The United States has over 11 million illegal aliens. That is a conservative figure and most believe the true number to be much higher. The U.S. should not, can not, and will not conduct a mass deportation of millions of people. So, what must be done? The most obvious and humane thing to do is to provide this population with a path to legal residence and eventual citizenship. But we cannot do that with a porous border and weak immigration policy. Why not? Simply, we cannot have a policy that says essentially “Hey, if you sneak in and don’t commit any crimes, eventually we will let you stay.” We would be inundated with border crossings that would make today’s crisis look like a trickle. Secure the border, NOW. Give existing residents a time period to register as foreign nationals and give those that qualify (only those with serious crimes would fail this process) a simple path to legal residence with a long term path to citizenship.
The current administration is dangling a policy that would only qualify talented, trained, and highly skilled potential immigrants. I disagree. Lower skilled workers can also thrive in America and become part of the American Dream. But that is a subject for a future post.