They came here to work. Their work is essential, a fact that the deporters keep ignoring. To “sweep” now after all these years is barbaric. The “hate’em” crowd, having worn out the old bogeymen of gays,Godless, and free-choice advocates have found a new target: illegals!
So, recognizing that the United States economy would literally grind to a halt without the 11 or so million illegals now in the country, let us do something to solve the problem and let the hate’em crowd find some other cause of the day. Keep in mind that whether you admit it or not, most, (indeed all but a tiny fraction) of illegals are harder-working, more honest, more family-oriented, more true to their faith, and all-around better citizens than most natural-born white Americans. Face it!
Piecemeal, politically-motivated legislation will not solve the immigration problem to anyone’s satisfaction. What is needed is...
RADICAL ACTION!
First, get serious about border control: with massive deployment of personnel, equipment and, where necessary, physical barriers to stop illegal entry which adds to the problem which we haven't yet figured out how to solve. Above all, border control should be conducted humanely. Recognizing in all cases that these are human beings, good people, trying to find a better life for themselves and their children, or a least to help out the family back in their home country. That cannot in any way be considered a wrongful motivation. Also, it should not be that hard to distinguish between a Christian Hispanic and a Muslim Arab.
At the border, install more gates and beef up personnel numbers to reduce the long lines of legitimate immigrants waiting to cross.
Second, get a good handle on who is here now and what they want to do: Do they want to stay and become citizens, work for a while then go back home permanently, or come and go as migrant workers filling in where needed? To accomplish this, every non-citizen over the age of 12 in the country must be recorded, census- style, photographed and fingerprinted. Complete information should be obtained including place and date of birth, parent's names, (for reference and verification where appropriate) name of their employer (if employed) and place of employment, current mailing address and phone and cellphone number, and if such has been issued, a Social Security number. This information when gathered and tabulated will give us the length, breadth, and character of the situation. The massive amount of clerical work involved in establishing this database will be invaluable when it comes to actually doing something about the “problem.”
The taking of this census and registering the identity of the illegal population must, above all else, be carried out in a non-threatening manner giving full assurance that no one will be deported or incarcerated on the basis of the information being gathered, with the obvious exception of persons wanted for criminal reasons.
Third, Settle and legalize the status of all immigrants, without amnesty, or forgiveness of any legal transgressions they may have committed. This can be accomplished by putting all undocumented immigrants on probation. This probation should last for enough time to allow them to apply for some form of legal status. Legal status could take several forms such as: A, “ migrant worker” “which would allow travel into and out of the U.S. and among the various states when seasonal labor is required: B, “ temporary resident”, applicable to students and short-term workers who will leave at some unspecified future date; C,” future citizen” including all who apply or who already have applied for permanent citizenship and who must fulfil the requirements for such within a specified time frame, perhaps as much as five years.
With the status of illegals established, educational resources must be committed to assist citizenship applicants in fulfilling their requirements. VISTA volunteers should be recruited to teach at night schools throughout the country. Proficiency in the English language should be a requirement of citizenship. This will help curb the slide toward Balkanization that is resulting from our “ multilingual” society.
When we have assimilated these valuable, productive, and loyal citizens into the population of the United States, it will be a far better country!
