For many, it's about enforcing existing immigration policy
Posted on Sat, Mar. 10, 2007
Deport
If we "resurrect" Mr. Commonsense, immigration policies could be improved by:
enforcing the policy
urging President Bush to revoke the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) agreement he signed (without approval of his Cabinet, Congress or the American people) which would form a "North American Union" with a "NAFTA superhighway" stretching from Mexico to Canada
supporting the ICE sweeps for illegal immigrants
supporting our border agents, not prosecuting them
immediately deporting, without question, "newly" found illegal immigrants before they become entrenched in our job market or society
systematically deporting the millions of illegal immigrants already here
ending "free" medical and financial aid to illegal immigrants
not granting amnesty to any illegal immigrants, no exceptions
declaring that no illegal immigrant has any civil rights in America (they are "criminals," not lawful citizens)
drawing very definitive lines that no illegal immigrant will reside in the United States, but must go through lawful procedure to become a certified citizen.
At this point, no one in Congress or the Bush administration wants the Mexican border closed; that would engender a "hostile" attitude of the Mexican government and sink the North American Union and superhighway plan, which is projected to be complete in 2010.
Lloyd Horton
Richmond
Enforce the law
It seems all too simple. This country has been populated by immigrants from the very beginning, and the system that has been developed during the many decades has worked just fine.
We don't need more laws, we need to enforce the ones we have! If you want to work in this country, you get a green card.
If you want low-cost labor you hire a person with a green card. If there is more work than workers, have the quota changed.
As you will find in any other developed country, anything but abiding by these rules is breaking the law and needs to be dealt with accordingly.
First and foremost, people who knowingly hire illegal immigrants must be punished to the maximum extent of the law.
Stop illegal documentation, but it's obvious that our government finds it all too convenient not do anything about false Social Security numbers. It helps keep the system afloat if 200 people contribute and only one gets to make a withdrawal.
We are a society of laws, and they apply to everyone -- not just when it's good for the profit margin.
Dewayne Guidinger
Concord
Use deportation
Call it "illegal immigration" because that's what it is. Cardinal Roger Mahony, Sen. Ted Kennedy and President Bush confuse the issue when talking about "immigration policy" or "undocumented workers." What part of the word "illegal" is so hard to understand?
Implement deportation and other enforcement activities targeting illegal immigrants and the businesses that employ them. Enforcement of the laws is the best way to improve the life of overworked, underpaid and overtaxed legal immigrants and citizens.
Jimmie Currier
Berkeley
Deny U.S. benefits
Solution: Make the United States user unfriendly to illegal immigrants. Deny them the benefits they come here for. Deny them employment, housing, education, welfare, medical care, citizenship for children born here, licenses and permits necessary to function, and membership in organizations that facilitate employment.
In short, make life in the U.S. so uncomfortable, they're forced to return home. Put teeth into this policy by making it a felony with fines and prison time for citizens who assist illegal immigrants in any of the above activities, with vigorous enforcement.
With such a policy, a barrier will be counterproductive, as we'll see a flood in immigrants crossing the border: all going south.
The money saved in border patrols and building and repair of barriers will be enormous, a tiny fraction of which would cover enforcement of this workable policy.
I mentioned this idea to three senators. Two are liberals. All said, "Yes, it would work, but don't quote me."
Why the off-the-record statement? It's too politically incorrect, and therefore, will never be implemented.
Mike DeMontoya
Walnut Creek
Simple answer
That is a very simple answer. Enforce it! It is not fair to us, as U.S. citizens, to be forced to take into our country more than 11 million people who do not abide by our immigration laws.
That not only hurts the assimilation process but exploits the people who are here illegally. The part of the Constitution that gives every child born in this country automatic citizenship is so wrong.
This has needed change for so long and should start here. Every baby born here illegally should take his or her mother's country's citizenship.
We are paying a huge price for being such a generous nation, especially when we are not asked to vote on it!
Peggy Winegardner
Discovery Bay
Keep borders open
The incredibly high value of immigration can be summed up with one name: Albert Einstein.
Einstein, persecuted in his native Germany, found refuge and citizenship in America.
In 1939, Einstein wrote President Franklin Roosevelt, stating that Nazi Germany might be developing an atomic bomb. Roosevelt ordered the U.S. to begin work on nuclear weapons. Einstein's assistance was crucial in winning World War II.
Not every immigrant to America will be an Einstein. But when millions of baby boomers begin retiring during the next 15 years, who will replace them? The solution to the immigration situation is to open America's doors to all citizens of any democracy.
If goods, services and money can, with impunity, move across borders of democracies, then citizens of these nations should have the same opportunity.
The result of an "open borders" policy will be a higher standard of living.
In 1957, six democratic nations (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg) started a common market. Today, these six countries have a level of prosperity unimaginable 50 years ago.
Moreover, there is another democracy that, among its 50-plus jurisdictions, has benefited from open borders. This democracy is the United States of America.
Richard S. Colman
Orinda
Law too difficult
The problem with immigration in this country is not the so-called "illegals" but with the policies that make becoming a citizen so difficult.
The vast majority of people who come to America come here to work and to make a better life for themselves and their families. Often the process of becoming a citizen is daunting, even if one knows English; the paperwork alone could deter anyone.
Except for the American Indians, all our ancestors were immigrants at one point. When they came from Europe to Ellis Island, they simply signed their name into a log and that was it.
If we returned to a policy of simplicity, where the only requirement for citizenship was no criminal record, we would solve many problems.
Unfortunately, the issue of immigration has become one not about policy, but about thinly veiled racism and nativism.
Those who are the most vocal about "illegals" are the people who are scared of anyone who is different but have forgotten that at one point, their relatives were the immigrants being persecuted. What happened to the idea of America being a "melting pot" where all of our differences are the very thing that make this country stronger?
Becca Dell
Concord
Follow the law
What needs to be done to improve our immigration policy? For starters we need to enforce the rule of law, period!
This means stopping the flow of illegal immigrants at the border by an armed and determined National Guard and then strict enforcement of employment laws including fines and jail for violators.
Yes, an orderly and humane guest worker program should be instilled, but not until the border is fully secured.
Our current do-nothing band of dysfunctional elitist misfits in Congress needs to get off its collective rear and do the job each was elected to do.
Our state is becoming way too crowded and the carrying capacity is bulging at the seams.
Yeah, yeah, I know, these illegal immigrants are doing agricultural and service jobs Americans won't do. But contrary to liberal belief, these jobs now include carpentry, construction, road building, masonry, roofing, tile setting, carpet-laying, mechanics and landscaping, to name a few. Even the Times, in a recent front-page profile of a successful auto shop owner, failed to mention the man's legal status.
Come one, come all!
Rich Dierdorff
Concord
Vote for Tancredo
Elect Tom Tancredo president. We cannot afford another president who is soft on immigration, especially following the disaster that is George Bush.
Secure the borders using the military. We can't solve the problem of illegal immigrants if we keep allowing them in.
Revalue our citizenship. Correct the loophole of birthright citizenship by eliminating it. It is horribly abused and of no benefit to our true citizens. Convert acceptable (i.e. noncriminal, disease free) immigrants to legal guests but no citizenship ever to anyone who has stolen someone's identity.
Eliminate bilingual ballots. In order to vote you have to be a citizen and in order to be a citizen you have to read and speak English. Having bilingual ballots not only makes it easier for the immigrants to maintain their home country culture, it also causes our politicians to pander to illegal immigrants and their sympathizers, again against the best interests of our citizenry.
Eliminate free hospital visits. The people are coming here to work, they have money and are able to send billions home annually. Make them pay cash up front for nonemergency medical care. Many hospitals have closed and we all know the tenuous financial condition of others (Doctors San Pablo).
Thadd Curry
Pinole
Protect our own
The best way to improve U.S. immigration policy, for the good of our country, is to close our borders and for the department of immigration to do its job and crack down on illegal immigrants.
It is appalling how California has become overrun with immigrants. Our schools are overcrowded; our traffic gets worse and worse; our environment suffers; our hospitals are filled with illegal immigrants; they are filling most of our low-income housing; and our own people can't get in.
I'm tired of our taxes going for free schooling and medical care for illegal immigrants. Some of them are getting scholarships to go to college, which should be going to our own children. We have plenty of our own who can't afford to go. Now some of our leaders want to give illegal immigrants who graduate from our high schools legal status!
It's time we let our leaders know we are mad as hell, and we aren't going to take it anymore. Let them know we are fed up and don't vote for the ones who cater to the illegal immigrants.
We can't take in the whole world! The illegal immigrants have no right to be here, they should be sent packing, not rewarded. They need to make their own countries better.
Patricia Walker
Martinez
Policy is generous
America has more than a dozen existing guest worker programs today, and the most generous immigration policy in the world -- our best bet is to keep it that way.
Bush Republicans and congressional Democrats, voting lockstep on immigration issues (www.congressgrades.com), seek to force innumerable millions of illegal immigrants -- now estimated at 12 million to 30 million, virtually all of whom are Mexican nationals -- into our country, and raise visa caps sky high.
Achieving this aim would decimate our poorest citizens, undercut middle-income Americans, and shift the burden of paying for cheap, illegal labor to taxpaying, citizen workers.
They shout about a fictional either-or proposition. Deportation: How dare we deport law-breaking foreign nationals who take American jobs! Or amnesty for everyone -- rather than earned paths to citizenship, make guest worker programs so they can stay. Never mind they get more in public benefits than they pay in taxes.
Yet simple attrition through enforcement removes incentives for illegal immigrants -- economic prizes that government, employers and landlords illicitly dangle at them, without which most would return home.
With all the drama out of the way, the purported illegal immigration crisis will end when government actually enforces our laws. Imagine that!
ML Pinkard
Lafayette
Foreign policy issues
Here are a few suggestions for starters:
Abolish NAFTA and CAFTA (American Free Trade agreements) and stop the dumping of subsidized corn and other agricultural products that have bankrupted and uprooted millions of Mexicans from their small farms .
Stop buying drugs, selling guns, corrupting officials, overthrowing foes, invading countries, polluting the lands and destroying cultures.
Abolish the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization.
Cancel the foreign debt of countries forced to unredeemable terms by military dictatorships placed in power or backed by the U.S. governments. Often the original debt was paid several times but the interest keeps expanding the debt.
Full amnesty for all the people who escaped from all these U.S. policies to save their lives and arrived here among us.
Rethink and redefine how the United States interacts with the rest of the world.
Juan Reardon
Richmond
Global economy
Thank you for your realistic editorial supporting immigration reform. The vast majority of immigrants are contributing taxes, working hard and helping to revitalize communities. The ICE raids are a cruel and ultimately ineffective way to control immigration.
Real immigration reform means coming to terms with the global economy, including job growth and wage growth on both sides of the border.
Janey Skinner
Richmond
Raids are inhumane
The immigration raids to round up illegal immigrants is not only humane, it is strictly legal, regardless of what the 20 signers from West Contra Costa adult education's ESL teachers think. They apparently don't know the definition of "illegal." I suggest that they avail themselves of a good dictionary. What next? Will they teach the ESL students that breaking our other laws is OK?
It matters not that illegal immigrants are afraid of being deported. They well should be. They are breaking our laws. If they are afraid of being separated from family members, send them back to their countries of origin. It is not our problem that their wages are depressed to $2 a day because of their overpopulation.
Roland N. Mueller
Pinole
Arrest and deport
I strongly disagree with he Times' editorial of March 4 that ended with the position that deporting the 12 million illegal immigrants would be impossible.
By the very definition of the term, they are criminals and have broken this nation's laws. We have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq. Surely we can spend a small portion of that to arrest and deport every individual here illegally and thereby defend this nation's borders and civilization.
This is the only way to halt the assault. If this is not done, you may well be writing editorials and publishing them in Spanish in the near future.
Are you prepared for this? If you are, we have already lost any vestiges of Anglo-American culture that are remaining.
