Lonsberry: WE MUST FIX AND WELCOME LEGAL IMMIGRATION

USCIS San Jose Field Office

Photo: iStock Editorial

We've shown we can keep them out, and that we can kick them out, but can we figure out how to let them in?

Immigrants. Foreigners. Aliens.

Now that we've fixed illegal immigration, can we fix legal immigration? Now that we've figured out how to keep them from sneaking in the back door, can we find a way to let them legally in the front door?

We've spent most of the last half century making it almost impossible to do it right, and extraordinarily easy to do it wrong. Our national policy, on purpose or by accident, has promoted and rewarded illegal immigration. Those who have honorably stood in line have waited years and spent tens of thousands of dollars, while those who were willing to break the law have had instant entry and benefited tremendously.

The system has helped the politicians, but screwed the country. Democrats wanted to change the culture and enlarge the dependent class and secure future voters for themselves; Republicans wanted cheap labor.

And they both wanted money, the money they could raise by pitting us against one another. The Democrats by depicting Republicans as racists and xenophobes, and the Republicans by depicting Democrats as opening the nation to invading hordes.

And so, they did nothing. They let the problem fester. Democrats controlled the Congress and the White House and did nothing to fix immigration; Republicans controlled the Congress and the White House and did nothing to fix immigration.

And the country suffered.

And now the problem is half solved. Trump has secured the border and is deporting the illegal aliens. But half solved isn't solved.

It's time to make a simple, quick, affordable immigration policy that will use common sense and common courtesy to open our doors to immigrants who can contribute to our country. We need highly educated people and manual laborers, and everybody in between, and there should be a system that lets those people in quickly and legally to meet the needs of our economy.

Prior policies, that discriminated against white people and Protestants, and which favored people culturally hostile to American values, must be replaced. They have not helped immigration, they have invited colonization, often hostile colonization, by bringing in people who refuse to assimilate and who create enclaves antagonistic to American culture and values. We don't need people from failed or primitive societies bringing their social dysfunction or backward ways here.

Further, we must reject existing policies which seem intended to turn immigrants into welfare recipients who are acculturated into broken communities within the American society. Paying progressive non-profits to take immigrants to the welfare office and to find them apartments in the failed neighborhoods of America's big cities might pay off for a political party, but does nothing but weaken our country.

The irony of our failed immigration system is that no nation on earth has ever done immigration better or more enthusiastically than the United States of America. For most of two centuries, this country brought in new Americans at a thundering rate.

But then we ruined it. We got woke, we got stupid, we got screwed.

And this is our chance to fix it.

First, open the doors. Decide that a good flow of the right immigrants will bolster our country, and maybe remind a rising tide of entitled Americans how to get off their ass and work.

Second, screw multiculturalism. This is America. If you're going to come here, come here to be American. Learn the language, respect the values, appreciate the history. Your old country sucks. If it didn't, you would have stayed there. You're coming here to become us, not to conquer us.

Third, make sure the immigrants support themselves. No welfare benefits of any kind for the first five years, at least. Go back to the old system of requiring immigrants to either have a sponsor -- like a relative, a church or an employer -- to cover their expenses, or have them certify that they will not be a burden on the taxpayer.

Fourth, create a registry of open jobs and willing employers. Let the farmers and the builders and the landscapers and whoever else needs help post on a giant database. If a farmer needs five guys on Monday, and somebody pre-screened in Mexico or England sees that on Friday, make it so that worker can be on that job Monday morning.

Make work visas quick and flexible, to meet the needs of American employers and the employment desires of foreign nationals -- whether they come as temporary workers or are put on a track that can lead to permanent status and citizenship.

Fifth, find a way to quickly screen and permanently track guest workers and immigrants. Come up with one-stop health and criminal screening that can red light or green light people quickly. And then mandate regular, maybe weekly, check in. There has to be a technology that can do that.

Sixth, let everybody know that coming to America is a privilege, and people who violate or disrespect that privilege will be shown the door immediately. If you end up in the backseat of a cop car, we kick you out. If you end up on welfare, we kick you out. If you end up marching around with a sign before you're a citizen, we kick you out.

This isn't complex. It's common sense. And it's how we did it for almost 200 years.

And we should do it again.

We've learned how to keep them out, and we've learned how to kick them out, now we have to learn how to let them in.

It's time to have legal immigration that builds our country and welcomes our new neighbors.


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content