Legal immigration, guest workers, and a closed and guarded border

For 15 years I have been a professional. For 13+ of those 15 I have worked for a regional Midwestern company. I have had the opportunity to hire many employees. When a new employee is hired, one of several items of paperwork that we do is to fill out an I-9 form. An I-9 form is officially an 'Employment Eligibility Form' which is distributed by the Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. (I believe the official form number is OMB No. 1115-0136, but don't quote me.) This form requires one or several combinations of identification to establish an employee's legal right to work in the United States. There are many acceptable forms of identification which I will not list here, but believe me when I say that it would be nearly impossible for anyone who is legal to not be able to produce an item on the list.

So where am I going with all of this?

This country is suffering from porous borders and a steady influx of aliens that we cannot identify, track, and, were it up to many in our society, incarcerate (unless of course we give them all of the legal rights that are afforded a REAL US citizen). Excuse me for being blunt, but that is bullshit.

While I realize that this world has become global in many ways, especially economically, I think that Americans had better be vigilant in guarding the sovereignty of the United States of America. We don't not need to seek a permission slip from the UN or any foreign entity to do what is in our best interest. What we do need is for the American public to wake up and realize that we need to establish what our best interests are. They are not necessarily global, and they had better never become something that is suggested by or in the interest of the United Nations. Again, those of you in the center, pay attention. Those on the Left have already decided that we should abandon our sovereignty. Unfortunately, most in Washington DC have decided that the voting base that illegal aliens could provide far outweighs anything that could be perceived as a national interest.

So, what do we do?

I am not against immigration or guest workers , etc., etc. I am against the free flow of pretty much anyone into this country. And, I believe that we must require US citizenship of anyone who wishes to come here for good. (I defer to Bill O'Reilly on the first point and Newt Gingrich on the second. Watch Bill's show and read Newt's most recent book, they spell it out as well as I can.) But how can we stop this?

First, we must get serious about closing and guarding the border. That is a simple fact. Politicians argue it, but they do not have the average citizen's best interest in mind. Regardless of party affiliation, they are worried about votes. Americans must clamor for this and it must become reality. If Mexican President Fox had his way, Mexico would basically become the 51st state and we would bail that country out of its financial and societal woes. I hate to say it, but we may have to fight an armed conflict to stop it if Americans don't wake up.

So, once we close the borders, then what. Well, we can use the old I-9 form to hold employers accountable for employing aliens. This won't stop "guest workers", the kind that George Bush insists are ok if they do the jobs that no other Americans will do (although, I am all for giving those jobs to welfare recipients). If we maintain control over student visas and the like and actually keep track of the coming, goings, and goings-on while in the United States of any non-citizens, then we have a chance to keep America safe.

So back to employers. If they employ an illegal, the employer will be fined $10,000 per worker, per incident. No negotiating. The illegal would not be incarcerated, but given a choice of getting into a proper program and receiving proper documentation or getting sent back to from where ever they came. Temporary workers could remain temporary. Someone who really wants to stay could get put on the path to legal citizenship. The only requirement for the illegal would be to check in periodically to a representative of INS to be sure they are doing as they have selected. It may sound like a visit to a parole officer, but that is too bad. Remember, they are illegal. They got caught as an illegal. We are being compassionate and giving them a choice as to what their legal status will be. That is not too much to ask.

So, now all of those in the food service industry and construction are freaking out. Again, too bad. We are assuming that we can close the borders and not have this dilemma. But the enforcement might just have to start prior to the slow down of the influx of these illegal aliens. BE PROACTIVE. You can fill out the I-9 and set up a potential employee who is not legal. My guess is that we could even find a tax credit for businesses that get on board. But remember, the penalty for having illegals in your business will be $10,000 each, period. It is designed to cripple your business if you are non-compliant. I am not for that crippling effect, unless you as a business owner are not with the program. Then, you too are breaking the law and there needs to be consequences to that. If we (pay attention DC) are serious about this problem, there are many ways that we can force change. We can require documentation and we can keep tabs on those documented "visitors". That will in no way prevent them from being here and the "system" as it is now would really not have to change. We just need to have everyone comply with laws that are already in place and we need enforcement of those laws. It can be done, and I am proof-positive of that.

Like pretty much any other issue in America, we need less (how about zero) political grandstanding and a serious debate, plan, and implementation of said plan. Believe it or not, like it or not, this is an issue that is serious and could be catastrophic if not addressed. We can use the "guest workers" in the best way possible. We can make strides towards eliminating those amongst us who might do us harm. We could accept immigrants the way the United States always has and eventually welcome them as proud naturalized citizens if they choose to become citizens. But we must be proactive. That must start somewhere. That somewhere is on our borders and in our places of business. We do not need wrong-headed politicians or misguided World organizations telling us what to do. We need to address the situation ourselves and be serious about doing so. No short-cuts or exceptions should be made. The future will likely depend on it.