You can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can secure the border, have a system to track and deport visa overstays, shut off the job market, and leverage state and local law enforcement to identify illegal aliens.
Here is what a real immigration reform plan looks like:
Advocate a pro-immigrant policy of low immigration. Republicans need to provide the American people with their own comprehensive immigration reform plan, i.e., give people a reason to vote FOR something rather than just attack the other side’s proposals. Such a plan should contain the following:
Formulate a merit based immigration system that brings in the skills and talents to keep us competitive in the global economy;
Reduce immigration levels based on need more closely approximating historical levels of 200.000 a year;
Eliminate extended chain migration, i.e., family reunification, limiting it to the nuclear family;
Enforce existing immigration laws to reduce the current illegal alien population and limit future illegal immigration, i.e., attrition thru enforcement. Enforcement would include: (1) ending the job magnet; (2) increasing coordination at the federal level by eliminating barriers to information sharing among agencies; (3) leveraging state and local enforcement resources; (4) fully implementing the US-VISIT Program to track and deport visa overstays; and (5) make mandatory and improve such programs as E-Verify and 287 [g] authority to assist employers and law enforcement in identifying illegal aliens;
Eliminate birthright citizenship;
Ensure that anyone who enters this nation illegally is not rewarded by being permitted to stay and work here; i.e., no amnesty;
Streamline the processing and adjudication of immigration cases;
Promote pro-immigrant measures that help newcomers assimilate and embrace the values and principles of our Founders and the Constitution.
“You can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can secure the border, have a system to track and deport visa overstays, shut off the job market, and leverage state and local law enforcement to identify illegal aliens.”
You have a pretty good plan there. And it is not even a page. I like that. However, any plan that doesn’t start with “Secure the border 100%” is worthless.
As long as people can just walk across the border, an immigration plan will never come to fruition. Even worse, existing laws will never be followed. That’s the real travesty here.