Home of Today's Common Sense

On May 1, groups of folks who are in the United States in violation of the law are attempting to control the legitimate legislative processes for that nation. They are trying to force the nation’s legislators to give them a power that has never been won by wars or terror. Is this indeed an act of war? I wonder whether our enemies will notice our willingness to capitulate!
The demonstrating troops, carried the flags of Mexico, and others from the nations of Central America. Should the United States counter attack the nations that sent these troops to our shores; will this be the first war fought in the homeland and it appears we are losing?
Why are our legislators so anxious to conspire with this enemy? It is because that they constitute a large part of the “persons” that make up their voting districts, and on which the very existence of the Congressional District is based. Just think how many Congresspersons would loose their jobs when the numbers on which their districts depend on, went home!These troops cannot vote against them and because of that, give a bigger voice to the predominant voting majority. In the cities and metropolitan areas around the country these are Democrats and in the areas where fields must be planted it is mostly Republicans.
How did this mess start? I believe the beginnings are the result of the “national government” failing to accomplish one of the functions that it is really supposed to do. Perhaps the following might sound familiar: “…. establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence” or perhaps this: “ ….To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization…..”
 A failure to establish a uniform rule of naturalization and then to enforce the rules is really what is at the bottom of the problem. This has also been severely aggravated by our congresspersons incessant interference in the process, for their own political benefit and a lack of consistent application of the law by the immigration magistrates.
Probably one of the most egregious, is the overt action that occurred when the Census Department requested, in the early 1990’s, that Border Patrol suspend enforcement of the employer violations, because it would skew the demographics. Perhaps that skewing would have resulted in fewer congressional districts!
Unfortunately that action was preceded by only funding 300 investigator positions for the entire United States to enforce those laws; even worse was not providing an expedient way for employers to verify the status of potential employees who possessed documentation. A business manager I spoke to has repeatedly contacted authorities to assist in the verifying status and has been refused just as consistently as they don’t have enough time. However, when Border Patrol raided his business they were able to verify the status and social security numbers in seconds.
It would have been a very small thing to authorize the credit reporting companies to access data sufficient to verify the status of the employees. Employers, as a part of the normal verification of employee applications, would be able to have information on which to depend on.
This would not have been a total solution but if a large portion of the illegal residents can not get work, less would take the risk to come to the U.S. and the Border Patrol may be able to deal with the reduced numbers.
The above is just a symptom of the real problem that brought all this on.
It is our Congresspersons use of immigration as their personal way of paying off support groups. The system of preferences, that are “fiddled with” regularly and the system of numbers of immigrants approved by congress at the behest of constituents and misguided isolationism, rather than a rational evaluation of need, are the real issues.
We currently have a large need for new immigrants and have had for quite some time. Our aging workforce has begun leaving the workforce and requires many more services and products resulting in the need for many more jobs. These needs just haven’t been met. The mere fact that there are as many as 12 million illegal migrants working in the U.S. in relative obscurity is absolute proof of the incompetence of our supposed “representatives” or possibly worse, their malfeasance.
What is all this coming to? A common statement is that these folks are “doing jobs that Americans will not do”. That sounds to me like a very “racist and belittling” statement. Could it be translated to mean that these “immigrants” are not really competent to do real jobs – only those that people like me, won’t do?
If, like me, you have watched “these immigrants” work in the construction of malls and offices and have seen the innovation they have developed to do the job better and easier, their competence can not be challenged. Even more, when you see the quality of the work done you will find the craftsmanship exhibited is remarkable. This seems to have been lost in our escalating of wages and titles; they are no longer providing the opportunity for entry level jobs to learn the work by experience or apprenticeship. This has also resulted in many of our manufacturing jobs being exported to areas where there is a larger force of folks willing to take less, while they learn the basics. In today’s America people refuse the entry level jobs or anything else that seems beneath them. What’s more, they can do it, because there are so many jobs available thanks to our raging economy.
Should we make felons out of those that did not secure legal permission to immigrate? We should not!
it would mostly serve to reduce the perception of what should be reserved as a serious crime; there are already too many that have been determined felony violators, where the crime doesn’t rise to the level of serious loss to the an individual or the community. Any action, if any, should be dealt with at the level of civil action, which really describes what has happened and its seriousness.
The whole idea needs to be changed!
I would suggest that the entire naturalization process be based on a temporary worker process.
Any individual who can secure a job at the prevailing entry level wage for the occupation should be considered for a temporary worker visa. The visa would be temporarily granted within 14 days so long as the worker can communicate in English, demonstrate the qualifications to do the job, and can secure evidence that no felony level or violent crime, has been committed. This approval could be reconsidered in the next 180 days upon assertion of a false representation made in the application. This visa could be reviewed annually for 3 years based on the needs for a temporary worker in that occupation. The visa would not permit the entry of any dependents or confer any obligations to remain in the US and only entitle such benefits as Congress may specify.
At the end of 3 years the individual could petition for permanent residency, the approval of which would be based on a clean criminal record,as well as good work and credit records. Permanent residency would allow for the immigration of the petitioners immediate family upon approval, confer U.S, Citizenship on an children born in the U.S. of the petitioner, and allow participation in any benefits normally allowed permanent residents today. After 5 years the permanent residents must petition for U.S. Citizenship which will require the same educational requirements as now and necessitate the renouncement of citizenship in and allegiance to any other Country.
Should a permanent resident not apply within 5 years, or not qualify to become a citizen within 7 years of becoming approved, the applicant will revert to being a guest worker and any beneficiaries may be returned to the country of origin unless they should qualify independently.