Willing Worker Cards
I found this at A Physicist's Perspective. President Bush offered this at the third debate in reference to the immigration problem and illegal alien issue:
And so in order to take pressure off the borders, in order to make the borders more secure, I believe there ought to be a temporary worker card that allows a willing worker and a willing employer to mate up, so long as there's not an American willing to do that job, to join up in order to be able to fulfill the employers' needs. That has the benefit of making sure our employers aren't breaking the law as they try to fill their workforce needs. It makes sure that the people coming across the border are humanely treated, that they're not kept in the shadows of our society, that they're able to go back and forth to see their families. See, the card, it'll have a period of time attached to it. It also means it takes pressure off the border. If somebody is coming here to work with a card, it means they're not going to have to sneak across the border. It means our border patrol will be more likely to be able to focus on doing their job.
As I read this, it means that a card will be issued to workers (generally speaking, Mexicans) who want to work in the US. I have no problem with this. This means that the person presenting the card to a potential employee is authorized to be in this country. They are "legal".
My problem is with illegal aliens. I've already discussed that I believe the vast majority of them are here to work, to earn a living that they can't in Mexico. My problem is with the "illegal" part. It means they are here illegally. They have crossed the border at a place where they have not passed through customs. Can I make it any clearer? They are not "undocumented", that implies that they don't have the papers that make them legal. Illegal aliens didn't have the papers in the first place. They are criminals. They are committing a crime. Let them get the papers they need to be here legally and I won't say a word about it. Not the first word. It is against US law for people to be in this country illegally and until the law is changed, I will continue to speak out about it.
Now, considering we have thousands of miles of border that remains open, how can we stop them from entering? For the life of me, I have no idea. Unless we have personnel, military or Border Patrol constantly sweeping the borders, or standing within eyesight of each other it can't be done that I can see. The only solution I can offer is to pick up the illegals as we find them and return them to their country of origin. Pick them up, charge them with say, a lesser charge that won't prohibit them from returning legally, run them through a court, fine them a dollar amount, put them on a bus and return them to their country of origin.
Here's a thought, isn't there a tariff paid on fees coming into the US? How about raising those fees to help defray the costs of housing illegals? Of course that cost would be covered by raising the price of the goods and would be paid by the American company buying the product. Maybe if enough American companies refused to pay the higher price Mexico would begin to work with us instead of against us. What would happen is American companies would simply scream to their congressmen and get the tariff reduced because it would hurt their company. So that wouldn't work for long.
What we really have to do is get Mexico to work with us to get people who are eligible to work in the US the proper documentation to be in the US. It has to be a win-win situation in order to work.
People who simply want to make a better life for themselves and their families are becoming criminals in order to do so. Will we ever completely stop illegal traffic across the borders? No, unless we build some sort of wall or fence. I don't see that happening and I don't want it to happen. But something has to be done. There has to be an answer. The willing worker card is a beginning.
I found this at A Physicist's Perspective. President Bush offered this at the third debate in reference to the immigration problem and illegal alien issue:
And so in order to take pressure off the borders, in order to make the borders more secure, I believe there ought to be a temporary worker card that allows a willing worker and a willing employer to mate up, so long as there's not an American willing to do that job, to join up in order to be able to fulfill the employers' needs. That has the benefit of making sure our employers aren't breaking the law as they try to fill their workforce needs. It makes sure that the people coming across the border are humanely treated, that they're not kept in the shadows of our society, that they're able to go back and forth to see their families. See, the card, it'll have a period of time attached to it. It also means it takes pressure off the border. If somebody is coming here to work with a card, it means they're not going to have to sneak across the border. It means our border patrol will be more likely to be able to focus on doing their job.
As I read this, it means that a card will be issued to workers (generally speaking, Mexicans) who want to work in the US. I have no problem with this. This means that the person presenting the card to a potential employee is authorized to be in this country. They are "legal".
My problem is with illegal aliens. I've already discussed that I believe the vast majority of them are here to work, to earn a living that they can't in Mexico. My problem is with the "illegal" part. It means they are here illegally. They have crossed the border at a place where they have not passed through customs. Can I make it any clearer? They are not "undocumented", that implies that they don't have the papers that make them legal. Illegal aliens didn't have the papers in the first place. They are criminals. They are committing a crime. Let them get the papers they need to be here legally and I won't say a word about it. Not the first word. It is against US law for people to be in this country illegally and until the law is changed, I will continue to speak out about it.
Now, considering we have thousands of miles of border that remains open, how can we stop them from entering? For the life of me, I have no idea. Unless we have personnel, military or Border Patrol constantly sweeping the borders, or standing within eyesight of each other it can't be done that I can see. The only solution I can offer is to pick up the illegals as we find them and return them to their country of origin. Pick them up, charge them with say, a lesser charge that won't prohibit them from returning legally, run them through a court, fine them a dollar amount, put them on a bus and return them to their country of origin.
Here's a thought, isn't there a tariff paid on fees coming into the US? How about raising those fees to help defray the costs of housing illegals? Of course that cost would be covered by raising the price of the goods and would be paid by the American company buying the product. Maybe if enough American companies refused to pay the higher price Mexico would begin to work with us instead of against us. What would happen is American companies would simply scream to their congressmen and get the tariff reduced because it would hurt their company. So that wouldn't work for long.
What we really have to do is get Mexico to work with us to get people who are eligible to work in the US the proper documentation to be in the US. It has to be a win-win situation in order to work.
People who simply want to make a better life for themselves and their families are becoming criminals in order to do so. Will we ever completely stop illegal traffic across the borders? No, unless we build some sort of wall or fence. I don't see that happening and I don't want it to happen. But something has to be done. There has to be an answer. The willing worker card is a beginning.
Update: I found this at Michelle Malkin just now. Liliana Plata is an illegal alien from Mexico who stole the identity papers of Cristina Alaniz, a student at Texas State University. She joined the Air Force and was deployed to Iraq. She thinks that because she served honorably in Iraq she should suffer no consequences of 1. Identity Theft, and 2. being an illegal alien (it is illegal, remember?). She has many open-border sympathizers who agree with her. And Plata is not the only one. More about this from Michelle Malkin.
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