We don't have to fight and die to solve this problem. We simply have to make up our minds we're willing to do what's necessary . The only question is: how badly do we want to solve it?
All the proposals I've read so far are approaching the problem completely backwards. Every one relies on illegals to "self identify" themselves and meekly pay thousands in fines and back taxes. What a joke...ain't gonna happen. Anyone who proposes such a Rube Golberg scheme is not at all serious about actually solving the problem. Nor are the ones who demand round-ups and employer crackdowns (more on this later).
The first step in any plan has to be securing the border. There is no alternative to that.
Then, rather than identify the illegals, we could cull them out by default---by identifying the legals. Yes, I'm talking about a national biometric I.D card. I know, I know. We conservatives hate that. But I'm starting to warm to the idea based on two great concerns: illegal immigration and vote fraud. If WE self-identify---as opposed to waiting for them to do it---we can take back control of our own destiny. Only citizens and legal aliens would get the cards. Again, by default, the illegals would be left card-less.
As for employment, there would have to be a database where employers could check the validity of documents. Right now illegals can easily obtain forged documents and there's nothing the employer can do...there's no place to verify them. A biometric card would fix this flaw and allow us to penalize employers who go around the system. (I would tie the I.D.'s into the payroll tax system. No valid nat'l I.D., no payroll taxes get posted. Then we could get the employer on not just illegal employment, but failure to file p/roll taxes.)
The initial reaction to this proposal is always about the roadblocks/your-papers-please scenario. To that I say "Tell me how YOU would identify the illegals". Have you thought up some way to cull them out without asking US for OUR identification? I've yet to hear a proposal for that.
So. These are our choices. We can sit back and watch congress pass bills which they don't intend to work. Or we submit to national ID cards and force the illegals to go home when they find themselves shut out of the system. THEN we can also demand that national ID's be used in federal elections...but that's for another day.
I don't want to provide citizenship to millions of illegals. I want US to choose who comes in. I'm tired of all the ranting and fuming. I want to DO something. Of all the proposals I've read, the only one that will actually work is the national biometric ID. All the others are merely wheel-spinning. They won't work...they aren't meant to.
Any card can be counterfeited -- even one with biometrics.
How about a physical implant, or an IR/UV tattoo? That way, no one would be able to engage in any commerce at all, unless they're "in the system", so to speak.
/s rc m (half-sarcastic)