1. An immediate moratorium on immigration waivers and new applications in the pipeline until major changes are made and the system re-vamped. (Intelligent)
Not going to happen.
2. Dismantle the welfare state, place restrictions on requirements to the Emergency Room srevices [sic] at our hospitals. (Necessary)
On first point, a hearty yes. On second point -- does that mean non-citizens would not get ER service? I trust it doesn't, because that would be, well, rather inhuman.
3. Cut off welfae [sic] payments to immigrants who haven't worked a ceartin [sic] amount of quaters [sic] and paid into the tax system. (Clever variation)
To legal immigrants? Hmm... perhaps. I can see both sides of this coin, and I agree, it is a clever idea, as it provides an incentive to work.
4. Pass law that landlords must check for documents before renting or selling , most now check credit, employment, etc. (Thoughtful)
No thanks. A.) There are plenty of shady landlords who'd evade the requirement. B.) There are too many landlords, who will check them to make sure they are enforcing this? C.) I don't like turning landlords into unpaid civil servants, (or paid ones either, for that matter.)
5. Implement substantial fines (and revocation of tax incentives, if applicable) for employers who don't take reasonable steps to ensure they are hiring citizens. (Current unenforced law)
I could jump on board this one.
6. Place a bounty on each illegal (identified, turned in, and captured, not a " wanted dead or alive") (I like it)
Um.... no thanks. Just what we need, bounty hunters poking through the latin quarter of every town? Ick, no thanks. We don't need scummy people "enforcing" our laws to their own profit. While not everyone who did this would be scummy, face it, it appeals to desperate people who want to make quick money. They won't work to find illegals the hard way, they'll just try to find the easiest mark to nail.
Alternate: Bounty on employers who hire illegals. More likely to attract harder working individuals, including legit bounty hunters and PIs, former police officers, and etc.... More effective and efficient. After all 90% of illegals are here for one of two reasons -- to work, or to mooch. So you find them at the trough or the workplace.
7. Implement substantial fines (and revocation of tax incentives, if applicable) for employers who don't take reasonable steps to ensure they are hiring citizens. (I love it)
This is the same as #5. This is the same as #5.
Sorry couldn't help myself.
8. March on Washington. (Can be expensive for anyone who doesn't live in the area.)
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. This is what liberals and whackos do. Isn't working for them, isn't going to work for us. No thanks.
9. Run for a state senate seat or state assembly seat. Can be done rather easily. yes, winning will take a lot of work but not a whole lot of money
Hear that sound? That's me laughing. It's a lot harder than it seems. You know why you need pro politicians like we have now? Because when normal people end up up there they end up getting screwed in the first 5 minutes. Politics is a serious business. The odds of a neophyte getting elected on a one issue platform like immigration are about 900 to 1.
10. Change the constitution so that kids born to illegal are not automatically citizens. (Good Luck)
Nope, not gonna happen, and I don't really want it to, but that is just me I guess.
11. In the federal election to be held on the first Tuesday of February, 2005, no person shall be allowed to vote unless they have proved their U.S. citizenship by providing an American passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers to the registrar. (Good idea)
I agree. Immigrants, illegal or otherwise, should not be able to vote. However, you had better expand that US Citizenship proof to something more than that list. My Grandfather was born in the 1920s, and he had none of those documents. He was born in OK, where birth registry was not required until the later 1930s.
One important thing: Fact is, Illegals perform many necessary functions within the economy, such as agricultural work. And there are too many to ever deport. Some way of legalizing and documenting those who are essential to the economy, and who are neither welfare mooches or criminals -- other than entry and presence, I mean killers & theives here -- is going to be required. There needs to be a functioning guest worker program for agriculture, because I can tell you this, you will never get the "naturalized" populace back in the fields again. Amnesty may not be the best route, I agree. But I haven't heard anyone else bring up a better idea for what to do about the illegal populations who are not otherwise a burden, except to "deport them", which is the most unworkable of ideas....
Remember the Laffer Curve? It's a basic tennent of conservative tax policy. If taxes are too high, compliance is almost 10%, because people evade it. If Taxes are low enough, revenue jumps because compliance approaches 90%+, since it is too much work to bother cheating.
Apply this to illegal immigration. If a system of immigration and a system for guest workers is easy enough to use, (rather than being punitive,) then people will not run around it, because there will be no incentive.
Another idea I don't see here: no driver's liscences for immigrants who cannot prove legal status.
The remainder of your points, I find a number of faults with, on various fronts. Making a populist move that swamps police chiefs and city councils and such will accomplish nothing, except to raise enough ruckus to make the local news program as being "the Immigration hotheads who showed up at City Hall today. And for tomorrows story, the Lesbian Rights Acitivist march on City Hall...." Marches on city halls are a waste of good time.
The key is employers, and state legislatures. No jobs with legal entry = no more illegal entry problem. Note that this does not mean no immigrants working the 7-11 or the strawberry fields; rather, it means, no illegal immigrants working in those places.
The purpose of raising these issues amongst the local council members is to polarize the dissent and gain media attention. I am aware that without employment for illegal aliens we would not have an immigration problem. If we cannot induce our politicians to remove the golden cookie programs then we must shame businesses that employ these lawbreakers. If we can compel our law enforcement agencies into enforcing our laws this will, of course, aid in our mission.
I certainly do appreciate your views on this subject.