Reply #2: I'd like to propose something for illegal immigrants currently here [View All]

They crossed the border illegally, so citizenship is out. However, keeping them in the shadows means keeping them too easy to exploit, to underpay, and to use as union busters.

What my modest proposal would include is that anyone here for 5 years with a good work history should have a fast track to a green card. Anyone here under 5 years or with a poor work history (firings for cause, not just layoffs) or any evidence of criminal activity needs to be sent back.

Any of their children born here are citizens. If they are deported, their minor children are to be deported with them but will be allowed to return as US citizens when they reach 18 should they choose to do so.

Many illegal aliens have been here long enough to have produced children and grandchildren. It's insane to try to round them up and send them back to a country they barely remember. Civilized people wouldn't do that and we can't afford it, anyway.

Employers who are found to have hired illegal aliens at less than the prevailing wage while turning Americans away need to be fined and jailed. The same goes for those committing H1B fraud, most of the IT bosses at this point.

Most people who are here illegally but who have put down roots would jump at the chance to stop looking around for La Migra every time they go out the front door. Nailing scumbag employers would cut job opportunities for new arrivals, making the country look far less attractive.

Those are my proposals. They're humane and they could work.