Common sense immigration reform

By Brian Villanueva

Republicans are in control of both houses of Congress and the White House. The people have trusted us to represent them, and they have clearly spoken about immigration. It's time for us to act.

We've all seen the elephant. We all know it's there. And we're finally talking about it.

After 12 years of stagnation, immigration is once again on the front page and around the water cooler. In 1994, the California debate stalemated: one side crying "racism", the other blaming immigrants for "stealing American jobs", and neither actually doing anything.

This is not new though. The same debate raged when the Dutch, the Germans, the Italians and the Irish came here in the 19th century. The next generation of immigrants took jobs at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. The people who previously had those jobs (often the last wave of immigrants) were always annoyed.

Different groups, but that status quo continues largely unaltered today. Hence, the 10 ton pachyderm in the living room.

Rather than get bogged down in that debate, here is a common-sense plan to rationalize our immigration policy:

1. Shut off the Valve. We must figure out how to control our borders. Put up a fence; triple the Border Patrol; do what is necessary. It's a basic national security issue. We need to know who is bringing what into our country and why.

2. Visa Reform. Waits for US visas run 10-20 years in many countries. Is it any wonder that many immigrants jump the fence? A law-abiding foreigner should be able to get a work visa in a reasonable time period. We can argue about how many should be issued. But if visas are fairly easy to obtain, foreign workers have less incentive to skirt the law.

3. Birthright Citizenship Limits. If you are a permanent resident or have been working legally in the United States for 5 years, your children born here should be US citizens. If you are here illegally, they should not. You don't get to become the parent of an American citizen (and therefore entitled to permanent legal residency) just because you gave birth on the north side of the Rio Grande.

4. Employer Sanctions. Our current I-9 form is a farce. The federal government must establish a system for employers to quickly verify a potential employee's work authorization. 99% of employers would gladly follow the law if given the tools to do so. The 1% who persist in hiring illegal workers, should be punished criminally.

This does not solve the infamous issue of "stealing of American jobs." We will still argue about declining wages for drywall installers and whether lettuce will really go to $5 per head without foreign labor. However, at least we will know who is coming in to our country, where they are working, and whether they leave when they are supposed to.

Or we can all keep walking around the elephant.