How I would Reform Immigration - The Summary Version

In case any of you haven't noticed, I am not an expert on all aspects of immigration law, however, here are the steps that I would take to resolve our current problems....

As I see it, there are multiple facets to this issue that must each be addressed in the appropriate order to ensure the sanctity of our borders while also minimizing the theoretical impact of kicking illegals out of the country. Of course, these points are the same as you hear on all the talk-shows, etc... but, I think that my suggestions may actually be effective:

1. Border Management
2. Labor Management
3. Legal Management
4. Rights Management

The first point, border management comes down to a simple issue... How much money are we willing to spend to keep people from illegally crossing our borders. This issue includes both or Northern and Southern land borders, as well as our Eastern and Western Ocean borders. This also needs to include the Gulf of Mexico and issuance of short-term Visas (i.e. Student, Tourist, Business, etc...).

When talking border management, the goal is not only to stop immigrants from illegally crossing, but also to stop the entry of terrorists, illicit drugs and possibly black-market goods.

The second point, labor management needs to address various requirements, both from the US Employers side and the decent treatment of immigrant workers.

The third point, legal management, needs to address several different areas such as the status of illegal immigrants in our country, employers who use (and sometimes abuse) these illegal immigrants, and the possible future options of those same immigrants (i.e. how to stay in the country, when the immigrant must leave, etc...)

The last point covers the rights that immigrants coming to this country should have when coming to this country LEGALLY.

My Plan - The Summarized Version:

1. Utilize a combination of technology and military force (national guard) to make the effort to enter our country illegally becomes more than the benefit of entering our country illegally.
2. Modify existing penalties for employers to include a mandatory fine of $50,000+ PER INCIDENT (i.e. 100 people working for a company would be 100 incidents). The goal being to make companies consider twice before they decide to use illegal labor.
3. Create a employment management division of immigrations, which would basically be a government managed, third-party contracted business of pre-screening applications, and matching up employees with companies who want unskilled labor. This division would be very similar to a current temp employment agency, with the exception that they would also be required to obtain full identification, background checks and health checks prior to matching an employee to an employer.
3a. Employer must provide a reasonable level of health insurance (level to be determined by experts) for all employees utilized.
3b. Employee will not be eligible for citizenship, or in change of Visa Status. Employee will not pay into social security, nor be eligible for social security. Income taxes will be paid as a "single - no dependents" employee via TIN or SSN at the Federal, State and Local taxes.
3c. Visa should be issued for six months, can be renewed ad infinitum as long as the Employer does not change. Employer may ask for employees by name from the screening agency.
3d. Employees with previous experience with an employer have first right for new seasons in areas that have seasonal employment.
3e. Employees cannot sponsor other people's visas, nor can their status be used to provide a guarantor on a visa.
4. Legal immigration MUST be streamlined. A person requesting the immigration of their own children/step-children or a spouse will have a temporary visa issue allowing that family member to enter the country to await the permanent resident visa. Whether the visa is a family visa, working visa, tourist or student visa, it should be much quicker to obtain.
5. Family status will have NO impact on deportation proceedings. A person illegally (or legally) in this country that has a child, which would make the child a US Citizen under current common interpretation of law, is still eligible for deportation. Said child CAN be taken with the illegal alien back to the country of their citizenship.

This is a summary of my views, and for the full version of how I would address the illegal immigrant problem in the US, you will have to wait just a couple more days....