Issue 115 Ideal Immagration part 1 July 8, 2013

Immigration is the hottest topic amongst politicians in all western countries. Why? Because immigration defines what jobs are taken, how the country progresses forward and even new political leaders. I write today a 3 part breakdown of an ideal immigration system. Let's get started.

Know who goes in and out: One of the key pieces needed for modern 21st century immigration is a system that monitors when someone from another country comes into a country. This can be done through a passport or even electronic finger prints, but it also must be applied when the person leaves as well. The reason is so that we know that they actually left. There are thousands of immigrants who come here to the United States legally and they simply disappear into society. The result is that we never know if and when they leave. So by tracking these people as they come in and out we will know whether we have to find them or not. As an added bonus, we can also track where they go when they leave to better help understand population movements and use it as a form of intelligence if say they happen to be an enemy of the State.

Back Ground Checks: With all the data mining going on, background checks are becoming very routine. Thus, we can easily apply it to those visiting the United States and those who want to become American Citizens. So what do we look for in a background check? We look for what groups they are affiliated with (economic, ideological, religious, etc). This helps determine if they may or may not potentially be spies or terrorists. Job history and family history also aid in determining if the person is right for society. There will be two tiers of classification though. Tier one are those who are visiting for a vacation which can generally last 2 months. As such government officials will look at the type of tickets they bought (one way, two way, for how many people, etc.) and their other purchases such as hotel rooms and intended places of travel. This is a type of profiling to aid in determining if the person is a possible threat, but vacations are short and only require more modest scrutiny such as basic affiliations. Those wanting to stay longer will require a full and lengthy background check to get a clearer picture of who they are.

Those who come in illegally: It is hard to police those who sneak over the boarder (and they are not just Mexicans, they are Irish, Russian, African, etc.). Any new immigration policy will attempt to deal with them in some way, shape or form. Problem, if you try to determine if they were born to illegal immigrant parents or not, it is almost impossible without a birth certificate. As such if they do have a birth certificate they should become legal citizens right away. But for those without then they will have to apply like everyone else. I offer no penalty save deportation if it is determined that they have no job, are homeless and may have gang or other negative affiliation. Those without such affiliations will be allowed to stay, and receive a small $1,000 fine. Why such a small fine? You're not going to take back taxes from them, or give them additional punishments? Well, no as that would not solve the problem at all. The small fine works to pay for the costs of them becoming official citizens if the want (those who do not want to be citizens will have the fine used to buy them a plane ticket home). Jailing them just costs too much and makes no sense for a person who committed a non-violent crime, and taxes that they should have paid if they came legally are nearly impossible to determine. So I will not bother wasting time on something so expensive. But these illegal migrants will be required to go through a background check. As to those who are deported, they may re-enter after 90 days if they are determined to be a person in good standing through the background check, and this time we know who they are and when they leave.

Conclusion: By making the system requirements easy to understand and go through, you limit the hard ship and incentive to seek an alternative rout such as illegal immigration. Keep it simple, yet effective. Once done, the only ones left crossing will still be those who wish to dodge the system for what ever reason. If and when caught, they will go through the same process as an illegal immigrant who is already in country, a background check, a small fine and possible deportation. We want immigration, and we want them to come in the front door. Sure the above is not ideal. Some may want all illegals deported, or want more penalties and fines, but those cost lots of money and the crime is almost always victimless. There is no sense jailing some one for a crime if their punishment is better served like a traffic ticket, and that they still must go through the same process as everyone else. The ideal is not ideal, but it is better than the status quo.