What is the solution to America's immigration problem?

[Thunder]

Its very simple:

1. Make it a felony punishable by 5 years in prison, to knowningly hire an illegal alien.

2. Make it a felony punishable by 1 year in prison, to not check the citizenship status of someone you hire.

3. Require ALL employers, even folks who hire babysitters, nannys, housekeepers, etc etc...to check the immigration/citizenship status of people they hire.

4. Set up a national employement eligibility free database with website, with social-security numbers, address and current photographs, of all Americans and legal residents who can work in the USA.

5. Build a triple layer chainlinked fence across the US-Mexico border.

6. Hire 10,000 more border patrol officers.

7. Streamline the process by which if State law enforcement officers discover that someone in custody for a criminal offence is an illegal alien, can be transfered to federal immigration officers.

8. Provide a $10,000 reward to anyone who successfully reports a business who knowningly hires illegal aliens, and $1,000 to anyone who successfully reports an individual who knowingly hires illegals.

Either we are ALL in this TOGETHER...or we all fail together.

 

[KingMerv00]

#5 isn't doing much for me.

 

[WildCat]

#3 - you'll have to find a stick for the federal government big enough to punish states and municipalities that openly encourage illegal aliens and actually have laws against checking the immigration status of employees.

#4 - we already have E-Verify.

 

[commandlinegamer]

42.

 

[marplots]

I think the real problem with immigration is getting people to agree on what the problem is and what a solution consists of. Is it that only zero illegal immigration will do? Is it something about division of resources and who should get a shot at the US labor market? Is it about verification of criminal/terrorist intent?

You could stop all illegal immigration by fiat by just making all immigration legal. So it isn't just the fact that it is a misdemeanor that has people up in arms. What is the underlying problem or problems you want to solve? That's the place to look for answers. And that's exactly why it is a hard problem overall.

 

[Thunder]

oh...I should have also added a temporary worker program. folks get registered, have a very strong ID, come and work in the USA for a few years, and then go back home. this can of course be renewed and they come back again.

but again, the real key..is a American employement ID. or if not one national ID, than we need a Federal law requiring possession of a State picture ID to get a job in the USA. and all driver's licenses have to be readily available on a website database for all Americans to look up.

i should be able to click on a website, type in a State ID number, and instantly get a picture and an address.....all for free.

 

[WildCat]

all driver's licenses have to be readily available on a website database for all Americans to look up.

Wow, a stalker's gold mine!

You can't possibly think that's a good idea?

 

[Thunder]

Wow, a stalker's gold mine!

You can't possibly think that's a good idea?

ok fine. drop the address.

but we should be able to look up someone's employment status by a State ID number, via national employment eligibility website/database.

do you have a problem with that? and if so, what is YOUR solution?

or do you simply wanna bash other people's ideas and come up with none of your own.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

You might want to restrict that database to just authorized people, but then again, define authorized...

There are a reason that silver bullets aren't a King's cure for the evils.

 

[Thunder]

You might want to restrict that database to just authorized people, but then again, define authorized...

the database could only have two pieces of information.

1. your State Driver's or non-Drivers license ID number.

2. a recent photograph, which needs renewal every 5 years.

such info could not used to stalk people, steal IDs, get credit cards, etc etc.

it would simply be used to verify that someone has the right to work in the USA.

who would have a problem with this...other than illegal aliens and their defenders?

 

[MattusMaximus]

#5 isn't doing much for me.

It'll do wonders for the metal-snips industry, though

ETA: Thunder forgot one important thing... raise taxes to pay for it all. Which is one reason it won't happen; people want the government to give them things, but they don't want to pay for it. Ironically, many of the same politicians who are going off on immigration whole-hog are the same people who are rabidly anti-tax. Talk about an unwinnable situation - it's a stance not meant to actually solve any problems, merely perpetuate the status quo as a way of having a good talking point for the masses.

 

[Thunder]

we dont need to raise taxes to pay for the web site.

we don't need to raise taxes to offer rewards for reporting illegal hirings.

we don't need to raise taxes to imprison folks who hire illegals.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Here's a constructive idea...

Get the U.S. government to drop the frakkin' War on Drugs^TM, a war which is serving to destabilize massive portions of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. A war which is leading to escalating violence on both sides of the border.

That would be a good thing, imo. Not a cure-all, but a step in the right direction which would help to begin alleviating many problems. Legalizing at least some drugs would pretty much stop the black-market drug trade in its tracks, plus it would give Mexico and U.S. government some much needed revenue as they tax the drugs.

Too bad the moral crusaders in D.C. won't go for it.

 

[MattusMaximus]

we dont need to raise taxes to pay for the web site.

we don't need to raise taxes to offer rewards for reporting illegal hirings.

we don't need to raise taxes to imprison folks who hire illegals.

Yeah, massive government databases, as well as the people and hardware that support them, are free

Besides that, your points would 5, 6, and 8 involve money - lots of it. It's not going to sprout up out of the ground for you.

You are giving the appearance of the type of person I previously mentioned: you want something for nothing. Get used to disappointment.

 

[Thunder]

i have no problem cutting our massively bloated defense budget, to pay for all of this.

 

[MattusMaximus]

i have no problem cutting our massively bloated defense budget, to pay for all of this.

Ironically, part of that defense budget is spent on the Drug Prohibition, from what I understand.

So, in that sense, legalizing drugs (at least some of them) would be a twofer.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Why are you conflating immigration and illegal immigration?

Do you conflate sex and rape?

 

[Travis]

Blanket amnesty for those already here. They are already here, they are already a part of the social fabric, they should be documented and legalized.

Streamline the naturalization process.

Moats of acid.

 

[tyr_13]

Conquer the earth and make every human a USE citizen. Problem solved. Eat some pizza.

 

[Tricky]

This seems obvious to me: Work with Mexico to establish a worker program where Mexico provides them their citizenship benefits, such as reimbursing a portion of school, health care, Social Security etc. and the US provides them jobs at reduced pay rates.