America has been built on the backs and through the inspired minds of immigrants. My fathers’ family came to this country in 1869. My mothers' family came in the early 1600s. We are a nation of immigrants. Our country is a land of opportunity. [Read my thoughts on Arizona SB1070.]
We need immigration to work for this country as it has in the past. This means allowing honest and hard working people to come to our nation and become citizens. However, in today's global economy we also need it to be flexible to adjust to the needs of business, government and our citizens.
I believe the right solution includes the following:
We must strengthen and secure the border. However, the focus needs to be on protecting the nation from those that would do us harm - instead of blocking those that will build our economy, contribute to the government that protects them and bring a rich heritage into our nation.
We need to simplify and streamline the immigration process. We need to make the immigration process less cumbersome and less expensive. This will help eliminate the basic motivation to cross into the country illegally. Blocking the border and continually pouring money and resources into border security is a losing game unless we fix the basic motivation to steal into the country. The desire to steal illegally into the country will disappear if we simplify, shorten and lower the cost of entry. Honorable men and women will not want to live in this country under fear of deportation, risk of life and loss of opportunity when they know there is a clear path to enter legally, obtain citizenship and provide for themselves and their families in honest labor.
What to do with millions of illegal immigrants already in the country?
We need a guest worker program, with quotas tied to the unemployment rate - that does not lead to citizenship (see amnesty - citizenship is an option but is not guaranteed). The value of a guest worker program is it puts everyone into the system, everyone is identified, legally in the country and paying into system. Anyone that is not registered in the guest worker program can be captured, prosecuted and deported. In times of high economic growth, when skilled and unskilled labor is difficult to find, we need to substantially increase immigration quotas to allow working people into the country. At the same time, in times of high unemployment it is reasonable and pragmatic to turn the quotas down in order to maintain independence and strengthen self-reliance. Immigration quotas need to flex and be set on an annual basis to meet changing market conditions.
We need legal citizens - not amnesty programs. Every immigrant that wants citizenship must enter through legal means. I believe all current illegal immigrants, including those that register for a guest worker program, must re-establish residency in their home country for six months before they can apply for re-entry into the U.S. through legal means - assuming they have left the U.S. in good standing. Rewarding illegal immigrants with citizenship is wrong and contradicts my basic values of honesty, respect for the law and fairness. We should work with first generation immigrants to find an appropriate solution that levies consequences without inciting civil riots. No amnesty must be coupled with a guest worker program.
We should eliminate so called "birthright citizenship" when neither parent is a U.S. citizen. This is a practice that creates citizenship scenarios that can divide families. The citizenship of the child belongs most naturally with that of the mother. The child is a minor - the parents have obligations to provider for and nurture the child - not a foreign country.
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As a young man I was a seasonal laborer in the pineapple fields of Hawaii. Each season I would leave home for three to six months, live in a bunk house with 15-18 other young men and work in the fields. As I recall many of the locals preferred the easier and higher paying jobs of the tourism industry. Who wouldn't? I was a teenager with limited skills and would have done the same thing given the chance. However, I was still excited and thrilled to be working in the fields of Hawaii - even in the hot sun. I had a willing back was grateful for the work.
Years later, as an executive in a public company I found it exceptionally difficult to hire talented people that we needed to continue development of an innovative software solution. The company I worked for was hesitant to sponsor an H1B Visa employee because of the legal expense and difficulties that would be required to justify our hiring position to the government. This was a very frustrating experience. We had a qualified individual ready and willing to work, yet we were unable to hire him because the government expected us to prove that his skill set was unavailable among U.S. workers. This occurred during a time when unemployment was under 3%.
Based on these experiences, I support a guest worker program but it must be balanced by streamlined processes, responsible citizenship programs and better border security.