My father emigrated from Ireland in 1948. He became a US citizen in the early 1950’s with 7 of his siblings and loved this country. My mother can trace her family back to before the 1750’s in the same county in West Virginia and I have seen my great great grandfather’s gravesite a few miles from where she grew up.
I was born in NY and grew up in Canada where my Dad was transferred when I was 5. I moved back in 1991 with my Canadian wife and kids. This gives me an interesting perspective on immigration.
This is what I would like to see done with illegal immigration:
1. Secure the borders so that anybody entering the country is here under legal measures.
2. Prosecute employers who hire illegals. Make all employees prove citizenship within a 3 month period.
3. Make illegals repay the federal, state and local governments for use of the system — IMMEDIATELY.
4. Allow families with kids born in the US to pay fines (make them significant like $15k to $20k) to move up in lines but still apply outside the country.
5. Set a hard deadline date about a year in advance that all illegals not covered under provisions above to be jailed first before being deported.
6. Set clear rules for new immigrants to apply for entry especially as students and make sure that penalties are strict for breaking rules.
Illegal immigrants are illegal. That means they have broken the law and should be penalized for breaking the law. No exceptions or softening the approach.
I don’t get #4 and the common stmpathy for the American children of illegals (let alone the illlegal children of illegals).
It is standard for American children to have to go live abroad if that’s what their parents do. And all kinds of non-American children of diplomats, foreign busines executives, etc., grow up in the US, are even here legally—but don’t get US citizenship out of it. (And the same for American kids raised abroad.)