Home of Today's Common Sense

I have been reading the many opinions related to Immigration issues and listening to many that in other issues, I usually agree with. One in particular is the excellent article in the Sunday, December 8, Brownsville Herald entitled “Immigrants still wanted in Hard Times” and Mr. Navarrette hit the nail on the head when he said “…what Americans should know by now, even if some are reluctant to admit it: Immigrants were an undeniable and indispensable factor in the nation’s economic growth over the past decade.”
I have become concerned about the trend to focus on new immigrants of any class as enemies of the country, blurring the differences between temporary workers, undocumented persons, and legal immigrants.

There seems to be the tendency to blame foreigners for all the ills. This idea of isolationism and scapegoating frightens me enormously. These trends have frequently preceded wars and some of the most embarrassing reactions in our history. Who wants to see a reenactment of the incarceration of the Japanese in World War II or similar obscenities towards other national groups?
Folks from India have already felt the pains of misguided and prejudiced minds. These foci rightly or wrongly are resulting on increased restrictions on people attempting entry at our borders solely based on appearance and perceptions based on ancestry.
There are calls to close our borders to all “foreigners” and install martial law in the name of security. This scares me because our continued survival as a national entity depends on the infusion of new peoples to our “melting pot” and to continuously remember what it was that caused us to form our country in the first place. These new immigrants continually improve our workforce with new enthusiasm and reinforce our understandings of how bad it could be, with stories of what caused them to come here seeking a better life and new opportunities.
The United States is in dire need of a policy towards immigration that is fair and consistent, and implemented uniformly and efficiently. Our current approach is neither fair nor consistent and is certainly not implemented efficiently; nor is it uniform.

Much of the problem can be attributed to the chaos that currently rules in the INS. However, the enormous influence of powerful special interests such as ethnic, religious, commercial, and socially correct groups interferes with the exercise of administrative actions and contributes substantially to the opportunities for corruption. This influence frequently affects instructions in how the processing of actions by the officers, and results in changes (the case of our Maryland sniper) moment to moment by higher level administrators because of a fear of community or higher administrative criticism that can destroy careers. These same influences also affect the decisions, of INS adjudicators and judges, that can also have the effect of writing new law not intended by the legislators. There are many honest, hard working officers in the INS that are taking a bad rap when consistent management guidance and uniform policies are non-existent. The few corrupt officers have many more opportunities.
Currently, the numbers of legal immigrants are allocated based on National Origin and humanitarian policies determined as National Policy and administered by the State Department. The people who properly apply must meet obstacles of a difficult bureaucracy, and wait years to be considered for admission to the U.S. Even the newly married spouse may wait months if not years to enter the U.S.
Then many who attempt to do things legally, are frustrated when there is a new movement to legitimatize individuals who entered the U.S. illegally. It is perceived by them that criminals entering illegally are further delaying their entry and opportunity.
I would suggest that all persons entering the U.S. for residency, other than to join family members and as refugees ect., would be granted a temporary resident status with employment authorization for a determinant period after which they could apply for permanent residency or return to their place of origin. I would also suggest that any undocumented worker currently in the US for 1 year be also granted temporary residence without affecting any quotas in effect. Any temporary resident seeking public assistance other than benefits for which they contributed such as unemployment insurance could be requested to return to their place of origin without prejudice and be able to reapply at a later date. After being granted permanent residence the benefits of limited public benefits could be granted. In both cases anyone being found guilty of a violent felony or misdemeanor involving violence or fraud could be deported without the opportunity for reapplication.
The criteria for admission and escalation at each level must be clear with little opportunity for loose interpretation and adequate resources must be made available for the enforcement of the rules.
All temporary or permanent residents would be considered to be proceeding towards Citizenship in the U.S. within specific timeframes and that rights and benefits continuing to increase at each level. A temporary resident would be automatically considered for permanent residence within 5 years and a permanent resident automatically considered for citizenship within 2 subsequent years.
Should the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen be rejected at that time, the status could be returned to temporary worker and the cycle begun again.
This would insure that all would get an even shake and provide a reasonable opportunity for new arrivals to demonstrate their worthiness to stay in the United States and to demonstrate their ability to contribute to the Nation without becoming a drain on the community.