Immigration Reform Based on Facts Not Politics

A majority of Americans agree sweeping changes are needed in the current immigration system. However, there is no consensus on what steps need to be taken to fix the flawed process.  A major reason for the discord is that too many Americans have little knowledge of immigration facts.

The state-controlled media and politicians have spread so much false information about immigration that a majority of Americans are ill-informed.  Unless everyone can agree on the facts, there will never be a sensible solution on immigration reform which placates most Americans.

An exhaustive study by Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel conducted last year found more than one-half of Americans could not correctly estimate the number of immigrants living in the country nor could they accurately guesstimate the percentage of illegals.

There should be no dispute about immigration numbers.  Plenty of research exists from credible sources.  Despite that fact, politicians of both parties and the media continue to paint a far different picture of immigration than the reality.

Here are facts that no reasonable person can contest:

There are more immigrants living in America today than at any time in our history.  The Center for Immigration Studies, a non-partisan, non-profit research group, used Census Bureau data to calculate there are 42.1 immigrants residing in the U.S.  That represents 13.3 percent of the total population, the highest share in more than 105 years. (Current data goes back to 1850.) But even that figure does not tell the whole story.  Immigrants and their U.S. born children now number 81 million, reports the Migration Policy Institute.  That is 28 percent of the population.  Between 2013 and 2014, the foreign-born population in the nation jumped by 1 million people or 2.5 percent. In 2014, 1.3 million foreign-born individuals moved to the U.S.  During the last five years, America has taken in more immigrants than any similar period in the country's history.

The real problem in America is illegal immigration.  Several immigration reform and research organizations have pegged the number of illegals living in the U.S. at between 11.0 million and 11.4 million. By most estimates, about 49 percent of illegals were born in Mexico.  After America's economic crisis in 2008, Mexican immigration slowed dramatically.  However, it has sharply risen again.   From 2014 to 2015, more than 740,000 Mexican immigrants (both legal and illegal) flooded into the the United States, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. No doubt the influx can be at least partly attributed to President Obama's 2014 executive order directing federal agencies to refrain from deporting some four million adult immigrants living illegally in the U.S.  While the media and politicians claim that most illegal immigrants only want work, the facts tell a different story. While illegal immigrants account for 3.5 percent of the population, they represent 36.7 percent of people convicted of crimes in 2014, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data.  More than six in ten illegal immigrants use one or more of the state or federal welfare programs, including food stamps, Medicaid and school lunch programs.  The non-partisan Federation of Immigration Reform estimated assistance to illegal immigrants costs federal, state and local governments about $113 billion annually.

If Congress could agree on these facts, then the solution would seem rather straightforward:  The number of immigrants in the country has reached record levels, indicating there is no issue with the current process for obtaining legal status.  However, illegal immigrants are continuing to flow into the country, creating problems which are costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

Here is a common-sense approach to solving America's legal and illegal immigration problems:

1. There is no need to build a fence along the southern border.  There are better ways to spend the billions of dollars it would cost.  The Border Patrol needs to be beefed up with additional staff and armed with sophisticated technology to guard against illegal entry into the U.S. Under the Obama Administration, the Border Patrol currently serves as little more than babysitters for those who enter the country illegally.

2. Anyone caught illegally entering the country should be immediately deported.  Those aliens who attempt a second border crossing should be jailed and returned to their country of origin after serving time.  Any American company employing an illegal immigrant would be subject to heavy fines. Sanctuary cities would be outlawed.

3. Persons living illegally in the U.S. would be allowed to apply for work visas.  However, as a condition to obtaining a visa, the immigrant must begin the process of becoming a legal citizen.  If the immigrant fails to make progress toward citizenship, he or she will face immediate deportation. Adult illegal immigrants would be denied welfare benefits unless they could prove they are looking for work.

4. Current immigration criteria would be changed to put those with special skills (scientific, doctoral degrees, software engineers, doctors, etc.) at the head of the line.  They would have their applications for a temporary work visa and citizenship expedited.

America has a more than two-hundred year history of welcoming immigrants.  Foreign born people built this country and shaped its destiny.  Not one of the proposals listed above will interfere with America's tradition of accepting millions of new citizens.

Americans must demand sensible immigration reform and hold their elected representative along with the president responsible for delivering on their broken promises to pass a bill to remedy the problem.