Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again
The three core principles of Donald J. Trump's immigration plan
When politicians talk about ǒimmigration reformō they mean: amnesty, cheap
labor and open borders. The Schumer-Rubio immigration bill was nothing more
than a giveaway to the corporate patrons who run both parties.
Real immigration reform puts the needs of working people first ━ not wealthy
globetrotting donors. We are the only country in the world whose immigration
system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own. That must change.
Here are the three core principles of real immigration reform:
1. A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across
the southern border.
2. A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with
our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.
3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration
plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.
Make Mexico Pay For The Wall
For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United
States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their
own country (as well as in other Latin American countries). They have even
published pamphlets on how to illegally immigrate to the United States. The
costs for the United States have been extraordinary: U.S. taxpayers have
been asked to pick up hundreds of billions in healthcare costs, housing
costs, education costs, welfare costs, etc. Indeed, the annual cost of free
tax credits alone paid to illegal immigrants quadrupled to $4.2 billion in
2011. The effects on jobseekers have also been disastrous, and black Americans
have been particularly harmed.
The impact in terms of crime has been tragic. In recent weeks, the headlines
have been covered with cases of criminals who crossed our border illegally
only to go on to commit horrific crimes against Americans. Most recently,
an illegal immigrant from Mexico, with a long arrest record, is charged with
breaking into a 64 year-old women’s home, crushing her skull and eye sockets
with a hammer, raping her, and murdering her. The Police Chief in Santa
Maria says the ǒblood trailō leads straight to Washington.
In 2011, the Government Accountability Office found that there were a shocking
3 million arrests attached to the incarcerated alien population, including
tens of thousands of violent beatings, rapes and murders.
Meanwhile, Mexico continues to make billions on not only our bad trade deals
but also relies heavily on the billions of dollars in remittances sent from
illegal immigrants in the United States back to Mexico ($22 billion in 2013
alone).
In short, the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners.
They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean
it up.
The cost of building a permanent border wall pales mightily in comparison
to what American taxpayers spend every single year on dealing with the fallout
of illegal immigration on their communities, schools and unemployment offices.
Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will,
among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal
wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats
(and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards
━ of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationals each year (a major
source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from
Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of
entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are
also options]. We will not be taken advantage of anymore.
Defend The Laws And Constitution Of The United States
America will only be great as long as America remains a nation of laws that
lives according to the Constitution. No one is above the law. The following
steps will return to the American people the safety of their laws, which
politicians have stolen from them:
Triple the number of ICE officers. As the President of the ICE Officers’
Council explained in Congressional testimony: ǒOnly approximately 5,000
officers and agents within ICE perform the lion’s share of ICE’s immigration
missionàCompare that to the Los Angeles Police Department at approximately
10,000 officers. Approximately 5,000 officers in ICE cover 50 states, Puerto
Rico and Guam, and are attempting to enforce immigration law against 11
million illegal aliens already in the interior of the United States. Since
9-11, the U.S. Border Patrol has tripled in size, while ICE’s immigration
enforcement arm, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), has remained at
relatively the same size.ō This will be funded by accepting the recommendation
of the Inspector General for Tax Administration and eliminating tax credit
payments to illegal immigrants.
Nationwide e-verify. This simple measure will protect jobs for unemployed
Americans.
Mandatory return of all criminal aliens. The Obama Administration has released
76,000 aliens from its custody with criminal convictions since 2013 alone.
All criminal aliens must be returned to their home countries, a process
which can be aided by canceling any visas to foreign countries which will
not accept their own criminals, and making it a separate and additional
crime to commit an offense while here illegally.
Detention─not catch-and-release. Illegal aliens apprehended crossing the
border must be detained until they are sent home, no more catch-and-release.
Defund sanctuary cities. Cut-off federal grants to any city which refuses
to cooperate with federal law enforcement.
Enhanced penalties for overstaying a visa. Millions of people come to the
United States on temporary visas but refuse to leave, without consequence.
This is a threat to national security. Individuals who refuse to leave at
the time their visa expires should be subject to criminal penalties; this
will also help give local jurisdictions the power to hold visa overstays
until federal authorities arrive. Completion of a visa tracking system ━
required by law but blocked by lobbyists ━ will be necessary as well.
Cooperate with local gang task forces. ICE officers should accompany local
police departments conducting raids of violent street gangs like MS-13 and
the 18th street gang, which have terrorized the country. All illegal aliens
in gangs should be apprehended and deported. Again, quoting Chris Crane:
ǒICE Officers and Agents are forced to apply the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) Directive, not to children in schools, but to adult inmates
in jails. If an illegal-alien inmate simply claims eligibility, ICE is forced
to release the alien back into the community. This includes serious criminals
who have committed felonies, who have assaulted officers, and who prey on
childrenàICE officers should be required to place detainers on every illegal
alien they encounter in jails and prisons, since these aliens not only violated
immigration laws, but then went on to engage in activities that led to their
arrest by police; ICE officers should be required to issue Notices to Appear
to all illegal aliens with criminal convictions, DUI convictions, or a gang
affiliation; ICE should be working with any state or local drug or gang
task force that asks for such assistance.ō
End birthright citizenship. This remains the biggest magnet for illegal
immigration. By a 2:1 margin, voters say it’s the wrong policy, including
Harry Reid who said ǒno sane countryō would give automatic citizenship to
the children of illegal immigrants.
Put American Workers First
Decades of disastrous trade deals and immigration policies have destroyed
our middle class. Today, nearly 40% of black teenagers are unemployed. Nearly
30% of Hispanic teenagers are unemployed. For black Americans without high
school diplomas, the bottom has fallen out: more than 70% were employed
in 1960, compared to less than 40% in 2000. Across the economy, the percentage
of adults in the labor force has collapsed to a level not experienced in
generations. As CBS news wrote in a piece entitled ǒAmerica’s incredible
shrinking middle classō: ǒIf the middle-class is the economic backbone of
America, then the country is developing osteoporosis.ō
The influx of foreign workers holds down salaries, keeps unemployment high,
and makes it difficult for poor and working class Americans ━ including
immigrants themselves and their children ━ to earn a middle class wage.
Nearly half of all immigrants and their US-born children currently live in
or near poverty, including more than 60 percent of Hispanic immigrants.
Every year, we voluntarily admit another 2 million new immigrants, guest
workers, refugees, and dependents, growing our existing all-time historic
record population of 42 million immigrants. We need to control the admission
of new low-earning workers in order to: help wages grow, get teenagers back
to work, aid minorities’ rise into the middle class, help schools and communities
falling behind, and to ensure our immigrant members of the national family
become part of the American dream.
Additionally, we need to stop giving legal immigrant visas to people bent
on causing us harm. From the 9/11 hijackers, to the Boston Bombers, and
many others, our immigration system is being used to attack us. The President
of the immigration caseworkers union declared in a statement on ISIS: ǒWe've
become the visa clearinghouse for the world.ō
Here are some additional specific policy proposals for long-term reform:
Increase prevailing wage for H-1Bs. We graduate two times more Americans
with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds
of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program.
More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the program's lowest allowable
wage level, and more than eighty percent for its bottom two. Raising the
prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted
entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and
immigrant workers in the U.S., instead of flying in cheaper workers from
overseas. This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers
in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program.
Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs
that would decimate women and minorities.
Requirement to hire American workers first. Too many visas, like the H-1B,
have no such requirement. In the year 2015, with 92 million Americans outside
the workforce and incomes collapsing, we need to companies to hire from
the domestic pool of unemployed. Petitions for workers should be mailed
to the unemployment office, not USCIS.
End welfare abuse. Applicants for entry to the United States should be required
to certify that they can pay for their own housing, healthcare and other
needs before coming to the U.S.
Jobs program for inner city youth. The J-1 visa jobs program for foreign
youth will be terminated and replaced with a resume bank for inner city
youth provided to all corporate subscribers to the J-1 visa program.
Refugee program for American children. Increase standards for the admission
of refugees and asylum-seekers to crack down on abuses. Use the monies saved
on expensive refugee programs to help place American children without parents
in safer homes and communities, and to improve community safety in high
crime neighborhoods in the United States.
Immigration moderation. Before any new green cards are issued to foreign
workers abroad, there will be a pause where employers will have to hire
from the domestic pool of unemployed immigrant and native workers. This
will help reverse women's plummeting workplace participation rate, grow wages,
and allow record immigration levels to subside to more moderate historical
averages.