Yeah, let's just ship them all back

During a recent Republican debate, the issue of illegal immigration was thoroughly vetted by the candidates. There seemed to be general agreement on the issue of securing the border (I assume that when they refer to "the border" that generally means the US/ Mexico border since that is the major problem.) There was not agreement regarding what to do about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants that are currently in the US.

I hear all the time that we need "comprehensive immigration reform" and I must honestly admit that I don't really know what they mean by that. I assume it means that there are many different things that must be solved...it needs to be "fair and balanced." I don't know how difficult it is to gain entrance into the United States for purposes of staying here for extended periods of time or on a permanent basis. Apparently, we are not letting enough people in legally or we make it too difficult to do so or the process is there but it just takes too long. I understand that there are many people that subscribe to the idea of fully open borders that would legally allow virtually all-comers. I'm not sure that makes good sense. I believe that a country's border should have a high degree of integrity. It should be respected and enforced...vigorously.

Newt Gingrich caught and continues to catch a great deal of heat for his answer to the question about what to do with all those illegals that are living in the US. I am not quoting what he said but my take on it was this...set up some community "citizen boards" and have them evaluate the "illegals" living in their communities and make a determination if some number of them should be allowed to stay "legally" (but not gain citizenship) based on some criteria including how long they have lived here, the degree to which they are an active, contributing part of the community, etc. Current US law (I believe) says that children born in the US to illegal immigrants are afforded citizenship status. Many of those children have been here long enough that they have subsequently had children of their own. The reality is that there are some number of people in the US who came here illegally that have been here a long time and now have extended families. What do we do with them?

The other candidates pounced on his answer. Bachmann stated that Newt wanted to give amnesty to 11 million illegals. That's not what Newt said. Romney said that Newt's position would maintain the "magnet" that attracts new people across the border...they would believe that they would one day gain citizenship. That's not what Newt said either. But both Bachmann and Romney are pushing hard to be recognized as the most conservative candidate...Bachmann because she was part of the original Tea Party movement and Romney because there is so much skepticism about his conservative credentials. So I wasn't surprised that they disagreed with Newt's position.

I applaud Gingrich for taking a sensible but unpopular position because, realistically, we are not going to deport 11 million people. No way. Take the entire populations of Idaho, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined; round them up, and ship them out of the country. That's what deporting 11 or so million people would involve. Does anyone really think that (a) we would actually do that and (b) it would even be feasible to do that even if we wanted to?

Here's my take on the issue (like anyone really cares what I think about this anyway.)

1. We currently have an estimated 500,000 illegals coming into the US each year. This must stop as soon as we can make that happen. The flow of illegals into this country must be shut off or we will NEVER solve the illegal immigration problem...not to mention the national security problem it causes with the ongoing terrorist threat a leaky border provides. They say that when they repaint the Eiffel Tower, it takes so long to complete the job that, by the time they get to the top, it is time to start repainting the bottom again...the cycle never ends (not sure this is true...sounds good though.) If we don't stop the flow of illegals, by the time we figure out  what to do with the ones that are currently here and deal with it, there will be another 11 million here.

2. Illegal immigrants that have other crimes they have committed (in addition to that little one called illegally entering the US) should be immediately deported.

3. I like Gingrich's idea of establishment of community boards. Some uniform, minimum criteria should be agreed upon (both objective and subjective) that these boards would use to identify candidates that would be given "legal" status (but not automatic citizenship) and be allowed to stay in the US. I say that these candidates would have to admit that they illegally crossed the border and have been living here illegally. A fine should be imposed and some reasonable payment plan should be provided for those that could not pay the full amount up front. These candidates would be people with children born in the US, are employed, have been contributors in their communities and have been living here at least 20 years as of the time the program is established.

4. Younger people that do not qualify above could be considered for legal status if they agree to serve in the US military (if they otherwise meet all other qualifications), or agree to serve for at least three years in one of the volunteer service organizations. (Peace Corp, AmeriCorps, etc.) These people would also be required to pay a fine. Again, citizenship would not be automatically granted.

5. Any illegal immigrants that are participating in or have already earned advanced degrees in disciplines that are strategically important to the US could be offered a process to earn legal status and possibly citizenship. The fine for coming here illegally would have to be paid.

6. Then what do we do with the remaining illegal immigrants? I would guess that the number of people I have identified above that would either be immediately deported or be given legal status is a relatively small number of the total 11 million people in the US illegally. Are we going to deport 5 million people? 1 million people? In 2009, 389 thousand people were deported. That is 3 times the annual number that were deported in the pre- 9/11 years. Even at that rate it would take 12 years to deport 5 million people.

People that crossed the border and stay in the US have committed a crime. How does that crime compare in seriousness to other crimes? I think each of us has a different  opinion on that. Some of us look at the violation of our sovereign border as a horrible act...essentially an invasion of our land. Others look at it and see people that are primarily coming here because their prior circumstance held no hope or opportunity and the quest for survival and prosperity overwhelmed their sense of obedience to the law.

I wonder how we would react if most of the illegal immigrants that crossed our border were English speaking, predominantly white people from Canada? Would we be as eager to round them all up and ship them back? That's not for me to say. We are a country that tries to respect the rule of law. But this is also a very compassionate country that acknowledges its own immigrant roots. These ideals are slamming into each other in a tremendous way with the immigration issue. Can't we find a way to respect these ideals and still solve the problem? I think so.

Would love to get your opinions on this!