Solution #3: Link Expanded Legal Immigration to Progress in Reducing Illegal Immigration
Our border calamity is a result of two parties who have put partisanship above solutions for the American people. We have a lawless president who refuses to enforce laws that he doesn't agree with. And we have extremists on both sides of the aisle in Congress would rather have the unsolved problem, in order to 1) deny the other party credit for resolving anything, 2) help them inflame Americans and 3) raise money, than to arrive at an obvious and simple solution:
Negotiate to expand and simplify LEGAL IMMIGRATION to the United States that would go into effect only if and when we have (1) regained functional control of our borders, and (2) adjudicated 95% of the 2+ million provisional asylum cases that the Biden Administration has admitted without control into the country.
This proposal would make adherence to the rule of law the ALLY of expanded and simplified legal immigration.
Additional thoughts:
I believe in EASIER LEGAL IMMIGRATION as a fundamental principle. The US is a nation of immigrants, and virtually all of us are descendants of immigrants from other countries. The vast majority of immigrants come here to work hard and to make a better life for themselves and their families. They generally make wonderful citizens. Lastly, in the long run, our economy will have a huge need for more workers in all kinds of jobs.
But we also believe in the RULE OF LAW, and we acknowledge that the country does not trust the government to liberalize legal immigration until and unless we get the current border mess under control. In order to return to a principle of easier legal immigration, we must do a far better job of committing permanently to the principle of much stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
We must close off the Provisional Asylum program until we have worked through the massive backlog (2 million?) of unadjudicated asylum claims. Sadly, this will take many years, but that is the fault of those who allowed this to get out of control.
We must balance the CBP and other law enforcement’s legitimate need to stop, question and/or detain suspicious persons with the due process protections that we are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. We cannot let the response to the massive influx of illegal migrants violate the rights of citizens and legal immigrants who happen to share a Hispanic heritage.
We should work cooperatively with Mexico to help them secure THEIR southern border. This migration problem is hurting Mexico as badly or worse than it is hurting the US. Investments in Central American economics and in Mexican border security will be pennies on the dollar compared to what we will have to spend to clean up President Biden's mess on the border. And if handled correctly, with humility and cooperation, it should greatly strengthen our vital relationship with Mexico rather than strain it, as we are doing now.
We should NOT designate the Mexican cartels as FTOs without provisos that under no circumstances (1) will we violate Mexican sovereignty without a specific congressional declaration, and (2) under no circumstances will American citizens or legal residents be subject to surveillance without a court order specific to the individual.
Militarizing the drug war, especially on the other side of the border, would be massively counterproductive. It would 1) drive the cartels and the Mexican government into greater mutual cooperation; 2) drive the Mexican government to pursue stronger diplomatic ties with China; 3) make kidnapping targets out of the 1.6 million US expats living in Mexico, who are currently not targeted and in fact are diligently avoided by the cartels; and 4) create violent kinetic responses by the established gangs here on the US side of the border.
We should create a four-tier approach to legal migration for when we do open up:
a) citizen track,
b) refugee track,
c) guest worker track, and
d) Dreamers.
We should establish easier paths to citizenship for legal immigrants, legitimate war refugees and Dreamers; establish a simplified path to legal residency (but not citizenship) for guest workers.
