Why do guest workers need citizenship?




Vincent Gioia
Special to The Desert Sun
May 23, 2007

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Every 20 years or so, Congress wakes up to the illegal immigration problem and proposes a "cure."
The last time congressional slumber was aroused, laws were passed to give "amnesty" to millions of illegal immigrants here at that time. This "cure" did not halt the tide of illegal immigration. In fact, it increased.

Now we have Congress producing the latest "cure" for illegal immigration, unfortunately led by the president. All proposals envision some sort of amnesty program.

To conceal the programs that include "amnesty," supporters lie and say their proposals are not "amnesty" because people here illegally "pay" a price. The payment may be a fine, but citizenship should not be a prize to be paid for after violating our country's laws.

Unfortunately for Orwellian doublespeak supporters of illegal immigrants, words still have recognized meanings.

According to my unabridged Random House Dictionary, the word "amnesty" means, in the case of law, "an act of forgiveness for past offenses, esp. to a class of persons as a whole." It does not exclude crime violators who have to "stand in the back" of the citizenship line or pay for citizenship.

I propose a real solution for an illegal immigration law: a real guest worker program but without granting citizenship to guest workers coming to the United States. There is no need to offer a carrot of citizenship. Here is my eight-point program:

1. Establish a procedure whereby a noncitizen who wishes to work in the United States must complete an application form, providing information to enable a criminal background check. After a successful background check, an approved applicant gets a time-limited, guest worker card which may be used to gain entry and employment and as a residence permit. Families of guest workers are not encompassed by a guest worker card.

2. Anyone hiring an employee not a citizen who does not have a valid guest worker card should be guilty of a felony.


3. Anyone knowingly assisting illegal entry into the United States should be guilty of a felony. Anyone assisting illegal immigrants in the United States by providing humanitarian aid should not be guilty of a crime, but anyone assisting someone to violate any law in this country also should be guilty of a crime.
4. Anyone remaining in the United States after expiration of their guest worker card will be returned to their home country and refused admission thereafter. Those desiring to renew a guest worker card may do so before expiration, but another application must be filed and another criminal background check must be completed before a renewal may be issued.

5. Guest workers are obligated to pay federal, state and local taxes while in the United States, but not Social Security taxes.

Guest workers also must purchase health insurance for themselves and their families if the family is created while living in United States or make arrangements for their employer to provide them and their family with paid health insurance. Guest workers will not be entitled to receive Social Security benefits.

6. Children of guest workers born in the United States should not be automatically entitled to U. S. citizenship.

7. Guest workers may qualify for certain, particular government benefits such as K-12 education of their children in public schools, housing, food and clothing benefits equal to citizens of equal income levels.

8. The Mexican border unconditionally should be strengthened. We should construct a suitable wall on our entire border, with appropriate entry check points. This is imperative for security and border control.



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Not that I think that a government by men will solve any or all of mankind's problems, but in principle, it does not make sense to provide "Illegal Immigrants" with Amnesty, Free Drivers License's, Free Bank Account's, Free Medical and Instant Citizenship to all children of illegal's. They don't even provide similar benefits for those that are "Legal Citizens" of this country, so it goes without saying that it should not be provided for those that are breaking the law. They don't want to ignore all the "Free Cheap Labor" they benefit from, but the lawmakers who directly benefit from this should be arrested for breaking the law themselves.

Posted by: Local Gas on Wed May 23, 2007 8:45 am

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Here is Ted Kennedy commenting on the 1965 immigration bill: "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission."

Ted Kennedy on thr 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli Bill: "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."

Ted Kennedy(2007) on the current immigration proposal: "The plan will strengthen our borders and our national security while providing a tough but fair path to citizenship for millions of people.

Ted Kennedy: Celebrating over 40 years of lying to the American people regarding immigration. No one does it better.

Posted by: AMERICAFIRST on Wed May 23, 2007 6:47 am

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Finally an article on Illegal Immigration that instead of being an illegal immigrant sob story embodies common sense and vision. Thank You Vincent Gioia for your excellent comment, we need more people like you.

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