By A. S. Nika
There is no more controversial topic in U.S that the status of Illegal immigrants. Since Regan’s amnesty over 20 years ago the number has doubled if not tripled. Hence, amnesty is not a solution rather an encouragement for more illegal immigrants to cross US borders. Nevertheless, ignoring the problem is not an answer, rather a bigger issue for the next generation. Building a wall would not solve the problem either, as it would resemble the Berlin wall and we all know the outcome. At this point we have to understand the difficulty of addressing this matter and blaming wouldn’t solve anything.
There are three major points of view to take into the consideration or to make it clearer there are three major groups that this issue concerns.
1. Government. (The administration, Senate, Congress)
2. Pro legalization of illegal immigrants (their relatives and most Hispanics)
3. Against legalization of illegal immigrants (American citizens concerned with border and Job security)
*Government could be considered as the negotiator.
Number one the Government.
In order for a particular administration to take a decision, a vote analysis takes place; how much this decision would alter the polls?
They have to deal with both groups, the pros and the against of the legalization. If they satisfy one group they automatically loose the other part and probably the elections.
Is there a way that a particular decision would solve the problem and satisfy both groups? Before I present the solution let’s see what both groups have to say about the issue.
Number two the Pros.
If all illegal immigrants had a better choice they would take it. Bare in mind that Illegal status is something that no one wishes to have. It demoralizes you over time, physically, morally and spiritually.
Living in fear for years could develop heart attacks. Morally it could push you to join gangs for protection, fake identification, stealing e.t.c. Spiritually, over time one looses faith in GOD.
The road toward illegal immigration starts back at their home country where criminals and opportunists take advantage of their vulnerability. Statistics show that thousands die to reach the American soil. And those who make it have to undergo the hardship of an underpaid job.
There had never been in human history more elongated illegal immigration that the current one in US soil. There are illegal immigrants in US that have waited for over 20 years for papers. Some of them haven’t seen their relatives back in native country for years. Imagine that a relative is dying and not to be able to go to his or her funeral?!
One has to understand that they’re here to stay and there is no way that the immigration can deport them all. It can lead, for certain, to a civil war.
Number three the against.
Having said the above, there are many negative sides to Illegal immigration. Lack of security and stability in US soil for starters. Today American lives are at stake, more than ever. We understand that the majority of the illegal immigrants are honest people who come to America for a better life for them and their children. If they could get that back in their country they would never take this difficult journey, you got my word for it.
Nevertheless, there is a small percentage that takes advantage of this opportunity; drug smugglers and especially terrorists. It doesn’t take a lot for 9/11 to happen again. To be honest, I am surprised it hasn’t happened. An “Illegal” terrorist crosses the borders and blows up a major mall. Thousands of innocent American people would die. Of course the government would retaliate but would that be the real solution? Can those parents get back their children? Can the 9/11 relatives get back their husbands and brothers?
Fighting terrorism is like fighting a bad flu. If you get the flu-shot you pay 20-50 dollars. A good investment, I think. But if you take the chance and try to ride it out you may get hit and if you don’t take into the consideration all the suffering (for weeks) at least regard all the wages lost at work, at least couple of hundreds.
Is not just the security issue but also the economical impact of the illegal immigrants. The pros would argue that Illegal immigrants do take jobs that American’s don’t want, thus helping the American economy. That’s not entirely true.
Let me illustrate a very good example; Restaurants are majorly employed by illegal immigrants. So the best example is to take the New York restaurants, especially Greek Diners.
There are at least 200-500 (unconfirmed) dinners just in Manhattan and almost all of them have employed Illegal immigrants working as dishwashers up to management (believe it or not!) Back in a day (50’s-80’s) Greeks were working mostly as dishwashers. Bare in mind that most of them came legally to this country or at least became legal in a short period of time. With time they became cooks and chefs getting paid up to $1,000 a week plus benefits.
As the new wave of immigrants (this time mostly Illegal’s) during 90’s till present entered US, the dishwashing and cooking jobs were overtaken as Greeks became the owners of these diners. Of course the pay dropped dramatically to around $400-$600 weekly as the competition was also fierce between the illegal themselves. Is not just the pay that dropped but the working conditions as well. Most of the employers, taking advantage of the situation, increased the amount of work and hours while equivalently the wages dropped and benefits don’t even exist. Not to mention lack of respect for human beings.
As you can see it’s the illegal immigrants (unwillingly, god forbid) that have transformed the job environment to the current situation. Would an American take that job? Of course not, because the illegal immigrant destroyed what the Americans (through their unions and legislations) build for decades. Would the American take the job if the conditions were as before the Illegal immigrants arrived? H**** yeah (pardon my French).
As I previously mentioned the benefits don’t exist which consequently transfers the unpaid medical bill to tax payers. How can that happen? Well, an illegal immigrant needs medical coverage, don’t they? As the law requires, every hospital has to, regardless of their medical or immigration status, provide medical assistance. As most of Illegal immigrants provide fake identification the bill is passed to the government officials and in turn to tax payer’s pocket. I think I don’t have to provide either facts or statistics here. One can see for themselves once enter the emergency rooms everywhere in America.
As you can see the illegal immigration is an urgent issue. I didn’t even discuss the tax money lost due the fact that most illegal immigrants don’t even file them.
It is now time for a solution, actually THE ONLY solution to the problem of Illegal immigration in US. A solution that all parts and groups would benefit. A solution that would help America, first of all, to obtain its security and also economical stability so badly needed these days.
One group wants Illegal immigrants to leave and enter this country legally, period. The other group wants legalization, no mater how it is achieved but just legalization, also period. The government wants to satisfy both groups but also wants to make sure that illegal immigration becomes a thing of the past. Let’s be realistic, any form of legalization for Illegal immigrants is a form of Amnesty.
Here I propose the following solution which would satisfy everyone and the most importantly would help US benefit tremendous economical growth and safety.
SOLUTION:
There is going to be three steps to this solution.
1) Registering the Illegal Immigrants
a) Two weeks of registering (Personal information + photo and fingerprints)
2) Leaving the country on their will. (With the guarantee of returning.)
3) Returning with working visa. (Three years probations.)
STEP 1
The immigration MUST stop chasing and deporting illegal immigrants for two weeks. The first step would require the help of the US army. We have to understand that once the word is out there that the US is going to legalize the illegal immigrants a huge wave of new illegal immigrants will hit America.
The solution; close the borders for two weeks. No entering of new immigrants from Mexico, not even with visa for two weeks. The borders would be declared state of emergency and a huge number of solders would patrol the entire borderline, only for two weeks as it would be very expensive.
U.S is going to work closely with the Canadian officials into identifying anyone who enters the borders within this time and tries to register. Most illegal immigrants in Canada have fingerprint data available.
Of course the tourists from other country as well as controlled import-export would be allowed. Nonetheless every foreign person entering the U.S (within this period) would be fingerprinted at the entrance (just the thumb CA-DMV style) and be warned that if they apply for the illegal immigrant ID they could get persecuted.
Within this time (two weeks) every illegal immigrant would, on their own will, register him/herself with a newly formed department of immigration assigned only for one purpose; register every illegal immigrant that shows up without asking for any identification whatsoever. Just fingerprint them, photograph them and take the names that they provide as granted. Be ware that there is no danger here. Before every illegal immigrant fills up a form he would be warned not to lie for their names because within a year he would be required to prove his identity otherwise he/she would loose the path to his/her legalization.
So there is no time consuming as no proof of identity would be required at this point. Fingerprints, Photographs and personal info including a valid US address for communication. That’s it, end of story. Five minutes max.
The fee (the only fee for this step) for the ID; $100-$500 (no more than that)
Every illegal immigrant would be provided with an ID with his address. The ID would be available at the spot and it would be valid for work ONLY (for one year). No bank or driving privileges what so ever as the identity of that person is not yet verified. A particular number would be assigned ONLY for TAX purposes (instead of S.S)
I am sure that within two weeks every illegal immigrants would be able to register and the immigration would have now a better knowledge of how many illegal immigrants are there in US soil and where are they located. It can also capture criminals as well.
STEP 2
Once the first step is completed (within two weeks) the border patrolling is returned to normal. Every illegal immigrant is required within two months to find work and start paying taxes immediately. Otherwise it would result in him/her loosing the privilege for the legalization.
A free toll number would be provided where everyone could call and report employers that don’t want to pay taxes for their employs. The calls would be anonymous and different languages would also be available. The employers that brake the law would severely punished by high fines and more than once offenders could even loose their license of operation.
STEP 3
As the second step is completed and 99% of the illegals are now processed and paying their taxes the third and final step would be concluded.
At this point the immigration would and should provide guarantee of returning to every illegal immigrant. Within a year every illegal immigrant can leave USA, go back to their country and apply at the US embassy for the working visa. Nevertheless, I repeat, only and every illegal immigrant that has been registered within the mentioned two weeks could get the working visa. At this point, before they leave, everyone would be given the last chance to go and give the right information in case they lied the first time. No questions asked, no penalties.
Of course there is going to be some hesitation at first but once few curious illegal immigrants take chances everyone will follow. At this point the Immigration will require that all leaving illegal immigrants should use only a major American Airline where they are going to be checked and make sure they got a stamped form. This is going to be proof that the person has left the country and the immigration would know who has left or remained in the country. Without a stamped form none can get their visa back home! Imagine 20 million people using the airline industry to travel back home, the economical impact for the American transportation.
As soon as they arrive in their country a guaranteed visa waits for them at the American Embassy or Consulate. However, first they have to obtain a new, valid and highly secured passport, their country ID and verify their identification with their country foreign ministry. No exceptions! A fee would be charged again at the Embassy to cover the cost.
Once the verification process has ended each and everyone can get the visa and travel now as working immigrants to U.S. The visa would be available for one year and now the immigrants could have the privilege of opening bank accounts and getting their driver’s license. At the end of the year from the moment that all illegal immigrants obtained the ID in U.S (before they left) should have gone back home. All ID’s are going to be invalid and everyone that remained in America could be prosecuted as Illegal immigrant. Nevertheless, their number would be less then 1%. The law would be enforced to the extent that none could hire Illegal immigrants and thus there is no reason for new illegal immigrants to come to this country. At this point no organization can defend the new illegal immigrants as they would have previously signed and agreed with the immigration for the rules that should be followed.
At the end of each year, for three years every immigrant would get a new visa (without traveling) given that they have paid taxes and have a clean criminal record (No major violations). At the end of each year a thousand dollars would be charged for each one over 21 up to 65 years old. For those under 18 and over 65 a reduced fare would be charged. Nevertheless, those over 65 would be required that someone could provide for them (medically and financially) otherwise they will loose the privilege of the next year visa and could be shipped back home.
These rules would apply up to the first three years (probation years). At the end of this period everyone would have the last interview where they should provide their tax forms and criminal history for the last three years. Once admitted they can get their green card for two years. At the end of two or three years they can apply for the citizenship. END OF STORY!
There are an estimated 20 million illegal immigrants in US at the moment. If you multiply that by $100 (the fee for the first ID) the US can get 2 billion dollars at first. If you multiply 20 million with 3 thousands dollars ($1,000-the fee for each year) the sum could be 60 billion. If you multiply 20 million with another (average) $200 (the fee back home at the embassy) you get 4 billion dollars.
2 + 60 + 4= 66 billion dollars just from the fee’s. The American airline industry could get like 2*10=20 billions. Also the taxes paid every year could surpass 20 billions and not to mention here the amount of money send back home (there is no reason for them to keep the money here as long as they’re illegal) by illegal immigrants which could easily surpass 200 billions. And no one should disagree for the fees; they broke the law so they should pay for it.
The administration that could do this would, for sure, get another term in polls and also the votes of at least 20 million new immigrants for many years to come.
There is also one more issue; if the borders are going to remain the same as currently, aren’t there gone be few illegal who are going to take the risk of trying to cross the borders even if the law is going to get reinforced?
The solution; they have to travel to their destination. There are four ways that they can do that.
1) Air
2) Bus
3) Train
4) Car
If the administration decides to deploy a new technology where every ID can electronically (be scanned) show the status of the person than there is no way that they can use Airplane, bus or Train as the law would require a valid ID for every ticket. Every ticket booth would have a scanning machine where the ID would be scanned and the ticket could be purchased (the id could automatically inform the immigration). This technology could be deployed every where so it can make this country more safe and it could catch almost every criminal in this country. It can also make the credit card fraud disappear. However this program can only be tested near the border states as not all Americans could be happy as it is consider an invasion of privacy.
The only way they are left to travel is by car. Nevertheless, if the law prosecutes anyone that gives an illegal immigrant a lift that would stop too.
Nevertheless, everyone would be happy and the most important, America would be safer than ever. And that my friends it amounts to…priceless!
