Immigration Needs An Answer, and Soon

The immigration issue needs to be addressed by Congress soon. While a federal judge may still derail the new Arizona law, it still leaves the bigger issue for someone to solve. Arizonans and others are sick of our sovereign nation being invaded by illegals. No matter that they may be coming to better their lives, get jobs, send money home, or other good reasons. There must be some organization to immigration, some comprehensive plan to deal with the continuing influx.

Ironically Mexican authorities would not allow it if non-Mexicans moved into their country illegally. Their solutions are even more harsh than the harshest proposal of anyone in the U.S. considered “anti-illegal.”

Mention anything close to amnesty, allowing those already here, to be “excused” and given the right to stay, and many will lapse into apoplexy. Yet is it reasonable to think that we can somehow roundup the estimated 12 million illegals in the country and put them on the bus back to Mexico? Do we really think they would stay put if there were no better deterrent than a broken down wall on the border?
While not everyone will agree with these solutions, we have to take some steps to get handle on this quickly. Here are my (hardly original) suggestions:

• Create a way to citizenship requiring registration with the government
• Have a criminal background check
• Pay a substantial fine for violating the laws of the U.S.
• Learn English before the citizenship test
• Get in the back of the line behind all the legal applicants for entrance to our great country.

Once they have registered and made the commitment to do the above in a defined amount of time, they could then obtain a “chartreuse card” allowing them to remain in the country and work. In fact, there must be a time limit on when they must find a way to support themselves and not be a burden of our social system. If they miss any of the requirements, they must agree to return to their home countries.

This, with a few more modifications, would be far better than the haphazard and sometimes cruel system we have now. We can still be a nation of immigrants, but it must be structured so that no one is harmed, especially those citizens who were born here. Anyone disagree?