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If I had my druthers, that Guest Worker card would have an expiration date. They can work in the country for three or five years, but at the end of that time, they have to leave. Then, after an equal number of years have passed, they can come again, for another limited term.

We have the lowest labor participation rates in 38 years. Immigrants, legal and illegal, are taking American jobs and depressing wages.

The other thing I would do is put teeth into eVerify, with big fines and penalties for anybody who hires a non-registered guest worker, even as casual labor. If you want to pick up a couple of day laborers from in front of the Home Depot, you will need to see their Guest Worker card and call into the 1-800 number on the back of the card to verify their status. The whole process would take about a minute.

We should make e-verify mandatory, but who gets to receive the guest worker card, i.e., work permit? Who qualifies for a work permit? Is there any cutoff date for this program? And what is the penalty for working without a guest worker permit for the illegal alien? Besides fining the employers, shouldn't the illegal aliens be deported?

Once you have guest workers registered and the hiring of undocumented workers stomped out, you can start raising the minimum wage of guest workers. The only way guest workers should be employed is if there is a labor shortage. This labor shortage should be reflected by a higher minimum wage, say double the general minimum wage. This would give American workers the advantage.

Why not just deport illegal aliens and not give them work permits? For a FReeper, I find it surprising that you want the government to increase the minimum wage for anyone.

Why not just deport illegal aliens and not give them work permits? For a FReeper, I find it surprising that you want the government to increase the minimum wage for anyone.

If I had my druthers, I would eliminate the minimum wage for citizens. I would gladly let the market set the rate for labor.

However, for guest workers, a minimum wage makes sense, to ensure that they are only used where labor is scarce. If there are no native workers available at $19.50 an hour, I have no problem with hiring a guest worker for a limited term at $20.00.

The result of such a policy would be that the number of legal jobs for guest workers would be small. Combine that with an effective eVerify system and elimination of benefits for guest workers, and people would deport themselves.

The keys is giving people the right incentives.

You want to give people who are here an incentive to register and start living within the law. So allow legal guest workers and eliminate illegal employment.

You want to give people the incentive to work, instead of being on the dole. So make work legal and eliminate welfare for guest workers.

You want to give people the incentive to leave. So limit the number of jobs and put an expiration date on their guest worker card.