March 28, 2006
My immigration plan
Okay, here is the situation as we have it... We have a de facto guest worker plan in this country, where millions of illegal immigrants, mostly but not entirely from Mexico, are in the United States and doing jobs that Americans don't, either because the pay is too low or the jobs are considered beneath our dignity. There have always been jobs like this throughout American history, and for reasons of practicality and economics we aren't going to change it.
I am not an expert on immigration issues, but I've thought about them a lot and this is the best I can come up with:
1. A modified version of the "guest worker" plan advocated by President Bush and others should be adopted. Under this plan, after a period of years -- two, three, four, I don't know how many -- workers can, if they desire and have a clean record -- move onto a citizenship track beginning by getting legal permanent residence as currently used.
2. If they don't want to move towards citizenship, worker permits can be renewed at that time.
3. Remittances to relatives in foreign countries should not be discouraged. (More here.)
4. The United States will probably always draw most of its foreign workers from Mexico and the Caribbean, but we should encourage a mixture of immigrants from other areas -- eastern and south Asia, Oceania, eastern Europe, and particularly Africa (which needs the help the most).
5. Workers who are already here illegally shall be allowed to apply for legal work status and should be given priority if they have otherwise clean records.
6. These workers have the full suite of rights under the American Constitution (with the usual exception of voting) and should not be forced into the inequitable and semi-slave conditions that have sometimes typified the relationships between foreign-born workers and American employers.
Okay, pick it apart.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:50 PM | Comments (5)