Thread: The Best Pathway to Immigration Reform-Opinion

Community columnist: The best pathway to immigration reform


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February 28, 2014 11:55 pm • By JOHN GAGE(36) Comments


John Gage, community columnist.


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As a new year begins, it looks like Congress is at another impasse with immigration reform. Immigration is an issue that urgently needs to be addressed, but both parties are handling it incorrectly.


The Democratic Party calls for comprehensive immigration reform that would include a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The Republican Party wants reform and has proposed legal status for illegal immigrants, but it is opposed to a pathway to citizenship.


The immigration debate is a classic example of party politics. On the Democratic side, you have a party that wants some freshly recruited voters. On the Republican side, you have the GOP establishment desperately trying to find a way to persuade the Hispanic community to vote for its candidates. Either way, a potential deal would almost certainly be for purely political purposes and not for the good of the country.


America deserves an immigration policy that is good for the country and not just politicians. America is not isolationist when it comes to immigration. In fact, it could be argued that America has the most generous immigration policy in the world. Every year America welcomes thousands of people fleeing their home countries because of economic and social insecurity. In addition, we accept hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants a year on different types of work visas.


While immigration is a simple issue, politicians love to complicate it. We repeatedly hear cries to build a fence that will probably be tunneled under. On the other side, people say we need to stop deportation and extend citizenship to illegal immigrants because they have nowhere else to go.


The solution to illegal immigration is more simple than any proposed comprehensive immigration plan.


First, we need to stop incentivizing illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants freely educate themselves in our schools, live off our welfare, petition our government and even tell us what we should call them. Common-sense measures that would de-incentivize illegal immigration should include closing tax loopholes that allow illegal immigrants to steal billions from Americans. In addition, we need to pass E-Verify for worker status checks while enforcing existing laws so illegal immigrants will not be able to find jobs. If the federal government were to do this, we would find that amnesty and deportations were unnecessary. The free market would naturally solve the problem itself.


Secondly, America needs to encourage legal immigration. After all, America is a country of immigrants. Congress should start by uncapping H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers. For some reason, people are under the impression that these workers would steal high-skilled jobs. In reality, skilled immigrants who come to America, even on a temporary basis, only add jobs to the American economy. In fact, the National Foundation for American Policy did a study that showed that for every H-1B visa requested, five additional jobs are created. In addition, Congress should pass entitlement reform that includes limiting benefits to legal immigrants. If this were done, America could thrive with an immigration system that would help our economy without adding to our national debt.


The goal of eliminating illegal immigration while promoting legal immigration is something both parties can agree on. No one wants people to enter our country illegally, and both sides agree that immigration is a good thing. Yet, in the end, it would seem that a permanent solution will not be taken up because of a lack of merit, but merely for potential political profit.


John Gage is a senior in high school in Lincoln, where he enjoys playing basketball and competing in speech and debate.

http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/...365e56e80.html

Well written and shows a real effort to understand the situation.

But let's implement Universal E-Verify and see what we can do by way of putting our own people - including unemployed high skill workers - to work. Putting Americans to work will have the same multiplier effect, and we'll be showing Americans that their country will put them ahead of foreigners.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Sorry but the United States already lets in more than ONE MILLION LEGAL IMMIGRANTS every year. How many is enough? We do not need to promote legal immigration; we need to make illegal aliens go home, and after the border is secured MAYBE we could look at legal immigration policies. With millions of Americans out of work we do not need to import more people and swell the labor force even larger. How about American business training unemployed Americans to fill the vacant high tech jobs? Although frankly, I believe there are skilled Americans who can do those jobs now, they just expect a higher salary than imported foreign workers.

ILLEGAL ALIENS, GO HOME. AMERICAN JOBS FOR AMERICANS

Originally Posted by csarbww

How about American business training unemployed Americans to fill the vacant high tech jobs? Although frankly, I believe there are skilled Americans who can do those jobs now, they just expect a higher salary than imported foreign workers.

That works for me. And putting an American to work has the same "multiplier effect" as does giving a job to a foreigner. And the American won't be inviting his extended family here, so that they can overstay their visas, then tell us that they've been here so long that we can't deport them.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade