What is the solution to America's immigration problem?

[Thunder]

So the solution is to make all illegal immigration legal - .

well. i said folks who have been here less than 5 years should be deported, and families less than 3 years.

so yes, some illegals will be made legal...but many will not.

 

[sesshin]

Deportation seems like a whole can of worms. Let alone being extremely expensive to employ and deploy all the people necessary to go around and round everyone up, and the fact that you would most likely not be able to round everyone up, how do you tell how long an illegal has been in the country? They are undocumented by default so there is usually no paperwork showing when they entered or how long they've had employment.

I just don't realistically see deportation as a viable alternative. It would seem much more realistic, not to mention economically feasible, to give an easier path to citizenship (which would bring in taxes/fees) while trying your damnedest to slow the flow of illegals entering the country illegally.

 

[Darth Rotor]

It's happening by few million illegal aliens at a time.

Nope, that isn't turning any of Mexico into any new states.

DR

 

[DDWW]

Give amnesty to all illegals already here for violating our immigration law.

Give all other American citizens (under the Equal Protection clause) one free amnesty for any one crime of their choice. Sort of like a get out of jail free card.

Simple!

DDWW

 

[IXP]

Create an internal underclass so we don't need to import one.

IXP

 

[pipelineaudio]

While I can respect the idea behind giving amnesty for those who can show they were here for a long time, I think the situation from our point of view is not quite as clear.

Many of the ones that have been here the longest are the most ruthless. They have stolen identities multiple times to stay ahead of the law. I think there should be a threshold of criminality, where amnesty should be out of the question.

 

[sesshin]

Amnesty isn't the solution, and isn't part of Obama's immigration reform plan as far as I know. Lowering the bar for citizenship is, as well as a guest worker program.

Problem is though, what happens if you make those changes and then STILL have millions of illegals who choose to remain illegal? What then? You are back to square one having to enforce immigration laws which are overwhelmingly broken by Hispanics and critics will cry "racial profiling".

 

[Thunder]

It would seem much more realistic, not to mention economically feasible, to give an easier path to citizenship

over my dead body.

American citizenship is a privelage. we do not give it away to people who break the law, and withhold it from folks who have waited years on line.

If we don't respect our own laws, nor should anyone else.

anyone who started out being in this country illegally, should have to wait TWICE as long, if not more, to get citizenship and the privelages that come with it.

blanket amnesty is NOT the solution..and neither is blanket deportation. the solution is somewhere in the middle.

 

[MikeMangum]

Its very simple:

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

Don't even need all of that list.

1) Cut off the jobs available - Strong penalties for hiring an illegal alien, stronger penalties for knowingly hiring an illegal alien.

2) Stop local municipalities from undercutting Federal law - charge politicians who implement sanctuary statutes with obstruction of justice, make it a federal misdemeanor for any government official to not report someone that they know is an illegal alien to immigration officials.

3) Have ICE actually deport illegal aliens that are arrested. I read a story the other day about a police department that had to repeatedly let illegal aliens go because ICE didn't even bother to show up.

We don't have to go after illegals or deport them; simply reducing the work available will cause many to leave on their own. They'll be the ones who ultimately decide to leave instead of being shipped off against their will. They will be able to plan for it, they'll be able to sell off any assets that are not portable, figure out possible living arrangements, try to line up a job etc. and leave on their own terms. The ones that I think should be deported are those that are tried and convicted of a crime. Many of them are simply released when their jail sentences are finished. If anyone should be deported, I would think it would be those who have been convicted of a crime.

We wouldn't need a fence if the incentives didn't pull so many across the border.

I also wouldn't mind increasing the number of legal immigrants. Currently, you basically have to have some skill that is in short supply to be eligible to immigrate. I think they should add another category entirely: people who are willing to forego any entitlements or social welfare programs for ten years. If they subsequently have a child that requires social welfare benefits, that would be implicit admission that they cannot provide for the needs of that child, fitting the definition of "unfit parent".

There are alot of people who are willing to come to this country and work their asses off for a better life. It would be nice to have an immigration policy that allowed that to happen in an aboveboard way while weeding out those who want to come and be parasites on a wealthier host society.

 

[sesshin]

blanket amnesty is NOT the solution..and neither is blanket deportation. the solution is somewhere in the middle.

To a certain extent I agree, and so do a lot of other Americans. But also quite a few hold the exact opposite stance as well, which is one reason why legislation is going to be so hard to craft. Finding a middle ground might be easier said than done.

 

[WildCat]

Yes. While there are jobs that illegals compete with citizens for, there are a TON of jobs which Americans flat out refuse to do even at minimum wage. No one is lining up to harvest the grapes locally. I'm sure the lettuce growers don't have unemployed Americans knocking down their doors to do that back breaking labor.

Industries that need remarkably low cost labor have two choices; illegals or robots.

Or they could pay a wage high enough to attract workers. It's how the market is supposed to work.

It's remniscent of the argument from 150 years ago, that we can't grow cotton without slave labor. The argument was BS then, and it's BS now.

 

[MikeMangum]

Or they could pay a wage high enough to attract workers. It's how the market is supposed to work.

It's remniscent of the argument from 150 years ago, that we can't grow cotton without slave labor. The argument was BS then, and it's BS now.

You are missing something extremely important. Those people were correct 150 years ago. They could not grow cotton without slave labor...and maintain their palatial mansions.

I know...world's smallest violin and all that.

 

[Random]

...The ones that I think should be deported are those that are tried and convicted of a crime. Many of them are simply released when their jail sentences are finished. If anyone should be deported, I would think it would be those who have been convicted of a crime.

We did that for a while, but we ran into a problem where the criminals home country would refuse to accept him back. Can't really blame them, a guy who gets arrested for knocking over a liquor store is probably not someone you want in your country. We ended up with convicted criminals sitting in prison long after they had served their sentences with literally nowhere else to go.

 

[Thunder]

To a certain extent I agree, and so do a lot of other Americans. But also quite a few hold the exact opposite stance as well, which is one reason why legislation is going to be so hard to craft. Finding a middle ground might be easier said than done.

left-wing democrats don't wanna see anyone deported or penalized.

right-wing republicans don't wanna see anyone NOT deported.

is there a sizeable middle ground? Im not sure.

 

[MikeMangum]

We did that for a while, but we ran into a problem where the criminals home country would refuse to accept him back. Can't really blame them, a guy who gets arrested for knocking over a liquor store is probably not someone you want in your country. We ended up with convicted criminals sitting in prison long after they had served their sentences with literally nowhere else to go.

That's what carrots and sticks are all about. We do have a State department, right?

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

what sticks can you apply? :|

 

[MikeMangum]

The removal of a carrot is functionally the same as using a stick. There are things like deciding that USAID money can go elsewhere. We can always seek to renegotiate existing treaties with nations that won't accept their own citizens for repatriation.

Or even send that nation a bill for the cost of housing their citizen.

 

[quixotecoyote]

Or just dump 'em on a beach somewhere

 

[uruk]

Nope, that isn't turning any of Mexico into any new states.

DR

I was being facetious of course...but the ratio of Americans of Mexican decent is growing by leaps and bounds in comparison to Americans of other cultural and racial decent.

Then again, there may be some radical actions taken concerning the growing situation in Mexico. I wonder what will happen if the violence happens to spill over?

 

[pipelineaudio]

left-wing democrats don't wanna see anyone deported or penalized.pay minimum wage

right-wing republicans don't wanna see anyone NOT deported. pay minimum wage

is there a sizeable middle ground? Im not sure.

Fixed it for you. The balls that democrats like Bill Richardson and Republicans like the Arizona House have shown directly spitting in the face of their largest contributors is an amazing, hopeful thing if you ask me