The following statement, is the first outline of a promising
immigration reform policy. It sets up
real reform of the current immigration legal system; it opens a path to citizenship that requires
payment of back taxes, fines, learning
the English language, and standing in
line, behind those who came to this
country first.
Read the plan and see what you
think. But, as you read,
understand that this document appears to be a serious effort at solving
the problem. We conservatives should
approach this reform with caution, but
not out-of-hand rejection. Amnesty is
not a part of this documented approach.
Caution, of course, should be taken to prevent de facto
amnesty, however. Hopefully our conservative leadership will work to prevent this from being the case. The next election hinges, in large part on (a) the details of this reform and (b) the popularity of the misinformation crowd. Take it to the bank, those who oppose a just immigration policy will offer no practical solutions. We cannot have as our only goal, stopping distasteful and/or unConstitutional legislation without providing reform suggestions that can meet with the approval of the people. While I might sound like a sniveling liberal, actually, my concerns include a demand that this problem find a solution, that my side of the aisle raise real objections, not false charges that keep us all stuck on zero, and that we work together with the Lefties to overcome the more serious barriers to this reform.
We should accept the stated effort of this ad hoc committee:
Bipartisan Framework
for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Senators Schumer, McCain, Durbin,
Graham, Menendez, Rubio, Bennet, and Flake
Introduction
We recognize
that our immigration system is broken. And while border security has improved significantly
over the last two Administrations, we still don’t have a functioning
immigration system. This has created a situation where up to 11 million undocumented
immigrants are living in the shadows. Our legislation acknowledges these
realities by finally committing the resources needed to secure the border, modernize
and streamline our current legal immigration system, while creating a tough but
fair legalization program for individuals who are currently here. We will
ensure that this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system
that will not need to be revisited.
Four Basic
Legislative Pillars:
1. Create a tough but fair path to citizenship
for unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States that is
contingent upon securing our borders and tracking whether legal immigrants have
left the country when required;
2. Reform our legal immigration system
to better recognize the importance of characteristics that will help build the
American economy and strengthen American families;
3. Create an effective employment verification
system that will prevent identity theft and end the hiring of future
unauthorized workers; and,
4. Establish an improved process for admitting
future workers to serve our nation’s workforce needs, while simultaneously
protecting all workers.
I.
Creating a Path to Citizenship for
Unauthorized Immigrants Already Here that is Contingent Upon Securing the
Border and Combating Visa Overstays
Our
legislation will provide a tough, fair, and practical roadmap to address the
status of unauthorized immigrants in the United States that is contingent upon
our success in securingour borders and addressing visa overstays.
To fulfill
the basic governmental function of securing our borders, we will continue the increased
efforts of the Border Patrol by providing them with the latest technology, infrastructure,
and personnel needed to prevent, detect, and apprehend every unauthorized entrant.
Additionally, our legislation will increase the number of unmanned aerial vehicles
and surveillance equipment, improve radio interoperability and increase the
number of agents at and between ports of entry. The purpose is to substantially
lower the number of successful illegal border crossings while continuing to
facilitate commerce.
We will
strengthen prohibitions against racial profiling and inappropriate use of
force, enhance the training of border patrol agents, increase oversight, and
create a mechanism to ensure a meaningful opportunity for border communities to
share input, including critiques.
Our
legislation will require the completion of an entry-exit system that tracks
whether all persons entering the United States on temporary visas via airports
and seaports have left the country as required by law.
We recognize
that Americans living along the Southwest border are key to recognizing and understanding
when the border is truly secure. Our legislation will create a commission comprised
of governors, attorneys general, and community leaders living along the Southwest
border to monitor the progress of securing our border and to make a recommendation
regarding when the bill’s security measures outlined in the legislation are completed.
While
these security measures are being put into place, we will simultaneously
require those who came or remained in the United States without our permission
to register with the government. This will include passing a background check
and settling their debt to society by paying a fine and back taxes, in order to
earn probationary legal status, which will allow them to live and work legally
in the United States. Individuals with a serious criminal background or others
who pose a threat to our national security will be ineligible for legal status
and subject to deportation. Illegal immigrants who have committed serious
crimes face immediate deportation.
We will
demonstrate our commitment to securing our borders and combating visa overstays
by requiring our proposed enforcement measures be complete before any immigrant
on probationary status can earn a green card
Current
restrictions preventing non-immigrants from accessing federal public benefits
will also apply to lawful probationary immigrants.
Once the
enforcement measures have been completed, individuals with probationary legal status
will be required to go to the back of the line of prospective immigrants, pass
an additional background check, pay taxes, learn English and civics,
demonstrate a history of work in the United States, and current employment, among
other requirements, in order to earn the opportunity to apply for lawful
permanent residency. Those individuals who successfully complete these
requirements can eventually earn a green card.
Individuals who are present without lawful status - not including people within
the two categories identified below - will only receive a green card after
every individual who is already waiting in line for a green card, at the time
this legislation is enacted, has received their green card. Our purpose is to
ensure that no one who has violated America’s immigration laws will receive
preferential treatment as they relate to those individuals who have complied
with the law.
Our
legislation also recognizes that the circumstances and the conduct of people without
lawful status are not the same, and cannot be addressed identically.
-
For instance, individuals who entered the
United States as minor children did not knowingly choose to violate any
immigration laws. Consequently, under our proposal these individuals will not
face the same requirements as other individuals in order to earn a path to
citizenship.
-
Similarly,
individuals who have been working without legal status in the United States
agricultural industry have been performing very important and difficult work to
maintain America’s food supply while earning subsistence wages. Due to the
utmost importance in our nation maintaining the safety of its food supply, agricultural
workers who commit to the long term stability of our nation’s agricultural
industries will be treated differently than the rest of the undocumented
population because of the role they play in ensuring that Americans have safe
and secure agricultural products to sell and consume. These individuals will
earn a path to citizenship through a different process under ournew
agricultural worker program.
II.
Improving our Legal Immigration
System and Attracting the World’s Best and Brightest
The
development of a rational legal immigration system is essential to ensuring
America’s future economic prosperity. Our failure to act is perpetuating a
broken system which sadly discourages the world’s best and brightest citizens
from coming to the United States and remaining in our country to contribute to
our economy. This failure makes a legal path to entry in the United States
insurmountably difficult for well-meaning immigrants. This unarguably
discourages innovation and economic growth. It has also created substantial
visa backlogs which force families to live apart, which incentivizes illegal
immigration.
Our new
immigration system must be more focused on recognizing the important characteristics
which will help build the American economy and strengthen American families.
Additionally, we must reduce backlogs in the family and employment visa categories
so that future immigrants view our future legal immigration system as the exclusive
means for entry into the United States.
The United
States must do a better job of attracting and keeping the world’s best and brightest.
As such, our immigration proposal will award a green card to immigrants who have
received a PhD or Master’s degree in science, technology, engineering, or math
from an American university. It makes no sense to educate the world’s future
innovators and entrepreneurs only to ultimately force them to leave our country
at the moment they are most able to contribute to our economy.
III.
Strong Employment Verification
We
recognize that undocumented immigrants come to the United States almost
exclusively for jobs. As such, dramatically reducing future illegal immigration
can only be achieved by developing a tough, fair, effective and mandatory
employment verification system. An employment verification system must hold
employers accountable for knowingly hiring undocumented workers and make it
more difficult for unauthorized immigrants to falsify documents to obtain
employment. Employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers must face stiff
fines and criminal penalties for egregious offenses.
We believe
the federal government must provide U.S. employers with a fast and reliable method
to confirm whether new hires are legally authorized to work in the United
States. This is essential to ensure the effective enforcement of immigration
laws.
Our
proposal will create an effective employment verification system which prevents
identity theft and ends the hiring of future unauthorized workers. We believe requiring
prospective workers to demonstrate both legal status and identity, through
non-forgeable electronic means prior to obtaining employment, is essential to
an employee verification system; and,
The
employee verification system in our proposal will be crafted with procedural
safeguardsto protect American workers, prevent identity theft, and provide due
process protections.
IV.
Admitting New Workers and Protecting
Workers’ Rights
The
overwhelming majority of the 327,000 illegal entrants apprehended by CBP in
FY2011 were seeking employment in the United States. We recognize that to
prevent future waves of illegal immigration a humane and effective system needs
to be created for these immigrant workers to enter the country and find
employment without seeking the aid of human traffickers or drug cartels.
Our
proposal will provide businesses with the ability to hire lower-skilled workers
in a timely manner when Americans are unavailable or unwilling to fill those
jobs.
Our
legislation would:
1. Allow employers to hire immigrants if it can
be demonstrated that they were unsuccessful in recruiting an American to fill
an open position and the hiring of an immigrant will not displace American
workers;
2. Create a workable program to meet the needs of
America’s agricultural industry, including dairy to find agricultural workers
when American workers are not available to fill open positions;
3. Allow more lower-skilled immigrants to come
here when our economy is creating jobs, and fewer when our economy is not
creating jobs;
4. Protect workers by ensuring strong
labor protections; and,
5. Permit workers who have succeeded in
the workplace and contributed to their communities over many years to earn
green cards.
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