Here is How I Would Handle Immigration
The political leadership is failing to resolve the immigrations issue because both sides have staked out incompatible positions based on perceived political benefit – not common sense.
Trump did a masterful job of resolving the border crisis in an amazingly short time – and has gotten high praise even from some Democrats. For all intents and purposes, no one is entering the United States illegally other than the drug cartels – and Trump is working on that.
Now that the focus is on removing those who are in America illegally – meaning they crossed the border illegally and are not eligible for asylum. Many are the so-called “worst of the worst”, but most are not hardened criminals. They are hardworking folks … good neighbors … nice people. However … they are still here illegally and mostly ineligible for asylum. According to the law, they should be deported.
Since many have settled in – often for years – they have developed roots. They have family and friends … classmates … co-workers. Then you have the Dreamers – those brought to the United States as children. Many have no personal connection to their ancestral land. Some do not even speak the language. They have been Americanized – and the general public sentiment is that they should be allowed to stay.
The Trump administration made a mistake. They assumed that since the vast majority of folks applauded closing the border, they would also support booting the millions of migrants who got in illegally over the past several decades. Not so.
Some Republicans fear that the reason why Biden encouraged the flood of migrants at the border was to influence the political balance – assuming most would align with the Democratic Party, become party workers and eventually voting citizens. For lack of a better explanation, the GOP’s concerns seem valid.
Early in his first Trump term, I proposed an immigration policy that would address the concerns and interests of both sides. I believed that any attempt to kick out millions of migrants would create more problems than it resolves. Apparently, it has been doing just that.
I actually sent my plan to key members of Congress. The response was underwhelming. I still believe it is a good plan – and it is obvious all the smart folks in Washington have not come up with anything better in the past eight-plus years
The “Horist Plan” – if you will — was based on in-depth vetting. Every undocumented person would be called on to complete, under oath, a rather long questionnaire. Questions like: How long have you been in the United States? Are you married (to an American)? Do you have children? Do you have a job? For how long? Have you been arrested, indicted, tried or convicted of any felony crimes? They would be asked to provide documentation. The actual questionnaire is much longer, more detailed and more complex. Each question has a numerical value. A perfect score is 1000 and there are three categories.
Those with the highest scores would be granted permanent status with 10-year parole period before becoming eligible for citizenship. That should allay concerns about skewing the vote with a large number of illegal aliens. The middle category would be deported without prejudice. They would be allowed to apply for re-admission to the United States with the 10 year parole provision. The lowest category would be deported and banned from re-entering the United States at any time for for any reason.
Failure to complete the form – and providing significant misrepresentations or lies would automatically put the person in Category 3.
The entire process would be managed by the immigration courts. However, they could handle cases by batch – possibly without the person having to appear. A number of ICE agents would be reassigned to verification – which would involve checking records rather than knocking on doors. They would operate more or less like IRS agents.
I understand that the plan has a certain level of amnesty since all the individuals involved broke the law. But a lot –arguably a majority – of those involved are leading productive lives and have proven to be beneficial to the nation.
Now that Trump has closed the border, we can address the situation that involves the millions of border crossers who entered the country under Biden’s grossly incompetent policies. Closing the border fixes half the problem – and has always been aa necessary prerequisite for addressing those already in the country.
Like any proposal, there are a lot of details to be hammered out through negotiations. But I believe that the underlying goal should be to stabilize the process by allowing the best of the best to remain in America legally – and the worst of the worst to be deported permanently.
So, there ‘tis.
What a thought provoking pian in an article that didn’t ding liberals, a pleasant rarity for me. Unfortunately, the lead-in seems to have a number of bogus detractions from your interesting finish. I will start up front and have a second post for your second, and better, half.
First, the lead in: You claim Trump’s success at the border, I agree, but, for me, the cost is too high. I think the same to be true for any gentleman that honors the founders, our vision, and our accepted norms of behavior. IMO, Trump’s success at the border is unamerican featuring cruelty as his main tool. I am sorry, but PR flicks of shackled men, hunched over, being led to military aircraft that cost $1M a flight, without adjudication, warrants, habeas corpus by sissies trying to be scary in masks is not who we are. I fear where this modus operandi gets extended to, and not too happy with Trump’s fate for the brown people, especially with tats. And it just got worse: helicopter assaults on Chicago apartments snatching many legal, numerous old people, with multiple camera crews making more PR flicks. Tackling women, is not who we are. Locking up old people, kids, crammed into vans for hours is not who were are. What you call marvelous is like me solving your stage cancer one by shooting you in the head. Works, but is it who we are as Americans? Christians?
You know that the border could be totally sealed to those looking for work by a nationwide passage of e-verify as the law of the land, a Republican bill that many Democrats would vote for, they have their own e-verify bill, if the shitheads would bring it to the floor. When they can’t’ work, they won’t come. Must better than cruelty for advertising purposes. Why didn’t you include e-verify in your plan? Doesn’t that effectively seal the border without being cruel and unusual? Implement national e-verify system should be the first words out of either of our mouth’s whenever anyone says: undocumented.
Why isn’t e-verify the cornerstone of your plan?
FYI: I am sorry, but focus? When did Trump’s lack-of-coherent strategy change from 20 million must go to his later strategy of finding the worst-of-the-worst and now his strategy shifts back to: “get em all out by Friday?” Does he even know what he’s doing or is he just playing shark, swimming around with his project 2025 buddies and chewing up anything once bumped into? He bumps into “can’t do 20 millilon, it’s a joke, and turns to criminals and bumps into, “shit, got the es ones and the rest are hard to find and turns back to 20 million. If the old strategy is the new strategy, you will fail, you have already failed, you can’t succeed in four years. PERIOD. Just do the math starting with 20,000,000 must go in four years. Fact is Trump has been targeting the brown people, not criminals. DHS estimates 450K criminals, a long shot away from 20M. CATO estimates as the end of November are 150K criminal convictions deported, 6% are traffic violations. 5% are violent crimes. Not close to 450K. When you can’t reach your goal, claim success and change the goal? To a new one that’s impossible to accomplish but let’s you target a whole class of people: the brown people? Now, that’s good television. And perhaps that the point: fear and loathing, Trump’s stock in trade. And due to his strategies, he’s circling the bowl but can’t stop. If he claims it’s over, they come to the border again. No e-verify to stop them from getting jobs. If he continues, ultimately, he will fail, the numbers were always against him doing this in over a decade, much less four years. And he needs the cruel and unusual PR flicks to keep that border sealed. He playing the waiting game riding with the tidy bowl man while thinking he can change the strategy again to say: look at me, look at what I did, don’t look at what I promised, this is better than Biden, better than Obama. Is it?
Larry then gets a bit silly and says: “For lack of a better explanation, the GOP’s concerns seem valid.” Come on man. You do realize no matter what you are talking about, this statement is not logical. As in this dog don’t hunt. For lack of a better explanation, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s concerns that Larry must be a pedophile seem valid because there are children. Illogical to conclude something just because you lack an explanation.
We have not a clue and therefore, you are light years from declaring something “valid,” much less mission accomplished. Fact is it is just weird at this point and based on actual data, some that you have offered recently, Latino’s vote across the political spectrum and many are highly religious conservatives. My God, you live in Miami. You telling me those Catholic Cubans are not conservatives? As you must know, you yourself said they are coming to Trump’s party in droves. As to why Joe let it happen, more important why he did not bring the hammer down until mid-2024 is obviously his biggest blunder in his Presidency crushing our chances to continue to lead. You can’t believe he’s both demented, sleepy, and still playing the long game to support the party.
The plan: I like it. Merry Christmas and see you in the next post and that. I have comments, additions mostly, but really like your plan. Brave guy to go so magnanimous on the undocumented in the time of Trump trying to MAWA. Psssst: Don, America was never white to begin with. Not even in Queens.
Singer the brown people don’t belong here unless they have the proper paperwork. What’s wrong with that? The same should apply if we go to their countries. It has nothing to do with being brown. You’re trying to play the victim race card again. Masked sissies? The agents and their families are in danger, which your silence on that issue is deafening. My advice to the brownies. Get documentation and come on in. You people only care about suppling plenty of gimme gimmee to earn their illegal votes. Speaking of which, trump was right about Georgia. And there’s more to come. So be a good Marxist and sing woody Guthrie songs. Like this land is your land. And I agree if people are here legally. And of course there’s private property rights. And you fail to mention the traffickers and cartel gang members getting rounded up. So keep fighting the bad fight and support your socialist policies
Mr. Danger – why don’t you start your own post? It would be a delight not to read. Your comments are nothing but TDS personified and a waste of internet space.
Don, no. TDS is a made up thing to demean others by weak debaters when unable to meet them in discussion of the issues. If you have something to say about the issues, fire away. But keep the person out of it please. Adds nothing which is apparently what you’re bringing to this issue.
Feel free to have your opinion, but check me on the facts where I am usually spot on. If you don’t believe the truth; show me, show us, do more than bark at the moon.
Here we go again! The same worn out excuses why the leeches and parasites should not be removed from the country! We heard all this during billy bubba clinton’s time as he built the parasite’s bridge to steal American’s financial future! All illegals regardless of how long they have been here SHOULD be deported! They knew they were breaking our laws, they were stuffing the ballot box during elections with ballots voting to put those useless candidates in office that would turn a blind eye if not help them game the system! If their anchor babies can’t speak their language that is on them! Send them all back, no exceptions, they are criminals! While they game our system and get most everything for free, some also work as lawn keepers, never claiming that money or being taxed on it, so they are stealing in more ways than one! Everyone one of them need to be finger printed and if caught by ICE or Border Patrol in our country again, then they get to do 5 years in a foreign prison of America’s choice! Let’s see how many of them run in the streets of America protesting then! Round them up, ship them out! And don’t tell me that this is not who we are, you don’t break into a country and demand everything for free while you complain about the country! These illegals are being used against America by the left to keep them in power because their own constituents have finally realized the evil intent!
I do like the plan and admire Larry’s anti-Trump stand on the undocumented. It’s easy to accomplish, should attract a wide audience of the undocumented, and seems fair. But it will not totally FIX the problem: need e-verify to do that.
My comments: not sure why a priority on long survey. Quality, not quantity. Contrary to my writing style, or lack thereof, I like short, concise, efficient and effective surveys but would never hold long or short as a metric: appropriate is better.
Should not be a scored test but a pass/fail; it’s not a contest as you seem to be setting it up as. No need to beat others and therefore you win, they lose. Not sure where your win-lose state of mind is an advantage in this. It should be a bar: pass/fail.
Therefore, I can see two categories and toss the middle one, binary pass/fail, either you are in or out and you are not competing with other undocumented for the right to stay. Living is America is not a prize, America is a vision, and if you have it, if you will die protecting it, should be good enough.
And FYI, having ICE there means no undocumented will show up and the program is a bust. Probably think if ICE is there, the brown people will be led to the showers….. Some say ICE wear masks to protect from later attacks. Who is on first: they wore the masks well before any attacks. What would you do if a masked man, no papers, no badge, not even a emblem, came a knock, knock, banging, on your door? I think you 2A types have already responded.
The fine, pre-Trump, for many Presidents is about $250 for the misdemeanor. I have no issue with folks paying the fine, a fine, whatever. They did break the law and MAGA needs to be served something for losing their lawnmowing jobs. They won’t balk at it either, not at those prices. It’s fair. Even if you add interest at T-bill rates.
But if you do this without e-verify, I guarantee the border jumping with start anew. We are still, until Trump fixes it, the richest nation around and a magnet for anyone looking to do better. You can’t stop the drugs, you cannot stop the people, once you honor the Constitution in how you handle them.
As good a solution as I have seen, and goes way beyond just dreamers to solve a lot of the remaining problem now that the border is sealed. If you get e-verify, these people can’t work and must fill out your form or go hungry. They complete each other.
Thanks Larry, brave guy to do this, and Ukraine, in your current party of one. Tis the right thing: IMO.