Posted on 04/17/2014 4:34:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
Solving the illegal immigration problem should not be hard. No one knows how many foreign nationals are residing illegally in the United States -- estimates range from 11 million to 20 million. But everyone understands that it is an untenable situation that must be addressed.
The two extreme positions of the Left and Right probably have little public support -- on the one hand, blanket amnesties and open borders, and on the other, deportation of all foreign nationals who reside here without legal authorization.
Polls show that most Americans want something in between.
Close the border. Allow entry only to those who have legal permission. Ensure that employers hire only those foreign nationals who have valid green cards. Permit those who have resided here for a while, who are without criminal records and are employed, to apply inside the U.S. for either a pathway to citizenship or legal residence.
Require that those residing here unlawfully pay a fine for breaking the law and wait in line until immigrants who followed the law are first processed. Reform legal immigration to make it ethnically blind and predicated on skill sets and education rather than on proximity to our borders or on family connections to those residing here unlawfully.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Permit those who have resided here for a while, who are without criminal records and are employed, to apply inside the U.S. for either a pathway to citizenship or legal residence.
Ahhhh NO.
But it doesn’t fix the problem. We already have upwards of 20 million low-skill illegals here, and if we give them amnesty they’ll nearly triple their numbers via chain migration.
Even 20 million new Democrat voters (a majority of whom will be on some form of welfare) will sink this country for good—let alone 60 million new ones.
I don’t want to give them amnesty. I want to totally control the border, coasts, and visas.
That’s all we need to do.
Says who ? Sure sounds like Komrade Obummer's assertion that "climate change" is "settled science". Horsepuckey !
I'd say no responsible person supports the continued infestation of illegal aliens and their spawn and their continuing to rob, rape, murder and exploit Americans.
I'd deport every one of their rear ends and their anchor babies right along with 'em.
This is a phony strawman. "Overnight" or mass deportation is not going to happen. No Congressman has ever proposed it as a solution nor has anyone from any of the major immigration organizations or think tanks. It is ridiculous to bring it up unless you have an agenda, i.e., blanket amnesty.
This analysis tests the often-made argument that immigrants do only jobs Americans don't want. If the argument is correct, there should be occupations comprised entirely or almost entirely of immigrants (legal and illegal). But Census Bureau data collected from 2009 to 2011, which allows for detailed analysis of all 472 separate occupations, shows that there were only a handful of majority-immigrant occupations. Thus, there really are no jobs that Americans won't do. Further, we estimated the share of occupations that are comprised of illegal immigrants, and found that there are no occupations in which the majority of workers are illegally in the country.
Among the findings:
Of the 472 civilian occupations, only six are majority immigrant (legal and illegal). These six occupations account for 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Moreover, native-born Americans still comprise 46 percent of workers even in these occupations.
Many jobs often thought to be overwhelmingly immigrant (legal and illegal) are in fact majority native-born:
Maids and housekeepers: 51 percent native-born
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 58 percent native-born
Butchers and meat processors: 63 percent native-born
Grounds maintenance workers: 64 percent native-born
Construction laborers: 66 percent native-born
Porters, bellhops, and concierges: 72 percent native-born
Janitors: 73 percent native-born
There are 67 occupations in which 25 percent or more of workers are immigrants (legal and illegal). In these high-immigrant occupations, there are still 16.5 million natives — accounting for one out of eight natives in the labor force.
High-immigrant occupations (25 percent or more immigrant) are primarily, but not exclusively, lower-wage jobs that require relatively little formal education.
In high-immigrant occupations, 59 percent of the natives have no education beyond high school, compared to 31 percent of the rest of the labor force.
Some may think that native-born workers in high-immigrant occupations are mostly older, with few young natives willing to do such work. But 34 percent of natives in these occupations are age 30 or younger, compared to 27 percent of natives in the rest of labor force.
It is worth remembering that not all high-immigrant occupations are lower skilled. For example, 36 percent of software engineers are immigrants as are 27 percent of physicians.
A number of politically important groups tend to face very little job competition from immigrants (legal and illegal). For example, just 10 percent of reporters are immigrants, as are only 6 percent of lawyers and judges and 6 percent of farmers and ranchers.
Estimates of Illegal Immigrants
We find that there are no occupations in the United States in which a majority of workers are illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants work mostly in construction, cleaning, maintenance, food service, garment manufacturing, and agricultural occupations. However, the overwhelming majority of workers even in these areas are native-born or legal immigrants.
Although illegal immigrants comprise a large share of workers in agriculture, farm workers are only a tiny share of the total labor force. Consistent with other research, just 5 percent of all illegal immigrants work in agriculture.
However, my basic point is that total control of the border, coasts, and visas will take care of the illegal problem.
Cutting off the job magnet is most important. Mandatory e-verify and tough employer penalties will aid in that effort.
We don’t need any new laws about green cards, immigration rules, paths to citizenship, etc. Control entry and everything else falls into place.
We need to reduce legal immigration from the current 1.1 million a year to far less, e.g., around 300,000. And we should move to a merit based system vice the current kinship system.
So what are you expecting for those already here?
What do I expect of them? What will they do?
I think that as the number of illegals goes down because of total control of the borders, coasts, visas, that they will eventually go away.
The border/coast/visa deal is the most important by far. We don’t need any other laws after that.
Attrition thru enforcement works. I am not against deportation, which is the law of the land. I just don't believe mass deportation is feasible operationally or politically.
FYI: We have 800,000 absconders running around the country, i.e., lawbreakers who have been ordered by the courts for deportation, but have failed to leave, e.g., Obama's uncle and aunt. We should be taking these people from the court house to the airport for deportation.
Those numbers have nothing to do with fitting the right person into the right job. That takes time. It just does.
But border, coast and visa controls only stop the addition of new illegals—what about the 20 million already here?
Toss in the enforcement of current immigration laws and broad use of e-verify, including for current employees, and I’m with you. That, IMO, would cure it.
I think xzins believes that if the laws are rigorously enforced - especially employment laws, illegal immigrants will self-deport over time.
I agree with him.
If the federal government aggressively enforces laws against employers hiring illegal immigrants, AND we refuse direct welfare payments to illegal immigrants, AND we control our borders and enforce strictly our laws at our borders, illegal immigrants who are currently here will find jobs for them disappearing, and no other way to obtain the money to live their lives, and send back to the home country.
If our country ceases to be an economic opportunity for those currently here, they will leave.
And if we control our borders, new folks won't come in.
In ten years, when the number of illegal immigrants has dwindled to a small number, then we can have a big debate on what to do with the rest.
sitetest
Sitetest,
As I just posted to xzins, if that’s his/her perspective I agree completely.
But that solution is now considered too 'extreme'.
Why do you keep on peddling that phony strawman? There is not going to be mass or overnight deportations. Attrition thru enforcement works.
And exactly what special skills do these illegals have? Over 50% lack even a high school degree. They are predominantly low skilled and uneducated. We have 21 million Americans unemployed or underemployed. When companies like McDonalds announce they are hiring, huge numbers turn out all over the country. This myth that the country will come to a standstill if all the illegals left is simply not true.
And although businesses may profit from hiring this cheap labor, what is the cost to the taxpayer?
Yes, that’s what I believe.
Do the borders/coasts/visas first, and then we already have sufficient regulations to handle the rest. Over time attrition will take care of those already here. Sometimes that will be self-deportation, sometimes someone will slip up and get deported, and sometimes God will call their immigration number.
We also need to reduce LEGAL IMMIGRATION substantially and go to a merit based system.
Yes—we’re already flooded with too many “low-skill workers”.
I agree, they would never pay a fine and they would not be at the back of the line either- they would give them their own line and process them so fast they would know nothing about them, no time to check them out. This country would end up giving amnesty to Cartel people and other criminals of every variety. They would not secure the border either, they claim it is “safer than ever” now so they would just declare it secure and open it up with total lack of enforcement. More illegals would pour in, rinse and repeat.
Amnesty would be the biggest scam every done in this country and it would be the end of this great country.
In times of low employment, I wouldn’t have any immigration at all.
And I don’t see why we should bring in those to compete with our computer software engineers and doctors, and not bring in others. First, any engineer or doctor not trained in the USA is automatically suspicious in my mind.
Would you want heart surgery from a guy trained in Egypt or would you want to drive across a bridge by a guy who studied in Zimbabwe?
“Hi I was in the bottom half of my class in Mugabe’s wonderland paradise”
I totally agree.
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