Immigration: A REAL Plan
Politicians like my opponent ducked illegal immigration for decades. He has no plan. I do: 1) ban asylum requests at border; 2) all must request asylum in country of origin and be vetted there; 3) demand ethical behavior by only allowing employment after being granted asylum or a work visa; 4) all entering illegally lose right to claim asylum; 5) President shuts border to illegal entry until Congress enacts an immigration plan; 6) increase border patrol & triple immigration court staff to end multi-year backlog; 7) seal entire border; 8) strictly enforce labor laws by prosecuting and fining violating employers; 9) revise laws as needed. The President’s recent executive order is inadequate, merely limiting crossings to 2500/day (over 900,000 annually). The millions here illegally get more costly help than homeless Americans in desperate need. Study my plan (below). It is fair & thorough.
TOPICS:
Genuine Asylum or Money Seekers?
Satisfy Work Visas Quickly
Adequate DOL Staff
Walls & Airports
Asylum Laws
Ethics Matter
ICE
Environment & Water
Stunted Jobs Growth
Foreign Policy & Mexican Role
Who Can Stay
Overwhelmed Courts
Political Dysfunction
Chain Migration
Child Labor
Criminals & Drug Addiction
Homeless Deserve Priority
Smugglers & Lies
A Comprehensive Plan:
Genuine Asylum or Money Seeking? Some migrants have legitimate asylum claims. Some fabricate claims and are coached what to say. Entering because they want more money is unacceptable. We have obligations to provide jobs to American citizens. We must prioritize American citizens who need work. Allowing millions to cross the border without court hearings, effectively meaning they never leave, is irresponsible.
Satisfy Work Visas Quickly. Businesses (or parents) have labor needs, from farms to poultry factories to nannies. Ensure everyone works legally with a work visa. It involves: 1) massively increasing DOL staff, 2) punish and fine employers who hire workers without a work visa, 3) eliminate the visa lottery where only 1/4 of H1B applicants are accepted and satisfy reasonable employer needs to encourage legal hiring, 4) deny visas to anyone not granted asylum or here illegally, 5) only grant visas to those enrolled in a college or who apply in country of origin, and 6) revise DOL procedures so that visa applications are decided in 3 weeks. Document forgers must be prosecuted and deported. Many employers have legitimate labor needs. Fill those needs, but do it correctly. Everyone who works must have a work visa. All employers violating laws must be heavily fined and punished. News reports note it could take up to 100 years to address violators given current staff. Triple DOL staff annd let local law enforcement assist.
Adequate DOL Staff. DOL and Homeland Security (HS) need far more staff to conduct speedy trials and enforce labor and visa compliance. Letting people work without visas mocks labor laws. Employers violating laws must be prosecuted and heavily fined. Enforce laws - this is not the wild west.
Walls & Airports. Complete border barriers at any low cost option that does the job. But a wall isn’t enough. You cannot put a wall on the river bordering Texas and Mexico. The wall is a symbol of a singular idea that will not solve a complex problem. We see pictures of holes cut through metal. Holes allow people to enter illegally. So will tunnels or airports where people arrive with a passport. Solutions require far more than a wall. Illegal immigration also comes at airports. People remaining in the U.S. after visas expire should be quickly apprehended. Enforce laws!
Asylum Laws. Laws are of a past era and need updating. Many migrants make false asylum claims and millions worldwide will come given lax enforcement. Allowing 30, 40 million people to enter stresses our economy and environment. We cannot endlessly be the world's savior. Population rising to 400 million onward does not bode well for quality of life. Key to the problem is corrupt South and Central American countries overrun by cruel drug gangs. Until this is addressed millions will migrate. This is further discussed below in "Foreign Policy,"
Ethics Matter. Many come for economic gain, making false asylum claims. Let’s not be naive. Many lie or are coached what to say. This is not ethical. Do they deserve citizenship if oppression claims are a lie? Being compassionate does not mean supporting dishonesty. If you went to Paris on a three month visa but worked illegally for two years, you’d expect French police to come and say your visa expired, you broke the law, go home. That includes those in America without a work visa. Migrants have obligations to be honest. Ethics matter
ICE. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) are unfairly vilified. Why is it okay for people to live here illegally for years without following immigration laws or paying taxes, yet ICE agents are vilified like Nazis? This is unfair. People here illegally should not be glorified and ICE agents should not be demonized. Allow federal agents to do their job. People who violate laws should be appropriately punished. Allow federal agents are not concentration camp guards. They are human beings like you and me doing the job they are paid for: enforcing laws.
Environment & Water. Immigration is also an environmental issue. It is astonishing how little news services little cover the environmental impact of immigration. Millions entering the country will require the destruction of perhaps millions of acres of farmland, nature, or forests to house them - all replaced by parking lots, buildings, congested roads clogged by cars, and more greenhouse gases. How many more millions of acres of forestland and farms must be torn up? There are water shortages in the southwest. Millions more people will place further demands deepening water shortages. Immigration proponents give no thought to environmental impact. They should.
Stunted Jobs Growth. Note the below except from the Center for Immigration Studies:
“… too many U.S.-born are missing out on the supposed “job-creation boom.” It is true that the country has added millions of jobs since the height of Covid. However, most of that employment growth has gone to immigrants, both legal and illegal. The government’s household survey shows that there were only 971,000 more U.S.-born Americans employed in May 2024 compared to May 2019 prior to the pandemic, while the number of employed immigrants has increased by 3.2 million.”
Job growth is often illusory: only 25% of newly created jobs went to American citizens. ProtectIo of needs of American citizens must be part of economic policies.
Foreign Policy & Mexican Role. Foreign policy plays a role. The border crisis is brought on by people escaping Venezuela and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador plagued by corrupt government and drug gangs. People fear corrupt police, rape, or torture. Foreign policy must punish narco-states. Intervention is distasteful, but the problem is at our doorstep. Often overlooked is the role of Mexico. Why is Mexico’s southern border so easily crossed by countless thousands of people? Why do millions march 2000 miles north to the American border? Why are smugglers able to extract ransom? How heavily is the notoriously corrupt Mexican government involved with smugglers and drug trafficking causing ruin or death to millions of Americans? Make Mexico handle migrants instead of letting them cross into America. Ponder these matters!
Who Can Stay. Obviously, anyone who applies legally and is accepted. DACA (“Dreamers”) should stay. It is cruel policy for someone who lived here all his/her life, 20 years, has a college degree, or served in the army, to be forcibly returned to a country they have never seen or whose language they don't speak. It is in our economic interest to keep educated people here. Factory or farm workers should stay as long as they are sponsored by employees, have approved work visas, and follow our laws.
Overwhelmed Courts. Triple immigration court staff to end multi-year backlogs. Court dates occur years later and people rarely leave. The courts are grossly underfunded - a backlog of millions of cases. The solution is to hire thousands- more immigration judges and attorneys to quickly handle asylum cases at the border. We cannot expect people to leave 5-10 years after building a life here or raising children. Quickly conduct hearings at borders and airports.
Political Dysfunction. DOL and HS are woefully understaffed. Failed bipartisan cooperation is troubling. Why were negotiations secretive and once details emerged, outrage? Why were the House Speaker and key leaders not at the conference table? Why was a presidential candidate able to torpedo everything? All leaders should negotiate in good faith. The situation will remain bleak until leaders put cynical politics aside.
Chain Migration. Chain immigration (bringing cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents) needs proper asylum applications. Automatic citizenship just because a relative lives here is wrong. Everyone should go through the asylum process in country of origin.
Child Labor. According to reports, nearly 400,000 children and teenagers crossed the border since 2020 without parents or family. Many minors are sent here to work and send money to families. Young teenagers do harsh work in dangerous professions. It violates labor laws and requires enforcement. It is disgusting that 100,000s of teens illegally do horrible work. This is the 21st-century. Fund the DOL properly so that it can do its job.
Criminals & Drug Addiction. It should concern all of us that drug gangs and criminals can easily enter. It is in our interest to ensure everyone is vetted at the border… unless you welcome gangs, criminals, or terrorists in your neighborhood. Don’t delude yourself with Hollywood notions of lovable immigrants. Further, a comprehensive plan must address drug addiction. Millions ruin their lives and provide billions in income to criminals in Mexico and Central America. Improving quality of life in those countries and encouraging their citizens to remain includes stopping American addicts from funding drug cartels. Rehabilitation and mental health counseling are part of the problem… and solution.
Homeless Deserve Priority. Even before millions of migrants arrived, we had a crisis of homeless people. They must be prioritized and resources must be directed to them. They face serious problems - psychological, drug addiction, broken families. The homeless were not receiving adequate help. There is a cynical irony in New York City, where the near-200,000 migrants receive costly residences in hotels, daily meals and healthcare, whereas the homeless are, well, still homeless. Is this fair?
Smugglers & Lies. People come here with delusions that life is easy. Foreigners, through TV and media, must understand how difficult it is here. What kind of life is here for them? New Yorkers witness huge increases in prostitution in Queens County or mothers and young children selling candies in subways. This is a better life? There are questions we need to ask, like why our government is passive in dealing with this.