From the Politics of Personal Destruction to Reasonable Compromise:

#1 Undocumented Immigration

--- It is unfortunate that candidates for president concentrate their statements on character attacks of their opponents and polarized and intransigent policy positions.  I believe that candidates themselves would better serve the public by presenting proposals for viable compromises on the issues that have lingered in the limbo of inaction and gridlock.  Surrogates and the media will take care of the personal destruction part.  May I humbly propose here in my blog, and probably simply repackage the thinking of many others, a series of what I consider reasonable compromises.

Undocumented immigration has been a divisive issue for as long as I can remember, and I have been around for a while.  In the 50s and 60s, the exploitation and mistreatment of "braceros," cheap manual laborers imported across the Mexican border by American farmers, became a national scandal.  Cesar Chavez, a Mexican-American labor leader, founded the United Farm Workers Union in 1962.  His struggle gained national attention and the active support of political figures the likes of Robert F. Kennedy.  Over the years, the illegal employment of undocumented aliens by American industry, as well as households, has created a magnet for border crossers in search of a better life.  As the population of illegal immigrants grew, Congress granted a series of seven amnesties as follows:

  

1.         Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA), 1986

2.        Section 245(i) Amnesty, 1994

3.        Section 245(i) Extension Amnesty, 1997

4.        Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) Amnesty, 1997

5.        Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act Amnesty (HRIFA), 1998

6.        Late Amnesty, 2000

7.        LIFE Act Amnesty, 2000

1.     

 In total, these amnesties provided legal status to more than six million illegal aliens.  In the past 16 years, the undocumented population has accumulated again, but this time with more than 12 million people.  Calls for amnesty number eight have divided the nation.  Democrats want Hispanic immigrants to come and vote but not to take jobs from their union supporters, while Republicans want them to come and work cheaply but not to increase the democratic voting bloc.  The hypocrisy goes on at the expense of those who are forced to live in the shadows.

Today an argument on the "left" is that the millions of undocumented immigrants already in the U.S.  have contributed to our economy and deserve some form of legalization and not the cruel separation of individuals from their families, ergo amnesty number eight.

An argument on the "right" is that immigrants from countries with similar languages and cultural backgrounds are arriving in indigestible numbers and overwhelming our natural "social assimilation machine." It is further argued that what our country needs is more educated immigrants, who are in short supply for our economy, not more unskilled laborers to compete with the ones we already have.

Without taking sides, let's consider a simple compromise as follows:

1. For the "Right." 

a)      Provide the Immigration Control and Enforcement Agency (ICE) with whatever resources are needed to verifiably secure the Mexican-American border.

b)   Provide ICE with whatever resources are needed to pursue and deport all those who overstay their "visa period."

c)     Create a national electronic verification for employment system and provide ICE with whatever resources are needed to detect and substantially fine employers of undocumented immigrants.

d)      Prioritize future migration to favor those with the skills needed by our economy

2.  For the "Left."

a)      Suspend deportation of undocumented immigrants without a criminal record.

b)      Provide a grace period for undocumented immigrants in the country to register with the government for legal status and provide resources for a community-based registration system.

c) Reform the process that keeps applicants for legal entry waiting for many months and even years so that it can be a quick and efficient experience for future would-be Americans.

The trick to the compromise is that it all needs to be approved and funded simultaneously, without new promises of future compliance.  This compromise is simple and obvious if both sides act in good faith, it leads to gridlock when one side or the other tries to cheat.  The big losers are the undocumented immigrants now in the country and the country itself.

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