Today at Senator Jeff Sessions senate confirmation hearing the issue of illegal immigration came up. He was asked what he thought should be done with the millions of “DREAMers” who were brought to this country illegally by their parents if President Obama’s executive action granting them permanent residency was overturned by the new administration. This got me thinking about our immigration issues, and what would truly be the most effective deterrent to put in place.
Obviously, nothing that has been done in my lifetime has changed the illegal immigration situation in the U.S. I remember in the 1980s when President Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act was put in place. (I realize I’m aging myself here.) I had a discussion with my dad at dinner one night, and I said, “mark my words, giving amnesty now to millions of illegal aliens will only embolden more to come here”. I knew then, as I still know now, that without certain provisions in place the decision to wipe the slate clean and allow people who have entered the country illegally to remain will only lead to more illegal entries. Of course, President Reagan intended to build a wall, but even then I didn’t believe that would ever be done, and it hasn’t. Here we are 30 years later dealing with the same issue, and granting “permanent residence” to millions of people who came here illegally.
From my point of view, the problem with the DREAM Act is there doesn’t seem to be any finality to it. Meaning that if you are here now this will apply to you, but if you came to this country the day after this was put into affect it does not apply to you. Because there is no restriction on future child immigrants coming here illegally this effectively invites more parents with children under the age of 16 to either bring the childeren here themselves, or send them unaccompanied to the U.S. to act as anchors for the remainder of the family to enter the country in the future. Once the DREAMer is granted citizenship, which is obviously President Obama and the Left in generals purpose, that child’s family will then be able to enter the U.S. as well. So, here are my suggestions to finally end the cycle of illegal immigration our country has been weighed down with for decades.
First, the DREAM Act needs to be overturned. Then a similar provision could be put in place for the children who were here before a certain date. The provision would not apply to their parents who broke the law. Their parents could be allowed to stay if they were willing to do several things including paying a fine, learning English, paying any taxes on income they’ve earned while living in the U.S., and signing a legal document that 80% of the money they make going forward will be used inside the U.S. instead of being sent back to their home country. If you want to come here and be a part of America we will welcome you with open arms, but if you have no intention of participating in America’s culture and prosperity we can no longer afford to allow you to stay.
Second, we have to build a border wall/fence/mote. We have to make sure that we have ample border patrol agents monitoring the border, and anyone caught entering the U.S. illegally should be sent directly back to their country of origin at that country’s expense. It’s almost impossible to find and deport someone who entered illegally once they’ve travelled into the country several miles, let alone several hundred miles. As mentioned above, President Reagan originally intended to build a border wall as a part of the Amnesty bill he signed in 1986. I truly hope that President-elect Trump will build the wall he’s been promising to build, and finally make good on a promise made 3 decades ago.
Third, the law granting any child born inside the U.S. citizenship regardless of their parent’s legal status needs to be changed. If a parent is in the U.S. either illegally or on a tourist visa their child should be denied U.S. citizenship and all the entitlements it comes with. Many people from Mexico and South America come to the U.S. and have children for the sole purpose that as soon as that baby is born a U.S. citizen the family knows they are instantly going to be allowed to stay in the U.S. And that child will benefit from U.S. public education, U.S. food stamp programs, U.S. medical benefits, etc., all paid for by U.S. tax payers, even though their parents may not (in many cases) be paying any income tax at all. There is also widespread abuse of this law by people coming from Asian countries, especially China. There are houses in California and other states that are set up as maternity houses for pregnant women to come to the U.S. to give birth to a baby who will immediately be grated U.S. citizenship. This is called “birth tourism”, and is well documented. As soon as the mother receives the U.S. birth certificate they get on a plane and go back to their country. The reason they do this is mainly because when the child turns 21 years old they can sponser their other family members allowing them all to emigrate to the U.S. At this point, 10% of children born in the U.S. are born to parents who are not U.S. citizens.
If these three things were done we could effectively stop illegal immigration. I am all for LEGAL immigration, but we can not afford culturally or financially to allow illegal immigration to continue unabated.
Jane Republican 