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McCain's Amnesty for Illegal Aliens, Again

by John F. Wilhite, Ph.D.

The large numbers of illegal aliens incarcerated in federal and state prisons and local jails should be entered into the immigration data base and flagged as never being allowed subsequent entry into the US and they should be deported en masse.  When illegal aliens are apprehended for a criminal offense they should NOT be released on bail.  ICE should be contacted immediately, the individual should be positively identified in the data base and barred from subsequent entry into the US, and deported.

Along with currently held prisoners and subsequently apprehended offenders, another group of illegal aliens that ICE and other law enforcement should be actively pursuing includes the unemployed criminal element.  The victims of this group, often innocent American citizens, deserve greater security and protection.  Raiding the homes, street corners, and other locations of gangs, drug traffickers, and similar criminals would deter crime while ridding the country of undesirable illegal aliens.

Illegal aliens who are employed and have no arrest record should report to government offices (more will need to be opened temporarily for this process) to apply for a temporary worker permit.  Priority should be given to those with children and then those who are married.  The work permit will NOT be a path to citizenship but after a period of time, perhaps three years, the status of permanent resident alien could by earned by those who desire it and meet current regulations for that status.  Permanent resident aliens who subsequently desire citizenship must fulfill existing requirements. 

A work permit is NOT amnesty since those who obtain it will face a double penalty for breaking our immigration laws.  First, all monies they have paid to the government through employment withholding will be forfeit and those funds should be earmarked specifically for border enforcement and immigration resolution (the term "resolution" is preferred over "reform").  This system for assessing the penalty is recommended rather than a specific amount since working illegal aliens have enjoyed the privileges of work and life in the US for varying amounts of time and earnings.  Second, an additional penalty should be imposed, consisting of a percentage (20% for example) of wages to be withheld from gross salary and, again, earmarked for border security and immigration resolution.  This second penalty should be for a set amount of time such as two years.

Those employed individuals who are granted a work permit should NOT be required to return to their home country to "wait in line" as required in some proposals for immigration reform.  This stipulation is unnecessary and would cause a hardship on employers, the illegal immigrant employee and his/her family, and taxpayers.  A "return home" clause in any legislation would have the end result of taxpayers footing the bill for the return trip as many granted a work permit will not be able to afford the expense.  Much like the "rights" of criminals, "you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided for you (the criminal, at taxpayers' expense)" a "return home" provision will result in "you must return home, if you can't afford the trip a ticket will be provided for you at taxpayers' expense."  While it is unfair that those granted a work permit would jump ahead of those who pursued the immigration process legally, the balance is that the illegal immigrants would pay a heavy double penalty for this infraction.  Deleting the "return home" proviso eliminates a number of burdensome and unwieldy bureaucratic and economic problems involved in the working immigrant resolution process.

Finally, the "anchor baby" situation that concerns many can be addressed with a change in current immigration policy.  Changing the 14th Amendment to resolve this issue is a near impossibility and is unnecessary.  Current immigration policy that liberally allows foreigners to petition for an extended list of family members should be changed to allow petitions only for spouses and children under the age of eighteen.  Children, then, including "anchor babies," even though they are US citizens, cannot petition for their parents.  This should be allowed only to those who achieve permanent resident alien status, not those who are granted a temporary work visa.

Concerning border security, in addition to fences, cameras, motion sensors, and drones, a few other possibilities should be considered.  Military bases--including regular Army and Air Force and national and air national guard--should be established in border states and located in proximity to the border.  The focus should be on training for land and air (helicopter and drone) border security.  Active and guard duty personnel who train along our border assisting with border security patrols would then have the expertise to be used overseas as the need arises to perform border security duties such as in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Further, Border Security should raise the age limit for employees to allow for experienced retired military personnel, particularly MPs and helicopter pilots.     

McCain courts Hispanic voters - - Breaking News, Political News & National Security News - The Washington Times