Conclusion

This proposal, while rough and incomplete, provides a positive solution for all three of our concerned groups.

American citizens would finally get the secure borders we have been promised for decades, and upon which our security so desperately depends. Millions of people here illegally would accept the Exit Incentive rather than risk being unceremoniously deported or imprisoned. The tax burden associated with supporting these individuals would be dramatically reduced. Employers would have access to the workers they need to survive, with complete assurance that they were acting lawfully. We would be able to hold our heads high, secure in the knowledge that we had made a good faith effort to improve the lives of millions of people in less fortunate nations by improving conditions in those nations – we would take particular satisfaction from helping those who never broke our laws by coming here illegally in the first place. It would give us what we most desire – for most of the illegals to leave, without feeling that we were mistreating them or condemning them to horrible conditions. For those who object to paying people to leave the country, a little perspective is required. The immigration plan currently being considered in the Senate has an estimated price tag of more than one trillion three hundred billion dollars – that’s $1,300,000,000,000.00! If twenty million individuals took advantage of the incentive program, it would cost one hundred billion dollars, less than 8% of that price. Five thousand dollars per individual is a small price to pay for having them voluntarily report, be positively identified and documented, and go home, without our immigration enforcement people having to put forth an ounce of effort. The total cost of this proposal would be perhaps one-third the cost of the Senate’s proposal, and would solve most of our immigration problems rather than perpetuating and exacerbating them.

Those here illegally would be given choices they currently lack. Those who are established in this country and assimilating to our way of life could choose to participate in the guest worker program and perhaps, in time, become United States citizens. Others could choose the Exit Incentive and return to their improving homelands with a means of support until they could find employment there – perhaps even taking advantage of training for police or military jobs offered them in this country prior to their departure. Those choosing to depart would be given time to wrap up their affairs in this country before leaving. Assuming they had committed no crimes, their records would be clean and they would be free to pursue citizenship in the future.

Those who have played by the rules could apply to the guest worker program without exorbitant fees. And all of their fellow citizens would benefit from the investment our coalition made in their country in terms of better living conditions and improved economies, whether they had any interest in any of the other programs or not.

The remaining illegal immigrants would face very well defined and strict penalties, and their numbers would be sufficiently reduced to make enforcement of those penalties much more viable and practicable.

America’s standing in the world would be enhanced by implementing such a plan. It would be fair to all involved, humanitarian to those less fortunate, and would create positive ripples across the globe as the economies of our southern neighbor nations improved and they became more active in global trade and production. Certainly there are difficult tasks involved in its implementation, but the positive outcomes would more than justify the effort required.
It is undeniable that corruption is a mainstay in the governments of many of the countries from which our illegal immigrants come, and there would be great resistance to our efforts to clean up their countries. Through a strong public relations campaign, however, we could sufficiently motivate the good citizens of those countries to join us in pressuring their governments – witness the massive rallies and demonstrations in Venezuela if you need proof of this. There are decent governments that would buy in to the coalition plan to get things moving, and the lure of billions of dollars in aid would be difficult for even the most corrupt leaders to resist. We cannot hope to guarantee free, prosperous societies for all of these people, but we can guarantee our firm commitment to do all we can to help them help themselves. Though failure may ultimately come, it will take long enough that our own immigration problem will be well on the way to a solution. Our good faith effort to help those less fortunate will be admired around the globe, and the burden on our country vastly lightened.

The sovereignty of this nation is far too critical to all of our global neighbors to allow it to be horribly diluted as would happen should the Senate immigration bill be enacted into law. Please help me get the word out that there is a better way, for all concerned.