What Would Be Your Plan For Immigration Reform?

[BigBadBrian]

Seriously. I would consider any and all ideas.

FORD has said to legalize drugs. That's one route. What else? I'll post my ideas in a day or two.

[ELVIS]

There's no need for "immigration reform."

The needs are to enforce the laws and to seal the border...

[LoungeMachine]

There's no need for "immigration reform."

The needs are to enforce the laws and to seal the border...

wtf????????????

I agree with ELVIS ???????????????????

wtf??????????

[ELVIS]

[jhale667]

wtf????????????

I agree with ELVIS ???????????????????

wtf??????????

I KNOW, what's UP with that??

Agree, drugs should be legalized, and the existing immigration laws should be enforced more vigorously.

[BigBadBrian]

There's no need for "immigration reform."

The needs are to enforce the laws and to seal the border...

That itself is change...reform.

Should this Berlin Wall Style fence be built? A more robust version of sections of fencing already in place?

http://www.borderfenceproject.com/

[ELVIS]

The word 'reform' means to amend or improve by the means of change...

We don't need change, we need enforcement...

[knuckleboner]

actually, big E, we do need reform. and here's what i'd do:

it's a crime to enter the country illegally, so we label it as such. just like other crimes that, by themselves, aren't violent or that bad, we punish you with a reasonable punishment. in this case, we give illegal immigrants a timeframe by which they can come forward, admit their crime, and take their punishment. in order to be eligible, they need to have no violent crimes on their record, and have a history of either continuous work, or a willingness to commit to job training and english language classes. in addition, their punishment includes 3 straight years of $500 in fines, and they have to submit to DNA and fingerprint databases. once admitting their crime and undergoing punishment, the illegal immigrant receives a temporary visa, but a new, lower class. it is probationary; subject to revocation with the first criminal conviction, the first time they skip a fine payment, or the first time they skip out on job training / english classes if they don't have a current job. at that point, they are back to being illegal aliens and subject to deportation as soon as they're caught.

for every 1 million illegal immigrants that register, the government gets $1.5 billion over 3 years. the yearly fines go to processing and monitoring the probationary immigrants, increased border security - both manpower and capital survelliance/fence equipment on the border, increased deportation funding, and increased funding to investigate and prosecute employers who hire illegal immigrants.

any temporary immigrant who makes it through their 3 year probation can apply for a normal green card, and receives the same status that any recent, legal immigrant would receive.


the fact is that even if we had the money to deport 12 to 20 million illegal residents (which we don't) doing so wouldn't solve anything. absent border security, which we don't have, and which also costs money that we don't have, deporting is worthless, anyways. i deport you, you come back.

that last piece is changing the amount of legal, temporary workers we allow into the country. during the boom times, the incentive to come into the country was huge. it had nothing to do with benefits, and everything to do with the lure of high-paying jobs (relative to what they could get in their home countries). during the late 1990s, we had unemployment in the 4-5% range. WAY low. the illegal immigrants were not taking jobs away from people. they were, by and large, taking the low-wage (for American standards), low-skilled jobs legal residents generally didn't want. when the demand for jobs increases, and the supply of legal workers is not enough to meet the demand, we should increase the amount of legal immigrants we allow in, even if just temporarily.
increasing border security (which we need for national security as well), increasing deportations (which we currently do very little of), increasing employer investigations (which we also do very little of) and allowing for temporary legal immigration when demand increases, will discourage future illegal immigration. and we do so in a way that increases national security, as well.

[lesfunk]

Enforce the existing laws. Hire Americans. Punish those who do not. Fortify the border. Legalize Heroin, OD a hippie.... ah... forget that last part

[lesfunk]

Outlaw Political correctness.

[sadaist]

That itself is change...reform.

Should this Berlin Wall Style fence be built? A more robust version of sections of fencing already in place?

http://www.borderfenceproject.com/

The problem is there are huge swaths where no fence exists. Many other parts where it's simply a 6 foot high rusted out chain link fence with gaping holes & missing pieces. Some pieces are rusted metal posts with large parts missing.

Build a decent border. We don't need moats filled with sharks, electrified razor wires, mine fields and snipers waiting. A decent wall will slow the influx. Enforcing the laws here is what will really make the difference. Combined and it becomes a small problem. We will never stop it 100%. Much like we can never stop drunk driving or car theft 100%. But we have allowed it to get way out of hand. The tools are available for us, but for some reason our government chooses not to utilize them.

[Hardrock69]

Legalize POT, and enforce the immigration laws.

Much as cocaine and heroin are major sources of revenue for the cartels, and legalization would remove the profit, I still have seen too many people's lives destroyed by them. So I am not in favor of legalizing hard drugs.
I am in favor of 'reform' of marijuana laws, not immigration laws. The reform that is necessary in regards to immigration is a reform in US policy as to enforcement of the laws. I think Mobama's decision to send National Guard troops to the border is a step in the right direction. But we need to seal our borders somehow.

[GAR]

We can't have any discussion on "paths to citizenship" without paths-to-deportation.

I would begin an incarceration study first based on distributed holdings by Federal Regions one thru ten, which the lower-48 states feed regionally all deportation bodies off to leaving the biggest three in the border states of CA, AZ and TX.

Another thing I'd do about illegal immigration is quit lying about the actual number of these felons: if Arizona caught half a million just last year tresspassing, you know five times that got in or more. So do the math: five times .5 million = 2.5 mil, times twentyfive years= 62.5 million. And you wonder why there's a "browning" of America? My family didn't fight for that shit.. clear the land, kill the indians, build the roads, build the cities, fight the wars.. only to let some wetbacks steal it off for their children - fuck that!

This has been going on since the Reagan amnesty, and all those who saw that go down are in this country right now waiting for their chance to re-up on another Amnesty, and that's just bullshit.

I think the actual number is 30 to fifty million illegal job-stealing, drug-dealing, uneducated and superstitious Catholic assholes on our soil right now or more.. boy wouldn't the Democrats just love to have a new voter base like that! A bunch of dumbfucks voting for dumbfucks.. even Keith Olberman (dumbfuck, look him up) thinks Congress is a bunch of dumbfucks including the dumbfucks in the White House. So what does that say about it for you?

[Nitro Express]

Anyone caught in the US illegally will be deported to Antarctica.

[Nitro Express]

Anyone caught hiring illegals with be drafted into the military and given mine clearing duty.