{"id":448781,"date":"2010-03-19T18:28:22","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T22:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.szone.us\/f95\/better-way-mend-immigration-41150\/"},"modified":"2010-03-19T18:28:22","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T22:28:22","slug":"a-better-way-to-mend-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/448781","title":{"rendered":"A Better Way to Mend Immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>On 03.19.10 09:25 AM posted by Jena McNeill<\/p>\n<p>\n&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/graham-schumer-100319.jpg&quot;&gt;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/graham-schumer-100319.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/>&lt;\/p&gt;Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham  (R-SC) &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/03\/17\/AR2010031703115.html&quot;&gt;published an op-ed featured in today\u0092s Washington Post which outlines  their plan for comprehensive immigration reform.* The two Senators emphasized  that their approach is \u0093the right way to mend immigration.\u0094 This strategy comes  as a result of President Obama\u0092s campaign promise to pursue comprehensive  immigration reform within his first year in office\u0097a deadline that has since  passed, leading to significant pressure to take up  legislation.&lt;spanid=&quot;more-29308&quot;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;<\/p>\n<p>The basic idea of \u0091doing something\u0092 to fix  immigration is an idea that all Americans can rally around. We can all agree,  and Senators Schumer and Graham rightly assert, that \u0093our immigration system is  badly broken.\u0094* Their plan, however, which centers on an amnesty for the 10.9  million illegal immigrants inside the  U.S.,  would punt the immigration problem to the next generation of Americans by  encouraging even more illegal migration into the  United  States.* Specifically, the  plan is described in four pillars:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u0093requiring biometric Social Security cards to  ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs\u0094<\/li>\n<li>\u0093fulfilling and strengthening our commitments on  border security and interior enforcement\u0094<\/li>\n<li>\u0093creating a process for admitting temporary  workers\u0094<\/li>\n<li>\u0093implementing a touch but fair path to  legalization for those already here.\u0094<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first pillar will undoubtedly be controversial for  millions of Americans concerned with the idea of a national identification card.  Heritage has long stood up against efforts to create such a card, and any  legislative mandate that would take that step should be subjected to  considerable scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>However, the success of pillar one still rests on the  ability of the United States to be successful at pillar two\u0097strengthening the  security of the border and maintaining a robust interior enforcement system.*  Without enforcement\u0097immigration laws are relatively meaningless.* And given the  Obama Administration\u0092s recent rollbacks in immigration enforcement  efforts\u0097including decreased to non-existent workplace checks, discouragement of  state and local enforcement programs, and an all-out abandonment of Social  Security No Match\u0097the Administration has failed to show much dedication to the  enforcement of the law.* E-Verify, the Administration\u0092s golden egg of  enforcement is good, but it isn\u0092t perfect and still fails to stop those  individuals engaged in identity theft.* The Senators are right when they assert  that there has been significant border progress over the past few years,  however, without an interior enforcement system, half of the job is left  unfinished.<\/p>\n<p>Without such an enforcement and security system in  place, it is difficult to see how the fourth pillar\u0097legalizing the illegal  immigrants here in the United  States, would do anything but  contribute further to the America\u0092s  immigration problem.* In fact in 1986 we did an amnesty for those here in the  United  States\u0097but failed to  finish the border and enforcement piece, sparking a wave of illegal immigration  that brought us to where we are today.* Immigration experts can argue the  semantics of whether a legalization is the same as an amnesty\u0097but with a lack of  enforcement and the hope of a job inside the United States, such an action will  encourage more people come to illegally.<\/p>\n<p>Fundamentally, it is unfair to straddle the next  generation of both American citizens and new immigrants with a problem that can  be tackled now in an incremental fashion.<\/p>\n<p>The plans third pillar actually hints of this  better way forward, one that would not involve amnesty or the need for anything  that resembles a national id card.* This approach recognizes the need to make  America\u0092s  immigration system better able to meet the needs of the economy while allowing  new immigrants to come to the U.S. for a new  life and new opportunities.* By taking a phased approach which starts with  robust border and immigration enforcement and is followed by a significant  overhaul in legal immigration processes \u0096including better visa management, a  pilot temporary worker program, and better citizenship programs\u0097the U.S. can  begin to tackle the immigration problem.* At the same time, the  U.S.  should look for ways to help the economic development and public safety in  Mexico  and Latin America.* These measures would  greatly decrease the incentive for south-north migration and for individuals to  overstay their visas.<\/p>\n<p>Solving illegal immigration is more often than not  phrased as a choice between amnesty and mass deportation.* Schumer and Graham  rely on those talking points. Undoubtedly, this is a great line for an op-ed,  but not representative of reality. Most Americans want a solution that does  neither.* They want an immigration system that enforces the law, helps the  economy, betters  America\u0092s  image, and brings new immigrants into the  United  States, much like their  ancestors did not so long ago.* This should be the goal of real immigration  reform.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/03\/19\/a-better-way-to-mend-immigration\/\" >http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/03\/19\/&#8230;d-immigration\/<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 03.19.10 09:25 AM posted by Jena McNeill &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/graham-schumer-100319.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/03\/17\/AR2010031703115.html&quot;&gt;published an op-ed featured in today\u0092s Washington Post which outlines their plan for comprehensive immigration reform.* The two Senators emphasized that their approach is \u0093the right way to mend immigration.\u0094 This strategy comes as a result of President Obama\u0092s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}