Bipartisan Solutions to Immigration

A friend of mine and I organized a bipartisan group, 5 liberal and 5 conservatives, to discuss important issues and, more importantly, come up with read solutions on which we all could agree. Given today's crisis on our southern border I felt that it would be appropriate to share the highlights of our discussion and the solutions on which we all agreed. Enjoy.

Background:

We have a 2,000-mile border with Mexico, and about 700 miles of that distance is already protected by some kind of fence or wall. 65 countries around the world use fences or walls to protect their borders and there is significant evidence that these fences/walls are effective at reducing illegal entries. Also, the experts (border patrol agents) have been surveyed and they have asked for 200 to 300 miles of additional walls as part of their three-pronged plan to stem illegal immigration.

Pew research suggests that we have about 11 million illegal aliens in our country today. A Yale study estimated that number is somewhere between 16 million and 29 million. The number is irrelevant. Whether that number is 11 million or 29 million, there is no way we can round up that many people and return them to their countries of origin. It is logistically impossible and it would be a moral and economic catastrophe for our country. Most of these people are hard-working, law abiding people whom we want and need in this country, but illegal immigrants simply do not assimilate into our society as well as legal immigrants for a variety of reasons.

The United States will always be a magnet for people in Mexico and Central America. They crave the freedom, safety and prosperity that our country offers, and are willing to make the treacherous, life threatening trip across Mexico to get here. Our laws, like “catch and release” and our sanctuary cities only add power to that magnetism. While the flow of illegal immigration will rise and fall based on the economies of the countries on both sides of our border, DHS estimates that we will apprehend a million illegal immigrants in 2019. You can call this an emergency, a crisis or just a problem, but to suggest it is not an issue is disingenuous.

There are also some bad people who are crossing our southern border. Some are trafficking in drugs and some are human traffickers and some are just violent gang members like MS-13. While the United States is a very generous and welcoming country, we do not have an unlimited capacity to accommodate all the refugees and immigrants that would like to come here. Every new person puts pressure on our healthcare, academic and legal systems, so we need to do a better job of identifying any criminal element trying to enter.

Finally, our legal immigration system seems to be, at best, complicated and, at worst, broken. While we allow about a million immigrants a year into our country through our legal system, our natural population growth, or lack thereof, would suggest that we will need even more immigrants in the future to sustain our economic growth. Wait times will need to be shortened and the federal government will have to manage the number and type of immigrants allowed in more efficiently.

Solutions:

1. Secure the border:
a. Install additional walls/fencing consistent with the request of the experts (the border guards) in strategic locations. Our understanding is that should result in an additional 200-300 miles of barriers which will bring the total walls/fencing on the border to just under 1,000 miles.
b. The experts have also suggested more boots on the ground, or border agents to patrol the border. It is difficult to find data on what kind of increase the experts are suggesting, but we would recommend an increase in personnel consistent with their recommendations.
c. Virtually everyone is recommending an increase in technology to patrol the border. Cameras, sensors and drones can be very effective at identifying breaches and directing border patrol agents to areas where support is needed.
2. Once the border is secure, we can look to resolve the issue of the people who are already here illegally. That total number is comprised of two smaller groups:
a. There are about two million people in America who came with their parents when they were just minors. We know them as DACA kids now. Most of these “kids” know no other country than the US and are the most assimilated to the American culture. We recommend a path to citizenship for these individuals.
b. For the 11 to 29 million immigrants who came here as adults and knowingly broke our laws to do so, we recommend a path to legalization for two reasons. First, most of these people are law abiding, hard-working people who came here for a better life. Second, it would be logistically impractical if not impossible to return them to their countries of origin. Legalization would include every aspect of citizenship except for the right to vote. We might recommend a small fine for that privilege, but no attempt to collect back taxes as this would be difficult if not impossible to attain. The violent felons of this group should be returned to their countries of origin.
c. For both of these groups there should be a grace period for them to register and apply for these privileges. A year might be appropriate. After that grace period, anyone who has not registered for these programs would be eligible for deportation.
3. We would recommend the end of the “catch and release” policy. This would probably take legislation to accomplish, but the end of catch and release is highly popular amongst the American people.
4. We recommend a limitation to chain migration to members of the nuclear family only.
5. We recommend a strengthening of the E-Verify system to discourage employers from harboring cheap labor in violation of ours laws.
6. We would also recommend a streamlining of our legal immigration system so that citizenship could be achieved for qualified candidates within a year.

Benefits from these recommendations:

1. The improved border security would minimize illegal entries and increase the country’s ability to accommodate a higher number of legal immigrants and refugees.
2. The path to citizenship and legalization for our existing undocumented aliens would allow these new citizens and legal residents to participate fully in American life, including the privilege of paying taxes.
3. Bringing all of these people out of the shadows would improve the likelihood of assimilation into the American culture, values and system of governance.