Fixing immigration realistically?

Question

Im a pretty conservative person, I feel like illegal immigrant are not a good addition to our society, but I dont have any poor feelings toward immigrants in general. I really wouldn't mind having more immigrants here if we could get them to integrate into society more suitably, but it doesnt seem like either republicans or democrats have any ideas on the table that even come close to solving the problems. Republicans want to keep them out and dont want to help these already here, and democrats dont want to touch it or want to give the illegals treatment Americans themselves dont even get. There must be a better way.
Isnt it about time we started working together on solving this, I mean lets take a look at this realistically. The illegals here arent going away, they never will and they re going to have kids that are American.

If we are going to fix this situation, we need to figure out how to get the illegals to integrate into society so that law abiding americans dont have to compete with them in situations where illegals can provide benifits to employers by breaking the law or taking advantage of people, and we need to figure out ways of realistically controlling the flow of immigrants into this nation but without making it unfairly difficult to immigrate to this country.
Shouldnt we just work together, seel the border, its not that hard, its actually quite difficult to hike miles and miles through the desert and we have the resources to stop it.

Shouldnt we also create programs that give immigrants incentives to improve themselves and prove that they are law abiding and would be a good adition to society. Could we have programs where we select foreign employers to train and oversee potential immigrants for a reasonable amount of time until we see that they would be fit to compete fairly with Americans? It not only helps us, but would also provide economic stimulation to other countries in ways that could be very beneficial to both counties, creating a healthy trade flow, but not overwhelming like the billions of dollars illegals drain from our society today.

We could also provide basic education, such as drivers licenses and English lessons, which would increase their ability to work well in America and would increase overall safety by a large margin. We do after all spend $6000 a year on average on each American student, and for a fraction of that we could provide the pure basics that are required to be productive Americans. Lets face it, that $6000 doesn't do very much for our kids anymore.
As of the moment, we spend $10 billion a year on illegal immigrants, about $1200 each, and that money could be used so much better and to get these people much more integrated into our society.

Just think of what the 8 million illegals would have been like if we had provided them with basic knowhow and training, they would have provided this country with far more than we put into them, and at the same time would have helped them out hugely.
Is there anybody else who thinks that we should just seal up the border and increase legal immigration but provide ways of filtering and educating them more wisely?

Oh and I do agree that doing things like this would inrease the number of people who want to enter this country illegally, but As I said before, seal the borders so that its is far more reasonable to go legally that illegally.

No, where did I say anything about opening the borders, I said more than a few times to seal the borders. How the hell did you get that?

if there is a threat of being thrown out of the country it makes the illegals more willing to do things that compromise this country, such as breaking work safety laws and destroying unions.

There is no way to make them leave, we either fix the situation that created this or not

The only way to get all employers to comply with laws so strict that they would never employ illegals for a benifit would require a massive police state, not something anybody wants.

Answer 1

even if we made it easier and cheaper some would still come in illegally.what we need to do is secure the border like they do their own border.then with the ones we have here,weed out the bad and send them back.give the ones here a chance to get educated to help our economy instead of drain it.2 years in community college will go along way for them.they will then be productive members of society.then we wouldnt have alot of people crying about illegals draining welfare.now would we?also we citizen need to get our own kids back in school.back at home doing homework instead of out running the streets every weekend getting into trouble.a country as a whole cannot change until the family at home has changed.we have so much crime because kids think they need to be little rebels.they care little of school or cops,laws or anything with authority.if we have our own kids getting an education they wont need welfare.and if our immigrants have an education they wont need welfare.then only the truelly needy would use it.and if everyone was legal then everyone would pay taxes.yes i believe they should learn english which they would if we send them to school.make them pay for the school or atleast the majority of it.if they do amnesty they should do it this way.

*edit*
ELAINE thats because most only come for a while to send money back.mostly the bacholars.the ones with their family here want to stay here and become citizens.they care about the US.
AZTECANEGRA i never said only the southern border.i have seen news footage of canadians sneaking in Afganni people after 9/11.i mean all borders.but then again canadians dont really need to sneak in here.

Answer 2

A lot of people hate this idea, but the best way to fix the immigration problem is to establish a national ID card that would be impossible to counterfeit, meaning an electronically coded card, possibly employing a retinal scan or similar method of verifying identity. The only people who could get these would be U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. They would replace the current social security card and possibly state-issued drivers' licenses as well.

Employing anyone without one of these cards would be a criminal offense, subjecting the employer to jail time or heavy fines.

This would not totally eliminate illegal employment--cash-only day laborers would still have ways to evade the system, but these cards would also be required for health benefits (other than emergency care) welfare and other programs normally available to citizens.

It would make it difficult for the illegal immigrants to work and be paid for it. It would also remove other incentives for illegal immigration. And it would aid in detecting illegal immigrants.

Sanctuary cities would be denied all federal funds, meaning cities would have to help enforce immigration laws if they wanted these benefits.

We also need to more effectively track people holding student visas or work visas to make sure they are going to school or working. (The 9-11 hijackers had student visas.) Again, the national ID, with an expiration date, could probably serve this purpose.

The idea is not to deny citizens their rights, but to limit those rights to people who are entitled to them. The best management systems manage by exception and this would be the guiding philosophy in my immigration fix.

No immigrants with a history of criminal activity or previous immigration abuses would be permitted to enter the U.S. However any immigrant who obeys the rules and comes to work or be educated would be welcomed.

It's not a foolproof plan, but it would work better than what we have now.

Answer 3

I believe if you control the economic incentive you will solve the issue. The border fence is simply silly. Yes, of course we need security, but it will not stop illegal immigration. People move either externally or internally for jobs and work, if you take away the benefit to the employers through a system of jail time and onerous fines for hiring illegal workers, the system will correct itself. That said the employer must have a system by which a newly hired worker can be validated as being a legal resident.

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Answer 4

Okay, two things:
1. this country is built on immigrants. from the colonists that "landed on plymouth rock" to immigrants that came through ellis island. unless you are native american, you are the decendant of an immigrant.

2. the original immigrants didn't come here to become "american" they came here to build their own colonies and were considered terrorists in their day for rebelling against the queen. they didn't assimilate into Native American cultures. They didn't learn how to speak Dakota and assimilate into their society...they wiped out an entire race and displaced their descendants who now live on reservations when this entire country was theirs. pilgrims came here seeking releif from religious persecution just as immigrants today are coming here seeking the same thing. and as for gang members and criminals...pilgrims raped and pilaged their way from sea to shining sea. I don't see what the big deal is just because your new neighbor wants to keep speaking spanish.

i agree immigration should be regulated but sealing the borders? i also find it odd that no one seems to mind canadians moving in..

Answer 5

You are suggesting driver's licenses for illegals? I see nothing here about deporting illegals to apply for citizenship to come back into our country legally. Are you aware that many gang members are here illegally committing crimes and dealing drugs? There is a wealth of information on the internet pro and con. You can easily educate yourself about all the points you have mentioned.

Answer 6

The difference is that immigrants of the past wanted to come here and become Americans. A lot of the illegals don't want to assimilate...they want to come here and enjoy the benefits but keep their own languages and traditions.

Answer 7

Make illegals pay CASH(no discounts or freebies) for healthcare, housing and education.

Answer 8

I am a Scotsman live in the uk The USA Was built on immigrants and Slaves immigrants made your country strong leave the doors open

Answer 9

are you suggesting we open the borders? that's insane!

Answer 10

I know how we can fix it. Abolish all borders and immigration laws.