A changing view on immigration
Editor's note: The writer is a resident of Newmarket.
http://www.seacoastonline.com
By Michael Lesser

As a longtime resident of New Hampshire, I've been working for the National Science Foundation and living in the Washington, D.C., area for the past year while on leave from UNH. Living in New Hampshire sometimes insulates us from fully experiencing firsthand some of the burning issues confronting our nation and certainly the continuing debate on immigration is one of them. The D.C. area has two adjoining states (Maryland and Virginia) each with several different municipal and county governments grappling with the presence of tens of thousands (or more) of undocumented, illegal immigrants.

The principal issues center around services such as law enforcement, prisons, overcrowded schools, access to health care, municipal services, housing, etc., and are polarized on a county-to-county basis, creating a patchwork of bitter and difficult discussions and accusations regarding the right course of action.

This, of course, was preceded by the abject failure of our government (all branches) and especially the Congress (both houses and parties) to adequately deal with this situation and who instead continue on with their selfish quest for power through the influence of money and lobbyists at our expense.

I digress. Crossing over the border without documentation is illegal, and as a basic law-and-order person, I believe that the individuals should be punished and all of the fruits of that illegal act are also null and void. I know that is what would happen to me if I were caught crossing the border of another nation without appropriate documentation.

I also believe you can create an environment that leads to most of the undocumented persons either being compelled to, or forced via legal procedures, to leave the country. After that, I believe that strong border protection is essential and for the purposes of this discussion I still believe that.

Many people feel we cannot remove 12 million illegal persons from the country and for the sake of discussion lets make believe that's true. I propose the following components to a legislative process to get our nation on the road to correcting this serious problem in the following order of importance. It is essential to do this for many reasons, but consider that the current U.S. birth rate and rates of immigration (legal and illegal) are non-sustainable from a resource perspective (e.g., water, energy):

1) Strong border protection. I mean National Guard, increased border patrol, surveillance, walls, barbed wire; whatever it takes. A zero-tolerance approach must be employed.

2) Draconian laws penalizing business owners who cannot document that they are hiring persons legally in this country. The country has long been at the mercy of the lobbying power of big business, and that includes agro-business (just look at the farm bill currently in the Congress. Where's the welfare reform for that sector?).

3) Undocumented persons currently in the country can stay under the following conditions. They must report to immigration with all of their documentation, legal and illegal, where the process of a complete vetting will begin. All persons not reporting by a date certain are ineligible for the program and will be deported when caught. Criminals (misdemeanors and traffic tickets aside) are ineligible and will be deported immediately (if they don't report and are caught they will also deported).

Under no circumstances will any person in custody, and known to be a criminal and/or undocumented person be released to the general public. (It happens all the time.) For those who get through the vetting process, they will receive documentation (not a green card) and be required to perform 30 hours of community service per month for three years and must maintain documented employment. These persons can also get a driver's license if they can pass the written exam in English. Car insurance, regardless of state law, is mandatory and both a license and insurance is required for any non-citizen to purchase a car. After that three-year period, the person will be on another two years of probation after which they will be issued a green card and in one year they can then apply for citizenship. English proficiency is a requirement before getting this green card.

That's five years to learn the language of commerce, public safety, and education, not to mention the chosen language of their guest nation. During this five-year period, these persons will be eligible for services currently available to green card holders, and if during this period any person is convicted of a felony, any felony, the person will not only serve the required sentence, but the person will be deported after serving that sentence. This system is in lieu of any fines, back taxes, etc.

The idea that the majority of the undocumented persons would be able to afford any of the previously proposed fines or back taxes is fanciful, and I propose to eliminate the possible angst of family separation as well by eliminating a requirement to return to the person's native country first.

Any persons joining and serving honorably in the military and their immediate dependents (spouse and children) for a period of four years are eligible to apply for, or possibly be granted, citizenship immediately.

4) A new system of immigration emulating other systems (e.g., Australia, New Zealand) that is based on a points system must be put in place. The people that can contribute significantly to the ideals and economy of the nation get priority. A guest worker program is established for persons wanting to work, but who have no intention to immigrate permanently.

Overall, the number of immigrants allowed is decreased. This would include an increase in the number of H-1B work visas for highly specialized/skilled workers, and continued greater scrutiny on temporary visiting and education visas. We will still maintain our long-term tradition of allowing immediate immigration based on refugee status, but with increased scrutiny of those applications.

This is a tough but fair approach where as usual the devil is in the details. I do not necessarily like all of the provisions outlined above, but at this point I'm more interested in solving the problem as fairly as possible for the citizens of the nation, not for the undocumented or the politicians. Illegal immigration must be stopped as a first priority and the fate of the undocumented already here determined as soon as possible.

I'd rather have the undocumented on the road to citizenry, working legally and paying taxes, than to punish them at this point, and that is a huge change for me. Additionally, we must get on to other issues such as the national debt, health-care reform (government and non-government provided), state of military readiness, Social Security, veterans' benefits and health care, reaffirming diplomacy as a first-strike strategy in view of our current situation in Iraq. (I'm a Teddy Roosevelt guy — one must employ all diplomatic tools before bringing out the stick), and the great wild card for the future — global climate change.

I have no illusions that the inept Congress or any of the current crop of presidential candidates could lead us to solve this, or other problems, that the nation faces. I'm at the lowest point of confidence I've ever experienced that an elected body can actually respond responsibly to the needs of the nation.