Proactive Immigration Policy for the Benefit of Our Children

Our congress has approved the building of a 700 mile double security fence. This is not to keep our people from leaving as in Cuba, North Korea and other totalitarian nations, but to prevent people from entering our country illegally.

Too many of these people are not entering this country with the desire to be Americans. There is no commitment to assimilation. There is no urge to learn English or about America’s “exceptionalism”. They would rather retain their culture and take back to their native land whatever they can. They do not want to “pay their dues” to be part of America.

America loves hardworking people who come here for greater freedom and economic opportunity, not gangsters or freeloaders. We are a nation of immigrants who chose to sacrifice to become citizens of their adopted country. We have thrived by opening our arms to immigrants from all over the world. These immigrants transformed America into an economic super power.

The overwhelming majority of our citizens are not racist. However we are against aliens who sneak into our country without obeying the laws that our immigrant relatives followed. My father, with his mother came to America a year after my grandfather settled here. All of them had to pass through Ellis Island. They were interviewed by government bureaucrats to determine their suitability. Some of the immigrants had an X marked on their backs. This meant rejection and return to the country of origin.

These people who were deported did not merely cross a border on foot but were sent back on another long journey across the ocean. The screening was to weed out criminals, mentally and emotionally defective and diseased people as well as those who possessed anti-American sentiments.

All nations have a right to an immigration policy to protect and strengthen their nation. They do this by establishing a criteria for entering their country legally. We previously have had a generous immigration policy with common sense restrictions to prevent the overburdening of our society. There is no constitutional right to provide an illegal alien with free medical care, education, college tuition or welfare. Even citizens are not entitled to a “free lunch”.

Our economy will not be destroyed, as many anti-immigration reformers believe, by preventing illegals from entering our country or deporting those who break the law. The illegals who pick our crops, wash our dishes and work in other menial positions can be replaced by legal immigrants.

The USA is in an enviable position for selecting immigrants. It is almost everyone’s first choice as the place to emigrate. We can choose from the cream of the crop of interested immigrants worldwide. We can benefit from new blood to revitalize the middle class. It has to be the right type of mixture to blend into a unified nation.

E pluribus Unum- (from many- to one) should be our immigration guiding principle to maintain a strong and healthy nation. This will return us to the melting pot philosophy that has served our country well. The melting pot leads to assimilation while the “salad bowl” concept leads only to conflict and disunity.

Recent immigrants can retain certain aspects of their native culture while becoming productive and patriotic Americans. Accomplishing this will take the following steps:

• Determine through a systematic study the type, number and nation of origin of the immigrants we desire. The age, education and occupation should be factors in this selection process. Ireland has recently accepted 150,000 highly educated and motivated Polish immigrants into their country. We should do no less.
• Establish a modern Ellis Island here or develop a series of screening facilities in our embassies throughout the world.
• Require English proficiency to become a citizen.
• Eliminate dual citizenship that promotes divided loyalties.
• Deport any illegals who violate another US law including voting illegally.
• Enforce Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Reform Immigration Control Act that places sanctions against employers especially large international corporation’s hiring of illegal immigrants. This will create a disincentive for illegals to come to America.

Our immigration policy should be for the wellbeing of our entire population not the narrow interest of international corporations. These corporations can corrupt any policy by their money and lobbyists. Our middle class, not elites, should be heard in congress to put us back on the right immigration track.

We will pass our nation onto our children whatever condition it is in. Our children deserve an immigration policy that benefits America’s future interests. We, the people, not large corporations or the international elite, should determine these revisions.

Let us continue to demand that our representatives formulate and enforce laws that select the best and brightest foreigners to experience the American dream.