Immigration and Dreamers: A Way Forward
Just as I have some empathy for a parent who steals a loaf of bread to feed his or her starving child, I empathize with a parent who sneaks into our country to provide his or her child the opportunity for a better life. However, we must recognize that, by doing so, such parent violates our immigration laws and disrespects our citizens.
Our country has never punished children for the sins of their parents – until now. Today, we hear some Republican calls to deport children brought here illegally, and to deny them any chance of becoming US citizens, even though they arrived (or stayed) here illegally through no fault of their own and were raised, and educated, here for most or virtually all of their lives. That is a shockingly cruel position. We must not punish children for the illegal acts of their parents.
On the other hand, Democrats have become the party favoring autocratic rule, rather than a party dedicated to the rule of law. They urge us to ignore the rule of law every time they fail to convince us to change the law in ways that favor the policies they support. They advocate finding ways around the Constitution, rather than gathering the support necessary to amend it. So, for example, if you believe in the Constitutional separation of powers and the rule of law, and advocate following the law by deporting those immigrants who are here illegally, Democrats accuse you of being racist. That is easier than building a consensus to change the immigration laws. It also rewards people who disrespect our citizens by demanding the right to ignore our laws. Very simply, it undermines our entire system of laws.
We cannot afford to allow every individual to decide which of our laws he or she needs to obey, or to take in and support every parent and child who is in such a situation, or to exempt certain groups from obeying the law based on their national origin or their first language. We simply can’t afford to become a nation where the law only applies to some people. Moreover, when president Obama realized he could not convince Congress to pass protections or amnesty for those children brought here illegally, even when Democrats had full control of both Congressional chambers, he bypassed the law. Acting as a despot, he ordered those charged with enforcing our immigration laws to defer taking action against those illegal immigrants. Thus, we became a nation ruled by an individual, not a nation of laws.
As a first and immediate step in solving the problem of the millions of immigrants illegally living in the country, we must change our laws to provide that any child who was brought here illegally prior to the date this law is enacted, and who has gone to school and graduated from a high school in our country, and has not been convicted of any felony, shall be automatically entitled to become a naturalized citizen.
The parents of such children, or parents who came or stayed here illegally and had children born here (American citizens by birth) should be entitled to apply for permanent resident status, provided they:
1) pay a fine of $10,000, or if they do not have that money, execute a binding, non-alterable agreement, subjecting all future earnings to a payment plan to pay such fine;
2) pay any taxes they have failed to pay, or execute a binding, non-alterable agreement, subjecting all future earnings to a payment plan to pay such taxes;
3) pay damages to any person injured due to such illegal immigrant’s use of someone else’s Social Security number, even if done without intent to harm anyone or without realizing it may harm someone;
4) undergo a thorough background check to ensure that such immigrant has not been convicted of any felony or been a member of any terrorist organization;
5) demonstrate the ability to be self-supporting, without receiving government assistance (aside from emergency medical care); and
6) demonstrate a reasonable proficiency in speaking, reading and writing English within two years of passage of this law.
Those people who came here illegally without children, and have no children born here, should be allowed to become permanent resident aliens, provided they meet the requirements set forth above for those who brought minor children with them, or had children born here, and provided that, additionally, they either:
1) enlist in one of our military services, spend a minimum three years in such service and obtain an honorable discharge, or
2) perform five years of community service in a program to be established by Congress or any of the States. Such programs shall provide services such as
- a) working with and under supervision of local police to provide unarmed community patrols in crime-ridden buildings and public areas, to act as eyes and ears of the police, or
b) working as volunteers for the preparation and distribution of food to children at risk of malnutrition and hunger, in conjunction with secular not-for-profit community-based organizations.
Any adult who came here illegally who is granted a “green card” under any of these revisions to our immigration laws should be prohibited from applying for citizenship for a period of 15 years after obtaining a green card and fulfilling the obligations of his or her penalty.
This is not “Amnesty”. It clearly provides for a penalty for violation of our laws; and that penalty is commensurate with the offense committed.
For this plan to work, violation of our immigration laws must be made a criminal offense (including entering the country without authorization and staying beyond the time allowed under any visa or other authorization); the penalties for any new violations of the amended immigration laws must be stiffened; and the federal and state governments must cooperate. There must be a commitment to actively and effectively defend our borders; and Congress must provide sufficient resources to do so. This issue is so divisive that $25 Billion, or even more, is certainly worth the cost if it leads to the country regaining a sense of unity.
We must not repeat the history that led to our current situation. This requires compromises to drastically increase security at our borders, including building a physical and sensor barrier wall and significantly increasing the number of ICE agents monitoring compliance with our tougher immigration laws. Willful violation of our immigration laws by individuals and businesses must be prosecuted. Absent a granting of asylum pursuant to law, no willful violation of our immigration laws should be tolerated.
All people in our country who are not citizens should be ineligible to receive public assistance, other than Medicaid.
It should be a felony for any non-citizen to donate to any political candidate or to engage in any political campaign activity.
Our immigration laws must be changed to increase and encourage immigration of people needed by our society. That means changing to a merit and need based system of choosing those people whom we allow and encourage to emigrate to our country. If we need agricultural workers, we must increase the number we allow to emigrate here. If we need nurses and doctors, we must adjust our laws to encourage their immigration. Similarly, we must do the same with computer engineers, scientists, healthcare providers, homecare workers, construction workers, etc. Priority should be given to those most likely to contribute to our economy, not to certain countries, ethnic groups, or relatives of citizens (other than parents, spouses and children). Any parent who gains entry to our country based on permanent residence granted to a child, should be prohibited from sponsoring any other relative unless, and until, such parent ultimately becomes a naturalized citizen in accordance with our laws.
All of these decisions should be based on the need to fill jobs and the availability of our citizens to fill them. This is not racist. It is common sense. If we need computer engineers, we should write our new immigration laws in ways to encourage them to emigrate to our country no matter what their nationality, race, gender or religion. Those most proficient at their craft, and most proficient in our language, should get preference. The same is true for all other skills we require. English need not be their native language, but they need to be sufficiently proficient to seamlessly move into our workforce without creating disruptions in the workforce that the inability to clearly communicate inevitably creates. This is not a cultural issue. A team of workers must be able to clearly and effectively communicate in order to operate at its most productive levels.
To accomplish any of this, Republicans and Democrats must stop calling each other names, must stop positioning themselves to enhance their personal or party power, and must compromise in order to build a consensus that brings all of us together to solve this problem. This could be a historic moment, if they do so. Otherwise, it will simply be further confirmation that we are falling into the historical trash bin of democratic nations that lost sight of the blessings of liberty and fell prey to those using self-righteous indignation to seek power that merely feeds their personal need for aggrandizement, or serves to justify their supporting those they see as “benevolent dictators”.
Perhaps it is time for our “leaders” to adopt the slogan “I don’t know everything, and neither do you” and start listening to each other respectfully. Then they can start solving our problems through consensus, rather than resorting to brute force.