|
During the past couple of years Americans have finally come to understand that illegal immigration is
a major problem that brings both physical security and financial risks to our nation. Over the years we have all seen
the news reports of illegals crossing our border from Mexico. We recognize that all of our borders can be crossed
by illegal immigrants that would bring us harm. Many of us have met individuals that came to the US on student
visas that are now expired and never went home. We have been in hospitals for various reasons and observed uninsured
illegal immigrants lining up for medical services with no medical insurance or no cash to pay for the services they need.
The rest of us end up paying those bills in one form or another.
Our nation is fundamentally a nation of immigrants.
Other than those of us that are Native Americans we are all immigrants or descended from immigrants. One of the
greatest strengths of our nation has been our ability to absorb immigrant populations and incorporate them into our culture. This
has not been a perfect process by any means but we have tried very hard to give everyone a chance to participate
in the American dream. We are one nation and also a nation of many subcultures. We need immigrants to invigorate
our culture and to bring their energy and desire to improve themselves to keep the US growing and improving itself.
We also have labor shortages in our economy that are real and need to be addressed. It is fact that many
of the lower paid jobs in our economy are not interesting to many Americans. Americans simply will not do
a lot of the hard, dirty work that needs to be done to sustain our economy. We need immigrants to take these jobs
and to provide many important services to all of us. In the past month I have had Hispanic workers remove trees
from my property and help repair the roof of my house. Hispanic women clean my home. A large percentage of
the fast food workers in my area are Hispanic, My wife and I eat lots of vegetables and fruit which we know are harvested
by Hispanic workers in the farming areas of our nation.
The US must have a comprehensive immigration policy that
allows us to protect ourselves from dangerous people that want to enter the US illegally. We need to resolve the circumstances
of those that reside in the US illegally today. We need to make sure we have sufficient temporary workers available
in our economy to run it at maximum efficiency and productivity. We need to make sure that a reasonable number of people
are allowed to enter our country and eventually become citizens as part of our continuing revitalization process. We
need a comprehensive plan that provides for all of these elements. I believe the following elements should be part of
that plan.
We must stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico. It doesn't matter if the people coming
across our border are Mexican or from other nations. We must also eliminate the capability for illegal immigrants
to bring pregnant women into the US for the sole purpose of giving birth to a child in the US and declaring that child
a US citizen. This situation must end. We must all realize that the Mexican government has no reason to help
us stop the illegal activity. It is in their best interest for the migration to continue. Mexico benefits from
exporting its population to the US in many different ways.
We need to build a permanent physical barrier on our
southern border combined with a high tech surveillance system and an expanded border patrol. We need to establish
a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal crossings of our southern border. We need to work with the Canadian authorities
to determine the best way to manage our northern border. We need to make sure that if someone enters our country legally
on a temporary basis that they leave when they are supposed to leave. We need to create an information technology system
that can manage this information and have enforcement mechanisms in place when we have to use it to get people to leave.
We have millions of people that have entered the US illegally over the past decades that live and work
here. We need to resolve their situations with a positive attitude. We did not enforce our own laws. By
letting them live, work and raise families here we effectively gave them permission to be here. We need to
establish a policy where these people can register themselves as permanent residents and become legitimate in our economic
system without penalty. We should then establish a time line where they can become citizens if they wish to do so.
If we find that they have a criminal record of substance they should not be allowed to stay. Those people
must be extradited back to their homelands. If the illegal immigrant has been in the US less than one year
they must leave the US, return to their homeland and may reenter the US legally if they are eligible to do
so.
We need to penalize any employer in the US that hires illegal immigrants knowingly. We need to make sure
that US citizens and legal residents have had an opportunity to take the jobs that are available. We also need
to establish a temporary worker program that is effective so that our economy can run smoothly. We need to ensure
that temporary workers are treated humanely and are paid a reasonable wage for their labor. We need to be able to keep
track of their presence while they are in our country and make sure they leave at the appropriate time.
We must
also reevaluate our immigration program that allows people from all over the world to become permanent residents in the US.
We need their skills and energy in our economy. As our population ages we need young people from all over the world
to come to the US to continue the work of building our nation and to pursue the American Dream.
Copyright
2006 by TPM
|
