effect where Customs and Border Protection assist local law enforcement and delegate some authority to them. If state and local governments want to use their law enforcement resources to chase down illegal aliens, then set up a framework where this can be done, coordinated with US Customs and Border Protection and with appropriate guidelines so there are no issues of racial profiling.

Fourteenth: define what a “secure border” means and then do it: There is no appetite to pursue immigration law reform as long as we cannot agree whether or our border is actually secure.

Many fear legitimately that if immigration law reform goes forward before the border is secure, we will have another flood of illegal immigrants.

However, since no one can agree on what a “secure border” means there is obviously no way to then pursue immigration law reform. A “catch 22″.

We need an agreed upon definition of what a “secure border” means.

It obviously is not measured by how many Border Patrol agents there are on the payroll, as Department of Homeland Security claims.

As long as there are still gaps in the border where people and drugs can cross without an immediate (within 5 minutes) response from the Border Patrol or local law enforcement, the border is not secure.

We need to finish building the fence, and deploy Border Patrol agents right at the border so undocumented aliens and drug smugglers cannot enter the US illegally without at least a 90% chance of being caught.

In order to avoid a flood of illegal immigrants, the first step may be to raise the criminal penalities for illegal entry effective on a specific date like right now, and anyone who crosses after that date or overstays a visa will not be able to avail themselves of any provisions of the revised immigration laws.

[Note: Holub served as City Attorney for the border city of Nogales, Arizona 1997-2000, He also represented applicants for legal status in the 1980’s legalization program. He currently works with border ranchers on the immigration problem. He lives 20 miles from the border.]

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More on border issues:

The following are articles and commentaries on border issues and SB 1070 that have appeared in the View From Baja Arizona since May, 2010.

Most recent….

Arizona Attorney General blasts Obama on border security

Obama immigration reform proposal lands on table like dead fish

Arizona Sheriffs Babeu and Dever call Obama immigration proposal “amnesty”

Obama’s blueprint for a 21st century immigration system

Obama speaks in El Paso about immigration reform

Mexico…a partly failed state

Smugglers take advantage of distressed real estate market in Santa Cruz County

Arizona set to build own border fence …another really dumb idea from the state legislature

Another drug tunnel discovered and other border news

Illegal alien charged with murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

Issa Leads Congressional Investigation of DOJ’s ATF “Operation Fast & Furious”

Napolitano promises to change the way “border security” is measured

Cochise County Sheriff Tells Congress That Border Patrol Agents Ordered to Reduce Arrests

California Gulch..one of those places along the border wide open to drug smugglers

If the border is so secure why are there dead bodies all over the place?

Republicans Introduce Bill to Secure Border on Federal Lands, Protect Environment

Apprehensions of illegal aliens at the border are way down…why?

GAO confirms federal environmental laws and federal land managers hinder securing our border

Senators Kyl and McCain propose new border security plan

DHS testifies at same hearing as border rancher…compare the view of the border situation

Rancher tells Congress the way it really is down at the border

What does “securing the border” really mean?

Illegal entry and drug smuggling in perspective…what if all this was going on in your front yard?

Probationary Presence…another Immigration Law Reform Proposal

Arizona Republic trashes claim by Pinal Sheriff Babeu that Pinal is the number 1 pass-through county for drug and human trafficking in America

Drug cartels have made Nogales the tunnel capital of the Southwestern border

GOP drafts legislative assault on illegal immigration

Arizona would go broke if all the illegal immigrants left the state

230,000 displaced in Mexico by drug war

Janet Napolitano: Border security better than ever

Birthright citizenship debate…is the solution worse than the problem?

Immigration enforcement efforts damaging to community, police group says

10 million more illegal aliens coming to America?

Border officials say security is improving…and the tooth fairy is real

US Census Report on Arizona…Hispanic population increases dramatically

Utah avoids mistakes Arizona made on immigration laws

Cops don’t want to be junior Border Patrol agents (except in Maricopa County)

CBS News reports on ATF scandal…was Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry murdered by a gun being tracked by ATF?

Inside ATF…an ugly picture …how many dead bodies are out there as a result of Project Gunrunner?

Senator Grassley struggles to get to the bottom of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death and the role of ATF

FBI: Friendly fire ruled out in Tucson border agent’s slaying …so which gun fired the bullet that killed Brian Terry?

Grassley blasts Department of Justice on coverup of guns used in Agent Terry’s murder

Dept. of Justice denies gun claim about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death

Is there a cover-up on Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder?

Senator Grassley letters accusing BATFE of letting guns be sold that may have been used in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry

Was Border Patrol agent Brian Terry killed by a gun bought in Phoenix?

DHS chief Napolitano living in a fantasy land about border security

Guns and Mexico … be very afraid my friends

More on the coverup of the truth about the guns that killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

Secure the border at the border

Border safe and secure, CBP commissioner Bersin proclaims

Dept. of Justice denies gun claim about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death

Think things are bad for illegal aliens in Arizona…don’t go to Escondido, California if you are an illegal alien and have any kind of criminal record (including a traffic ticket)

Is there a cover-up on Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder?

Arizona ranchers question Napolitano’s claims the border is safer

Napolitano touts Homeland Security’s border efforts

Guns from Arizona going to Mexican drug cartels according to Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Senator Grassley letters accusing BATFE of letting guns be sold that may have been used in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry

Was Border Patrol agent Brian Terry killed by a gun bought in Phoenix?

11.2 million illegal immigrants in US according to Pew Research Center

Arizona legislators determined to keep Arizona as the center of anti-immigrant efforts

Arizona’s harsh immigration law cancer not spreading across nation

Murdered Border Patrol Agent’s mom still in the dark about what really happened

Birthright citizenship bill unveiled by Arizona lawmakers — 2011′s version of SB 1070

McCain willing to seek immigration overhaul bill when the border is secure

Mexican cartel violence prompts calls for bigger National Guard deployment along the border

Mexico headed to collapse?

Celebrating the New Year in the borderlands with automatic weapon gunfire

An NPR report: Nogales, Sonora — Once A Mexican Tourist Town, Now No Man’s Land

Mexican drug cartels killing their border cities

More rumors and few facts regarding the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

Texas border ranchers face same unsolved problems as Arizona’s border ranchers

Does America hold children responsible for the crimes of their parents?

Feds making a big mistake in secrecy over death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry

Battling the border bandits

Green Valley News Reports Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot in the back

Border Patrol agent death a wake up call to many

Nogales International report on BORTAC and Peck Canyon

Dream Act dead because a majority isn’t a majority in the US Senate

Napolitano confirms bandit gang killed border agent

Borderlands a war zone

Some ideas about how to really secure the border

Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol Agent Killed in Line of Duty

The Border is NOT Secure !!!

Mexico a powder keg about to explode

Militia shows up in Sasabe

A 14 point proposal for immigration law reform –”probationary presence” instead of amnesty

Humanitarian crisis on our border must be addressed

Special law enforcement task force needed to prosecute crimes against illegal immigrants

Drug cartels fight over control of northern Sonora

Are the Mexican drug cartels taking over Mexico? Is there any doubt?

Border wildlife refuge turns into battleground over humanitarian aid to illegal immigrants

Broken immigration law fuels illegal entry

What to do about drug cartel “spotters” on the US side of the border?

Napolitano says border is largely controlled

Border Patrol agents in shootout near Nogales — what’s wrong with this story?

Why isn’t the border secure?

Sealing the border is unrealistic says border boss

Marijuana fuels Mexican drug cartel profits

Do people deliberately come to the US to have babies who will be citizens?

Illegal immigration trashes wildlife refuge

Tohono O’odham Reservation deadly place for migrants

Are there fewer drug tunnels in Nogales?

Immigration law reform—overstaying a visa should be a crime

12 million illegal immigrants…a resource that should not be wasted

Some difficult issues in the “amnesty” debate

Border tours offer opportunity to see border realities

Sovereignty and a secure border

The difficulty of securing the border

A Cochise County rancher’s view of the border

Is the effort to secure the border deliberately designed to fail?

Alice in Wonderland and border security

Out in the desert on immigrant trails

Are there some areas near the border that are too dangerous for the Border Patrol?

Mexican drug cartels are not listed as official terrorist organizations

Rumors on the border? What about the truth? Mexican drug cartels are seeking to control the Mexican side of our border

Is the Border Patrol avoiding some areas of the border because “it is too dangerous”?

Posse Comitatus and the Mexican border

Legalize drugs to bankrupt the cartels…Pfizer versus the Aztecas…the ultimate “smack down”.

_____________________

Major posts…..

We need immigration law reform — Opinion

What does “no amnesty” really mean?

Secure the border or immigration law reform first?

Life on the border — the residents of Nogales, Rio Rico and Tubac

Life on the border — the ranchers

Life on the border — Entering the US illegally

More horses needed to secure the border – Commentary

More on the cartel attack on a border ranch

Border ranch attacked by drug cartel

Ranchers report smuggler scouts on the border area hilltops

Send in the US Cavalry

Has the federal government abandoned land to the Mexican drug cartels?

Abolish the Border Patrol and replace it with a new Border Security Agency

The lost border

The lost border part 2

Is racism on the rise in Arizona?

Has Arizona become the “cracker state”?

Klan types ride again … only on electron beams

Guide to Border Patrol Checkpoints

Are there human rights for people who cross the border illegally?

Who will stand up against the racism in Arizona?

Poll results show politicians the way on border issues…if they’ll listen

Background on why SB 1070 even exists

More blame to share on illegal immigration

Who is at fault for illegal immigration?

How would you deport 11 million illegal aliens?

Securing the border and immigration law reform

What is your definition of a “secure border”?

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More….

“Attrition through enforcement”…SB 1070 attempts to make Arizona the “bouncer” of illegal aliens

59 dead in the desert in July due to killer coyotes

Why Americans Think (Wrongly) That Illegal Immigrants Hurt the Economy

Law enforcement discretion and SB 1070

Commentary on the judge’s decision to stop parts of SB 1070 from going into effect

Do politicians have the will to work together to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling?

Should SB 1070 have been enjoined?

Was SB 1070 worth it? Commentary

SB 1070 enjoined by federal judge July 27, 2010

Read full text of SB 1010

Arpaio takes 50 caliber machine gun out into desert hunting cartel smugglers

Is it safe to visit Southern Arizona ?

Arizona Republic Poll: Most Arizonans would let immigrants stay in U.S

Would you allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States if…

Feds’ suit raises stakes for Arizona’s immigration law

Feds sue Arizona on SB 1070

US sues Arizona over SB 1070 — Justice Department Press Release

Full text of Complaint filed against Arizona on SB 1070 by US

US Brief in support of injunction against SB 1070

Statement of Santa Cruz County Sheriff in support of suit against SB 1070

Statement of Tucson Police Chief in support of suit against SB 1070

What if a state said “welcome” to immigrants?

The immigration debate — it never ends

Recipe for making an American

What’s wrong with SB 1070

Pinal County Sheriff: Mexican drug cartels now control parts of Arizona

SB 1070 does nothing to stop drug cartel gunmen

Can you qualify to be a US citizen?

_______________________

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13 Comments for this entry

  • Fraser007

    I thought I was on the Three Sonorans blogsite. You are starting to sound like him. You want an answer. NO.
    There is no immigration reform problem. The problem is that we left 11 million of these people into the country. Excuse me we allow them to sneak in. We didnt spend enough money to secure the border and we lacked the will to stop the flow.
    A small footnote is that if they become citizens (God forbid) they will vote liberal Democratic. There goes any balance we have in this country.
    If you want a real revolution in this country try making them citizens, you will get a revolution but from the other side.

    • lockewasright

      Too late.  The legal voting latino population in this country is growing MUCH faster than the caucasian one.  So is the african american population.  McCain and Reagan both got identical percentages of the white vote.  Reagan got a landslide.  McCain  got a thumping.  The party of The Southern Strategy has got bigoted chickens coming home to roost.  All of that time you guys have invested in the last 50 years of shoving people into the back of the bus was a HUGE mistake.  The back of the bus will soon be more populated than the front. 

      The delicious irony of it is that the straw that breaks the camel’s back will be an influx of new citizens across the southern border who were fleeing exactly the type of plutocracy that you guys are so intent of setting up here where the privileged few are permitted to buy all of government leaving the masses destitute and with no representation or rights.

      Insert Nelson Muntz: “Ha Ha!” here.

      • OnePercent

        Keep drinking the Kool Aide buddy, even the most liberal projections show that whites will continue to be the majority of the American population until the 2050′s, and those projections are based upon some pretty questionable assumptions in the first place (such as immigration rates staying the same for the next 40+ years).
        Moreover, you make the common liberal mistake of assuming that ALL Hispanic citizens support open-borders and want to see illegal immigrants handed citizenship.  You forget that many Hispanics are legal immigrants or the children of legal immigrants who have a justified resentment for those who have “cut in line” and have the audacity to demand citizenship be handed to them.  Many Hispanics are as critical of these liberal pipe-dreams as even the “whitest” conservatives are.

  • Estoban

    Allowing 11 million,or 20 million, or 30 million illegal alien invaders to stay in our country is the most extremely partisan solution I’ve ever heard. In the administrations of Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower, close to 6 million illegal invaders were deported with no huge cost, no muss, no fuss. Enforce our laws and these bottom-feeders will self deport.  

  • Delaware Bob

    Secure the border and put a very high fine on any ilegal alien caught in this country, oh, say, $5,000 and 3 years in jail, then deported if caught.  No money to pay fine, well, 10 years in jail.  I think they might leave on their own.  Anything that allows these illegal aliens to remain in this coutry is amnesty.  It didn’t work before and it wouldn’t work this time.  Illegal aliens have NO RIGHT to be in this country.  Period!

  • wigglwagon

    “It is foolish to think the US is going to kick out 11 million undocumented aliens currently living in the country.”

    Please tell us why you think that  is foolish?

    To me, it sounds foolish to leave 10 million illegal aliens employed while taxpayers are forced to pay unemployment and welfare to support 10 million legal resident families whose jobs were taken by the illegals.  When you add in the welfare that the illegals collect, it goes from foolish to insane. 

    • maniac

      well my friends all I can hear is lots of stupid people like you stating; our laws,steling our work,aliens here and there but since I remember we are the ones who needed them thats why we were in really good shape because of cheap labor and made us rich. well did you say something no! you brought more here over and over Illegally and now that you are broke lets blame it on them WOW stupid people

  • Brittanicus

    No need to deport as the cost would be enormous, not that matters to Washington? Demand from your Senators and Congressman the newly revised, E-Verify that will detect illegal aliens in the workplace. Nobody is to be exempt–longtime employees and new hires will be verified. Attrition by enforcement! Severe fines of companies who scorn the law, including business asset confiscation and imprisonment; not house arrest, but in the general population. Just because you own a business, doesn’t mean you can hire illegal labor? Fact is they are stealing employment, from the ten million Americans out of work. They have families to feed, mortgages to pay and so there should be zero tolerance for this heinous issue. Auditing of companies should be stepped up and those caught red-handed, should be imprisoned as an example of not less than one to five years. No more slap on the wrist, but be held accountable.Ordinary working people are informing ICE of employers who are hiring illegal aliens and as the job market gets even rougher “Whistle blowers” will come out of the woodwork to report suspicious goings on? The TEA PARTY will not tolerate the liberal court system or the Leftist Czars hidden in the Department of InJustice using unconstitutional means for clandestine amnesties, Immigration Reform, Sanctuary States or anything that has the obnoxious stench of Amnesty. The Tea Party has a propagating foothold in the Republican Party, as thousands every day of every party affiliation is joining. The Tea Party lawmakers will not tolerate raising the debt ceiling in the US budget, to support the 20 million plus illegal alien families using the birthright baby law to gain a foothold in America. Thousands will keep coming until the American people demand the real fences be constructed and every tool available is used to stop this invasion. Want truthful answers, to your question of costs and so much more, view NumbersUSA website.

  • Mike H

    When a person steals residency and a job, allowing them to stay and work is amnesty. No matter what you call it.

    There are only two choices, punish the law breakers, or reward them.  With a cost of $113 billion per year to support illegal immigration, it’s foolish to think we can let them stay. And with an estimated cost of 1-1.5 trillion for amnesty, the choice is obvious.

    Add to that the deterrant that enforcement creates for the future, and self deportation laws and enforcement is the long term answer. 12-20 million people is equal to 12-20 years of immigration. Allowing them in would close down immigration for a decade or two until they were absorbed. If business has to pay them a fair wage, they will likely go for a citizen. Most of these people will end up on welfare rolls. And business would hire the new illegal immigrants because they can work cheaper.

  • don Gabacho

    Until “immigration” is seen and treated for what it is, deliberate “colonization” by the Mexican Government, and its allied Latino governments, and their consulates are expelled from the country, and their proxy “institutos” and legal associations are dissolved, there is no solution.

    The focus must shift from most essentially Mexico’s mostly unwilling and unwitting “illegals” to Mexico’s officials and “legals” who almost always either attached to the Mexican Government or attempting to ingratiate themselves to that government.

    The obsessively hegemonic Mexican Government has been instructing and forcing colonists to cross into the US since, at least, 1981 with its mandate for instruction in Mexico, the so-called ESL course, “Sigame” (Follow Me [to America]).

    Since 2004 officials of the Mexican Government have even been registering voters for US elections.

    The consulates removal would not only be the catalyst for the later “social pressures” needed to motivate the illegals to return home on their own and serve to remedy the illegals of those consulates’ “protection departments” which, most essentially, keep them here.

    The Mexican Government won’t like it while, ironically, even the “illegals” will.

  • JUSTICE FORALL

    WE DON’T EVEN NEED TO DEPORT THEM. JUST MANDATE E-VERIFY FOR “ALL EMPLOYERS” AND WITHOUT A JOB, THEY WILL SELF-DEPORT!  NO WAY SHOULD ANYONE ALLOW THESE LAWBREAKERS TO STAY AS MEXICO HAS AN AGENDA TO TAKE OVER THE U.S. (NOW THEY WANT THE CONTINENT) AND WILL MAKE IT INTO THE SAME FAILURE AND VIOLENT CORRUPTION THAT MEXICO IS TODAY – ONE HUGE CORRUPT FAILURE THAT GETS WORSE BY THE DAY!  ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS MUST LEAVE – NO IF’S, ANDS OR BUTS!  GO FIX YOUR OWN NATION, DON’T DESTROY OURS!

  • glennh

    I believe your heart is in the right place, but if you believe an illegal alien will jump through your 14 hoops and the government is capable of ensuring they do, you are living in dreamland. An effective and continuous border fence, identity verification and stiff penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens –  all leading to self-deportation -  is the only practical and economical way to fix the problem. It will take awhile, but it will work.

  • OnePercent

    Though I agree that our Visa tracking practices need to be improved, I really don’t believe that there is anything broken about our current immigration laws, beside the fact that the government has been very selective about enforcing them.  The simple fact is that unless we are really willing to completely open the borders to all would be immigrants we are going to have to have limits on the number of people who can come here legally.

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