Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

I wholly support an immigration policy designed to enhance the economic, social and cultural well-being of the United States of America. As a member of both the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee and the Immigration Reform Caucus, I take very seriously the responsibility for crafting the immigration and naturalization policy that was delegated to Congress by our Constitution. I am concerned about recent rise in the level of immigration in this country, as well as the enforcement of immigration laws within our borders.

Border Security

As a sovereign nation, we must control our borders. We must ensure that terrorists do not infiltrate the United States. We must tighten and strengthen border control efforts so that illegal aliens and drug smugglers do not enter our country. The first step in achieving these goals is to build a reinforced barrier along the southern border, using fencing, technology, vehicle barriers, cameras, and agents. There is no simple solution to securing our borders, but utilizing a combination of these tools will provide an effective deterrent.

I have made several journeys to the southern border. In many regions along this border, a solid, cost-effective human barrier, a wall, is a practical way to protect our border from terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal aliens. I recently testified before the Homeland Security Committee and Government Reform Subcommittee about a concrete border wall proposal that I personally designed. I have 35 years of experience in the earth-moving, drainage, and concrete construction business which gives me the background to design an effective wall.

My concrete wall functions as both a human and vehicle barrier, inspired by the success of the concrete wall in Israel. The wall has a footing with a cut-off wall that is five feet deep to reduce tunneling. This footing is slotted to receive pre-cast, tongue and grooved concrete panels to allow for fast, modular construction. The wall extends twelve feet above the ground, and can be topped with electric or razor wire. It can be supplemented with ground sensors, lights and camera fixtures. My design is cost efficient, easy to construct, and impenetrable. A concrete border wall of this caliber could not be cut through, tunneled under, or driven over. Such a design would funnel illegal traffic to our ports of entry and areas that can be reasonably controlled by our nation's customs and border patrol agents.

Remove Jobs Magnet

To reduce illegal immigration, we must get rid of the job magnets that have drawn millions here in the first place. In response to this growing problem, I introduced H.R. 3580, the New IDEA (Illegal Deduction Elimination Act) which protects jobs for legal workers. New IDEA makes wages and benefits paid to illegal aliens nondeductible for federal tax purposes. This would encourage employers to hire legal workers which would make more jobs available for legal and American workers. Currently, H.R. 3580 is in the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.

New IDEA takes the guesswork out of hiring legal workers. It gives employers "safe harbor" if they use the current Basic Pilot program to verify the employment eligibility of their workers. The Basic Pilot program is already in existence and can be used by employers today. A participating employer can confirm employment eligibility of all newly hired employees using the Basic Pilot and will not be liable if an illegal employee was not detected when the verification program was used. This Basic Pilot program takes the guesswork out of the process for employers when they review documents to make sure they are genuine during the I-9 process. The Basic Pilot involves verification checks of the Social Security and Department of Homeland Security databases, using an automated system to verify the employment authorization of all newly hired employees. Participation in the Basic Pilot Program is voluntary, and is free to participating employers.

Eliminate Incentives

In addition to interior and workplace enforcement, our nation must eliminate needless incentives that encourage illegal immigration and cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year. I do not believe it is in the best interest of our nation to continue tolerating the practice of illegal aliens giving birth to children in the U.S. in order to obtain citizenship for the child, then moving back to their country of origin with the hopes of achieving uninhibited access to our country for as many family members as possible. I also believe awarding in-state college tuition to illegal aliens would be unjustified and extremely expensive to the legal, tax-paying residents of our country. As public universities across the country increasingly limit enrollment, increasing the intake of illegal aliens into these schools will mean fewer opportunities and less aid for United States citizens and legal immigrants. I support elimination of the visa lottery, which gives randomly selected individuals visas when many law-abiding would-be immigrants are waiting to have their applications approved. I believe States should pass lawful presence requirements when issuing drivers licenses, to ensure that illegal aliens are not endangering American's lives and property on the road by their lack of car insurance. Ultimately, giving special treatment to illegal aliens is fundamentally unfair to legal immigrants who have invested a great deal to comply with our immigration laws or obtain legal citizenship. We should not reward those who have broken our immigration laws with the same benefits as those who have made an effort to respect the law.

Assimilation

Immigrants have made, and will continue to make, a valuable contribution to our nation. I will work to develop an immigration policy that aids in the assimilation of newcomers by ensuring that the United States does not admit more immigrants than it can reasonably accommodate. Assimilation is valuable to immigrants who benefit from our shared American culture of personal responsibility, freedom, and patriotism. The values shared by our civilization, founded on a heritage of western civilization religious freedom and free enterprise capitalism, serve immigrants and native-born alike. I am concerned that the recent rise in immigration levels in this country will make it difficult for newcomers to assimilate and find jobs. We must ensure cultural continuity for our great nation.

As Americans, we should promote a naturalization process that promotes American values, the responsibilities of citizenship, and our Constitutional principles. We must be careful to admit only as many newcomers as we can accommodate with jobs so that our society will not be burdened by unemployed immigrants.

Candidates for naturalization should be proficient in the English language. For centuries the English language has been the uniting force in this great nation, knocking down ethnic and religious barriers to make us truly one nation. A common language has enabled generations of Americans to realize the dream of American opportunity and freedom. Studies continue to prove those who know English acquire better jobs, earn higher wages and receive better health care than those who cannot speak the language. As a result, an emphasis on English decreases reliance on the federal government. For these reasons, I introduced legislation to make English the official language of the United States Government in the 111th Congress as H.R. 997.

Source