Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

"I believe there are two areas that the federal government needs to take immediate action--action that has been slow to come for far too long:
1. Securing the borders to insure safety for American citizens.
2. Correcting the broken legal immigration system."

As I have been traveling around the district I have been asked on occasion to discuss my position on immigration reform. As with many issues in this election cycle, the answers cannot easily be put into thirty second sound bites. Illegal immigration is recognized by almost all candidates as unacceptable, as is all illegal activity. However, solving the problem of illegal immigration is a large complex task which, like many problems our nation is facing today, is perpetuated by the failure of our federal government to act.

To understand the issue one must be open to understanding legal immigration and the limits placed on various countries around the globe as it relates to immigration to the United States. The rules are hopelessly complex and political forces have been in play for decades. One country's residents can immigrate to the US in fairly short order while another country's residents might have to wait ten to twenty years.

Add to this the economic issues in Central and South America, the collapse of the Mexican peso in the 1980's as well as other South American currencies, and the thousands of border miles to protect and things get even more complicated.

I believe there are two areas that the federal government needs to take immediate action--action that has been slow to come for far too long:
1. Securing the borders to insure safety for American citizens.
2. Correcting the broken legal immigration system.

Secure the borders:
If you visit any website of current Members of Congress (and my primary opponents too) you will find the simple statement above. "Secure the borders" as a stand-alone-three-words it makes for a great sound bite but it is much more comprehensive in practice.

If not a physical wall what else can be done? Below I offer some suggestions for securing our borders.

1. Electronic surveillance (in essence a technological wall) along the southern and northern borders should be implemented at the earliest possible time.

2. Border patrols should be expanded. Some US military personnel currently stationed abroad could be redeployed to the border-states. The appropriate laws can be put in place to allow these military personnel to prevent and detain those illegally crossing into the United States. This would be deficit neutral because we are already paying for these troops -- and redeploying to the border would provide economic stimulus for our border states. Right now that spending and economic benefit is going to foreign countries. I believe that the national security concerns we have along our borders is significant enough to warrant some drawdown of military personnel in places such as Germany or Japan and others whose economies are certainly able to provide for their own defense. I also believe that military leaders, not Congressmen, should decide where and how best to deploy the personnel.

3. Our Seaports need a higher level of inspection. We must thoroughly scan boats and shipping cargo entering our ports. That means additional man-power and technology to scan incoming cargo before it is off loaded onto US land.

4. As we saw at Christmas 2009 our airways are still not totally secured when flights enter the United States from foreign lands. There are infants that have their baby food thrown away on domestic flights but international inspections don't occur at all in some places…our TSA system is not working as it should.

Fix the legal immigration system:
It's relatively easy to get a visa to work or study in the United States if you have an advanced degree or seek one. Stop and consider that for a moment. American families send their children to college, spending tens of thousands of dollars to do so and then the government allows foreign workers to come in a take those high paying jobs under the guise of taking the smartest the world has to offer. We must thoroughly reevaluate our H-1B, L-1, J-1 and other visa programs to ensure our 10% national unemployment rate is not being exacerbated by our legal immigration mechanisms. Jobs that Americans want and can perform need to be going to our residents first.

So what should happen? The government needs to better analyze the needs of industries and the supply of available, domestic workforce and allow for immigration to meet any remaining needs legally, while not harming US job-seekers.

Secondly, the government needs to streamline the bureaucracy and years of time it takes for someone to immigrate to the United States legally. Immigration and Naturalization have been operating under a framework and guidelines that are woefully inefficient and virtually beg someone to break the law. Right now it is easier for someone to enter the United States illegally than it is to enter legally…no wonder we have a problem.

As is often the case the government has it backwards. We need to know who is in our country and be able to deport them if necessary--that will be increasingly difficult as long as immigration system remains in its current, virtually broken, state. Let's make it easier for people to do things the right and legal way and make it harder for them to do it the wrong way…commonsense that isn't so common in Washington DC.

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