A Moderate and Reasonable Plan for America's Illegal Immigration Problem

It seems that extremes abound when it comes to our illegal immigration dilemma. Some would have us attempt to deport every single illegal without exception, regardless of any and all other circumstances. Others would have us offer blanket amnesty to all, and pretend that illegals never committed a crime. There should be, and is, a more moderate and reasonable solution to this problem. The extremists on both sides need to be willing to compromise in order to resolve this crisis.

Although extremes do exist on both sides of the immigration debate, the right-wing position is certainly the most heartless. It seems that Christian right-wingers care more about their government laws than about their fellow human beings. They can be thankful that their God doesn't deal with them in the same manner that they would deal with illegals.

Christian conservatives freely admit that they have broken their God's divine laws, and that they depend upon His grace, mercy and compassion. So, why won't they extend some mercy and compassion to illegals who have broken our nation's laws, instead of mercilessly insisting that all of them be deported regardless of any and all circumstances? Do right-wingers think that the illegals' violation of manmade laws is more serious and requires more strict enforcement and punishment than their own violation of God's divine laws, which they freely admit to have transgressed? Have they forgotten the Bible's command for us to walk as Jesus walked? Are they just ignoring the golden rule established by Jesus for us to "to do unto others as we would have them do unto us"? Are they suggesting that illegals are not worthy of the same mercy and compassion that has been extended to themselves by their God?

I'm not saying that we should completely ignore our laws, and entirely disregard their violation. I'm not advocating anarchy. I've already stated that there is a moderate and reasonable compromise that would resolve this problem. However, the solution must extend compassion toward illegals, because they are our fellow human beings. And, I believe that there is a way to extend that compassion without totally ignoring our laws. There is a way to require accountability for the illegals' violation of our immigration laws, while still giving the opportunity for all illegals who are already in America to remain in our nation, if they desire to do so. Furthermore, we can accomplish both of these necessary objectives while concurrently requiring illegals to assume responsibility for the medical, educational and general social services costs created by their stay in America.

The illegal immigrant debate has two core issues. What do we do with the illegals who are already here? And, how do we stop additional illegals from entering? To waste our time arguing over which issue should be dealt with first, is fruitless. The truth is that both issues are extremely important to our nation's future security. The flood of new illegals entering America must be stopped immediately, and we need to know who is already here and where they are.

The solution for stopping the future flow of illegals is as simple as three words, enforce our border. Our 2000 mile border with Mexico can not be enforced by a couple thousand border patrol agents. A wall or fence might help, but walls can be scaled by illegals if there is not sufficient manpower to monitor and enforce them.

What we need is far greater numbers of border patrol agents, and we can certainly afford to hire them. By using just one dollar out of every $2500 allocated in our national budget, which is less than we're spending every week in Iraq, we could put 20,000 border patrol agents on our 2000 mile border with Mexico. That would be ten agents for every single mile. With that kind of manpower, combined with high-tech surveillance equipment, we could immediately halt the current invasion of illegals from Mexico.

The second issue of locating the illegals who are already here, could also be resolved quickly by implementing the old-fashioned method of using both "positive" and "negative" incentives. This dual motivation could be applied to both sides of the problem, the illegal immigrants and their employers.

Our government could issue a nationwide notice that would be repeatedly delivered via all forms of media over a 30 day period. This notice would inform illegals and their employers of a 90 day grace period that would begin on a specific date. All illegals would need to register during this 90 day period. And, all employers with questionable employees would need to verify their "status" during this time. To motivate them to do so, the following positive and negative incentives could be mandated for all illegals and their employers.

For the illegal immigrants, the notices of the upcoming 90 day grace period could also remind them that they have broken our nation's laws and will be pursued, arrested and imprisoned if they do not register. A mandated seven year prison sentence and $7000 fine for not registering, should be sufficient negative motivation to cause the vast majority of illegals to register, especially when combined with positive incentives. Although this fine and prison sentence may seem harsh to some, it is the necessary motivation to bring the illegals forward to register. And, when combined with the positive incentives set forth in the following paragraphs, it is almost certain that the vast majority of illegals would come forward to register. Thus, very few would actually be imprisoned.

Illegals who come forward and register could be given the added positive motivation of having two "good options" from which to choose. They could choose to return to Mexico and have their jail-time and fine pardoned, or they could choose to remain in America under a "criminal probationary guest worker status", which would have strictly enforced conditions.

What conditions? They would agree to accept seven years of criminal probation instead of the the seven year jail-time. However, any criminal violation committed during their probation would result in automatic deportation following their jail sentence. Thus, we would still be respecting and enforcing the laws of our nation for all who desire to live here, while still extending compassion to those who want to stay in America. Every single illegal would have the option to remain in our country by simply acknowledging that they had broken our immigration laws, and by agreeing to accept probationary status. This should be a reasonable compromise that extends compassion and the American dream to every illegal, while still enforcing our laws.

All illegals would also agree to take classes to learn our English language during their first two years of probation. Those who did not do so would have violated their probation and be deported. If illegals want to live in America and receive its benefits and privileges, they should be willing to exert the necessary effort to learn our language. However, we should be willing to allow them the time, and offer them the classes to do so.

Illegals would also have to agree to pay their $7000 fine by having their wages garnished $100 per month until their fine was paid in full. This would be a compassionate way of requiring the payment of their fine, by allowing them to pay it over seventy months. Once again, we would be respecting our laws while concurrently extending mercy to the illegals. They would also have to agree to pay a guest worker fee of $100 per month, which would also be garnished from their wages. Therefore, during their seven year probation, each illegal would be paying $15,400, over and above normal taxes, to help cover the extra medical, educational and general social services costs that their presence creates for our nation. If eleven million illegals opted for the "criminal probationary guest worker status", they would pay over 169 billion dollars via fines and guest worker fees during their seven year probation. These funds could be used to cover the extra expenses generated by illegals. Therefore, right-wingers could stop their persistent harangue about the illegals' drain on our economy.

All illegals who complied with the required conditions during their seven-year probation, could be allowed to apply for American citizenship. After seven years of exemplary conduct and full compliance with all of their initial probationary requirements, why shouldn't they be allowed to apply? They would have paid their dues and have proven their character. And, the American dream should be made available to them.

The other half of the illegal immigration problem is the employers who hire them. They also need positive and negative incentives to motivate them to pressure all illegals in their employment to register.

Once again, the repeated notices concerning the upcoming grace period, could remind employers that they are also in violation of our laws by employing illegals. These notices could inform them that, after the 90 day grace period expires, they will be fined $15,000 for each illegal still employed by them who did not register during the 90 days. This should be a sufficient negative incentive for our money-motivated, capitalistic employers to pressure their illegals to register.

As a positive motivation for employers, their fine could be reduced to $7500 for each illegal employee who registers during the grace period, which could be paid $100 per month over seventy-five months. And, they could be allowed to continue employing their registered illegals by paying an "employer's guest worker fee" of $100 per month for each illegal. That is the equivalent of only about sixty cents an hour. However, if eleven million illegals registered, this would bring in more than 92 billion dollars during the illegals' seven year probation. And, the employers' $7500 fines would equal nearly 83 billion. That's a total of 175 billion dollars from the illegals' employers. The grand total, between the illegals and their employers, would be 344 billion dollars in fines and guest worker fees! That's $31,273 for each illegal, which should go a long way toward covering the expenses created by illegal immigrants.

This is a moderate and reasonable plan that does not heartlessly deport every illegal regardless of circumstances, does not ignore the breaking of our laws, does not disregard the real financial costs that illegals create for our nation, does not give employers of illegals a "free pass" while the illegals themselves are held accountable; moreover, this plan does provide the needed positive and negative incentives to motivate illegals to register, does also provide positive and negative motivation for employers of illegals to get them registered, does require illegals to learn our language, does require illegals to completely refrain from crime, does allow every illegal the option to stay in America and be able to apply for citizenship after seven years, and does put 20,000 border patrol agents on our 2000 mile border with Mexico to stop the future flood of illegal immigrants.

I am not "patenting" this plan or requesting any special credit for it. I would be more than happy for any senator or congressman to adopt it as their own, and even put their own name on it as an immigration bill. What is important is that we deal with this illegal immigration problem in an expedient and reasonable manner that also provides the needed border security for our nation.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEbk-kk_Kbg