I have been watching stories on illegal immigration for years now. I have always been a strong proponent of legal (limited) immigration and also a strong proponent of immigration enforcement. I support:
- The ICE raids on companies suspected of employing illegal's
- E-verify (not only on employment but social benefits as well)
- Hefty fines on companies that hire illegal aliens
- Border enforcement (all borders N, S, E,W)
- Visa enforcement (overstaying visa's not permitted)
- Limiting work visa's
The ICE raids have already been shown (http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2009-09-13-plants_N.htm )to perform a service in both jobs and wages to citizens of this country, and while it can be argued that this service to citizens causes hardships on the illegal aliens displaced by the action. Ok, understood, now you understand, while the human compassion in me agrees that we don't want to hurt these people, these people are criminals under our law. No different than a burglar breaking into your house, would you allow him to stay once he got inside?
The E-verify component of our system, which has been shown to be a huge success (http://www.dhs.gov/journal/leadership/labels/E-Verify.html) can and should be used in every social program we as tax payers support. It can not only be used to verify employment eligibility, it can be used to verify eligibility for things like welfare, social security, education benefits, tuition assistance etc.. This doesn't mean that I want to slow down the process of getting assistance when needed but this granting of assistance because…well, 'I've broken in so now you need to help me' attitude has to stop.
A hefty fine on companies that hire illegal workers should be leveled the first time they are caught, we can't set a dollar amount because of differences in company sizes however a percentage fine would be appropriate. For instance if Microsoft was found to have knowingly hired illegal workers and the fine were a 10 percent of profit fine then the fine would be enormous, on the other hand if Joe's gas station on the corner of Wall Street and Main Street were fined it might be quite small…but still 10 percent. I would go further than that however, it a company were found to have knowingly hired illegal workers a second time then I would revoke their license to do business in the country.
Border enforcement is a no brainer. Terrorists come into this country across our borders, we need to determine ways to best control the ingress and egress of people into the country. We will never be able to stop all illegal border crossings but when people are found that have crossed the borders illegally they need to be treated like the criminals they are. Investigate why they crossed the border, determine if it's a threat to our country and jail or deport them.
The lack of visa enforcement is the main reason the terrorists were able to pull the attacks off on the world trade centers. People who overstay their visas, need to be actively pursued and deported. I know there are legitimate reasons, hospitalization, coma etc. but these can be verified and the visa extended.
Limiting the numbers of work visas, would cut down on the number of potential people we would have to search for in case of overstaying and would limit the number of American jobs given to foreign nationals. In these bad economic times we need to support our country first and by doing so it makes us more able to help the developing countries of the world.
If we are to help third world countries out of poverty then we have to help them in THEIR country, we have to invest in THEIR country, we have to teach in THEIR country, we have to develop in THEIR country…notice the theme here…THEIR country, not OUR country.
prp
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