Immigration Reform

Immigration reform has been pending since the United States post WWII immigration laws began to expire.  Rather than  essay the whole matter in a tedious recitation, this blogger provides a few points to consider:

Before WWII American immigration was biased in favor of Europe – the primary immigration home of most immigrant Americans, since the English settlement of North America.

Immigration was severely restricted at the turn of the 20th century – 1900  when one in every four Americans was foreign born.  Assimilation was seen; and the population had increased by a third or more.

During the years before WWII, due to the depression, and compassion for refugees,America again opened her doors for greater immigration.  More began arriving from Europe.  Mainland China, had its biased anti-Asian restrictions relaxed, and refugees were welcoemd in relief from the Japanese-Chinese War before it became WWII; as America would also do after the Chinese Civil War.

Political Amnesty increased in the modern area – especially in relief to communist and right wing dictatorships.

In the last big overhaul, in the Johnson Administration , the policy of enlarging non-European immigration continued; with an eye to redress those limitations to immigrate of non-European people.  Quotas per nation, set by Congress, were objectively enlarged to allow more European immigration for the other continents, to reverse the old bias; and more Africans, South Asians, and Asians, and Latin Americans and other Southern Europeans & Middle Easterners came to America with their contributions in greater numbers.

The policy was to continue that non-European favoritism for 40 years to compensate for prior years restrictions, seen in the 60’s as unfair.

Immigration has largely been a success in populating the United States; with immigrants contributing talent and industry; creating wealth via work and productivity and enlarging the labor pool.

Modern immigration policies sustained by the United Nations, and other modern advanced nations now prefer to continue immigration, though simple continental populating is discouraged; on the basis of special talent and  family unifications; but the numbers would be severely reduced.  Family defined starts with nuclear family – mother, father, son, daughter, brother sister.  Not an organization styled a family, and may not permit cousins of further degrees unless space exists in the immigration quota.

Various reforms also include a lottery – by which so many chances to immigrate would allotted per continent or country or ethic group.

Investor and business immigration would continue.  Not all investors reside or inhabit permanently, and have two options – investing $150000 and employing 15 Americans in depressed areas; or investing $300000 and employing 30 Americans  in non-depressed areas.  Those investments may not be simple land purchases or securities portfolios, but actually new or ongoing businesses which employ.  That may continue in reform plans subject to an index in the amount of investment & employment.

Non-immigrant workers and programs to to bring them to the USA for genuine labor scarcities can and should continue.  These aliens worked lawfully here, live here to work and then return home.  Various programs with Mexico and Canada and other NAFTA partners should be favored.  Encouraging broader work scarcity immigration, or NAFTA work immigration with reciprocity, by work seeking registration –qualified by union hall registration if qualified, should be considered.

Language visas exist now, to allow persons to enter the USA and stay for as much as a year to acquire better English language skills via employment here.  These should continue, but the USA would benefit with an expansion to share English language kindred cultures with a similar program. As the program now stands, only aliens with a proficiency and desire to improve English as an idiom other than their own native tongue qualify for these visas.  Sometimes the problems with any of these is underground overstay.

This is incredible to need to write or say, but US immigration visas are ONLY issued by the US Department of State through consular offices.  They are not privately issued otherwise.

Corporate visas also bring in aliens without immigration, and allow a certain number of international corporations to transfer and bring in essential personnel as their corporate staff.

Student visas now abound, but aliens as students must receive an acceptance at an American college or university first in their own country.  They do not enter the USA as aliens and then stay as students.  That is illegal, and a source of abuse.  Each must be in their home country first, with an acceptance for study in the USA; and request and be granted, a  student entry visa to qualify.  They may work in the USA in the field of their studies only duirng their first year here, and in any field to meet their expenses in successive years, until their academic study here  is done.  Student fraud and overstays of formerly bona fide student aliens are problems.

Marriage and childbirth also contribute informally to immigration.  Previously, a man or woman could marry and stay in the USA as an immigrant spouse right up to the point of deportation.  Today, an alien may still, and that alien should be lawfully present,  without a deportation order may marry and acquire immigrant spouse status and a green card (work entitlement).  If one is an alien and receives a deportation order, then a marriage will grant immigration options as spouse only if the new spouse returns to the alien’s home country and they co-habit for two years minimum.  Also alien marriages, including those  before any deportation order, must last at least two (2) years, with exceptions for cruel and abusive marital circumstances.  This is the American law’s marriage fidelity test.

Childbirth in the United States, gives natural USA birth (native born – not lamaze; nor rejection of Caesarean birth) citizenship to the child.  The parent, always the mother, then seeks a stay in the USA as the essential and closest kin to the American newborn.   Some male idiots, outside of death of the mother at childbirth seek to stay on like the newborn’s mother.That mother acquires social services, including healthcare and welfare monies; and a green card.  Problem?  Well, that endangers many aliens who enter the USA to seek childbearing here or in a pregnant status and endanger themselves and their unborn, or newborn child  in the underground of illegal aliens.  All these options to stay must be formally recognized adjudicate and granted by the US government.  papers will be provided – status claiming is insufficient.

Best resolution?  Allow the newborn alien infant the allotted legal citizenship; but register and delay its full application until its adulthood or some earlier than majority age time when the child can elect US citizenship.  That former newborn would be adult or near adult with independent living abilities, and the right to enter and enforce or claim his US citizenship fully recognized.  That American could then seek next of kin admittance for his parents or family depending on his nationality’s quota.  In the meantime, that newborn child, when stable, would be deported to the mother’s home country.

Quotas still vary in fairness, but are allotted per the immigration numbers selected by Congress.  They are as political and controversial and messy as old tariffs.  everyone wants a special one.  Today, all legal immigrants line up and wait their number to come up.  They wait years, alien hopefuls do.  Every new marriage immigration and special child next of kin alien residency, moves another lawfully admitted  immigrant ahead of them.  They wait longer.  Amnesty – immigration amnesty, today does the same thing.  A past temporary presidential parole power was restricted in 1989-90 after the Tianenman Square Chinese student paroles.  The US President now has no blank check, and those paroles also count against nationality quotas.

Immigrants are still deported for crime, and activities which make then undesirable aliens.  So too can naturalized US citizens be deported with citizenship revocation,  if they made false citizenship statements etc.  All US civil servants must be US citizens; so too for the states.  Many of our ancestors were sworn in in masses to become policemen and firemen and city employees when the rules were enforced.  Able to do so,  they became US citizens.

Whatever our Congress decides, it must address the employment of non-immigrant Americans in balance against American unemployment; and with protections against wage & salary economic favoritism or bias.  Wages and and salaries and tax payments are at issue.  Immigrants, except emergency distress cases, may not qualify for welfare and must not become social support cases ( and few do).  Americans must also enforce the US tax codes and Fair Labor Standards Act.  Too many are seduced into discounted illegal alien foddered ‘fief’ building; cf ‘pyramids’ in which labor and work are illegally discounted or subcontracted for a criminal’s tax free profit.  Jobs and lawful work identities are increasingly illegally brokered by theses groups.

A new immigration law should allow the expensing of new English language education – instead of treating it as a capitalized non deductible cost.  In balance, American productivity would also allow a tax deductibility for new language learning for all Americans.

Assimilation also requires culture address and education.  Many metropolitan areas, San Francisco for instance,  have few public night school funds;  once a bread & butter education mainstay; and San Francisco may still have a 50,000 person waiting list for public English language studies.

The US federal government should, as previously in military impact aid, return immigration costs to the states in a per capita formulation.  American Armed Forces installations – army, air force &  navy posts & bases loaded up local schools in those years, and the service families were often not subject to state taxation.  So the Federal government provided aid per capita for school building and costs.

Alien registration should be reformed for security and fairness.  Instead of a onetime registration and another within 30 days of address or status change, the USA should have annual alien address and ID checks. These could be performed at the Motor Vehicle Administration in any American state or  jurisdiction on a birth date staggered basis – like drivers licenses.  Hardship? Americans need that security, and go through similar state required procedural checks now – income  tax filing and vehicle inspections.  All the procedure would require would be a computerized DMV visit for a verification of photo, fingerprint (thumbprint) and current address check.  The federal government would pay the additional cost, per capita..  Aliens would have the option of a USA state or local automobile driver license for ID, vehicle operation and public safety.  Because the state DL requires complex documents, the proof threshold would be their presence and those documents in hand.  Good record keeping, including thumb-printing, would provide options for arrest and deportation by those same habitation records.

Work identification will have to be strengthened.  The 90 day no tax with-holding is the biggest illicit immigration benefit going.  It should be abolished.  Also, the I-9  paperwork should no longer allow a cancelled or expired passport to be an employment proof of citizenship nor residency document.  Only current documents should be permitted (un-expired).

At one time, until the 50’s , immigration practitioners, non-lawyers, could handle immigration paperwork for aliens.  That should be restored; but like IRS practitioners and Patent Examiners, they would be registered with the Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS).    Today lawful aliens must pay a lawyer to certify INS papers in addition to INS fee requirements.  It is believed allowing “practitioners  of a non-lawyer variety would reduce alien related bureaucratic costs.

Like many countries, the United States of America does not share citizenship.  One may not have an American passport if claiming another nation’s citizenship and passport; or while serving in a foreign government; or foreign military; without explicit special exceptions.  That US Policy and law should remain.  The USA is a jealous nation, and shall have no others before it – on the matter of citizenship.

Keep a few of these matters  in mind and educate yourself to the whole issue; but remember that although there are humane international rights, there is no international human right to immigrate to any nation desired.  Further no one may be exiled if a natural born citizen of the country desiring to banish – that is a human rights crime. And, no deportee will be ‘keelhauled’ except through looks-away and neglect.  All deportees may opt for third country destinations –especially asylum cases.