LET"S START DOCUMENTING THE UNDOCUMENTED! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE A GREEN CARD?


As Rudy Giuliani put it in a recent New Hampshire appearance, too often we fail to do anything at all in our impractical and unrealistic commitment to solving a major problem entirely right from the start. Calling it something like a "small window" approach, he expounded the wisdom of doing something about what can be done, and then working up from there. He illustrated how it worked in coping with crime in New York City, and implied that it applied in solving most if not all other major problems.

When it came to the subject of illegal immigration, he informed us that at the time he took office there were probably 400,000 (300?500? Who could say?) illegal aliens residing within the Big Apple. Given that the INS was averaging the repatriation of 1500-2000 illegals annually, were it to have increased its program ten-fold, it would still have left 380,000 "untreated" candidates for deportation the following year, and this assuming there was NO additional influx in the meantime. Hardly a solution to the problem, no matter how one may have perceived it.

The point was more or less that a law that is not enforced may be worse than no law at all. Still, the need to identify the illegals and weeding out those who posed a definite potential threath to society had to be a prime consideration and possibly first on the agenda. This is especially true today with the increased awareness of international terrorism and its choice of America and Americans as one, if not the first of its targets. The question immediately came to my mind, why not "document" them?

For some inexplicable reason, or one that I can only refer to as "channel vision," we insist on equating documentation with the issuance of a green card (permanent residency.)" Documenting everyone in this fashion, or total amnesty if you prefer, would create the paradox of rewarding individuals because of their failings instead of compliance. It amounts to a form of total surrender to chaos and questions the wisdom of even retaining any regulations or requirements regarding achieving permanent (legal) residency. This is not only not very popular to any but the most enlightened (and anarchic) one-worlders, and needless to say the affected illegals themselves, but would also boost the chances of potential terrorists working their way into our society more or less undetected.

The question that hasn't yet been asked is WHY? WHY IS IT THAT DOCUMENTATION HAS TO TAKE THE FORM OF A GREEN CARD?

We can and have the right to create documentation in almost any form we decide to through proper legislative process. Though the national ID card is anathema to many present US citizens, for various reasons there is no need to delve on here, a national ID card turning undocumented aliens into documented ones WITHOUT permanent resident status could be a workable start to the eventual solution to the problem.

Making it mandatory with the proviso that those possessing such card will be "temporarily" exempt from deportation will allow us to immediately deal with the worst dangers posed by the existence of this "underground" population. It will enable us to check for communicable deseases and a past history of criminal activity without turning us into a police state. The card could be called "PENDING IMMIGRATION STATUS" or something similar. Employers would be required to advise their existing illegal employees or proposed hires to apply and receive such a card and further to have the required forms available. They would help to pay for part of the financial costs of the procedure which would be offset by the financial benefit they are receiving from hiring such workers. In the absence of such a form being filed within a determined resonable time, they would be fined, let us say $2000.00 for each applicable case and deprived of that worker's services until compliance. The forms would also be available at all Post Offices, Human Resources Offices, Schools, Police Stations for that matter etc. All the Latino activists out there who happen to speak Spanish could do something useful and help people fill out the forms instead of merely complaining.

What is wrong with giving all the presently technical criminals, employers and workers alike, a choice other than prosecution or non-prosecution? What is wrong in having a data base which can be updated to reflect conduct in this country for all those that have initially qualified for this "temporary" status? We could then concentrate on deporting only those who fail the initial qualification or subsequently get into serious trouble during their residency. The duration of this "PENDING IMMIGRATION STATUS" may be a matter of years, maybe even a decade, but would not responsible, productive conduct for such a probationary period be a prime step directly to citizenship? We start off working on the "small windows" that's all!

Though voluntary registration would be recommended and with a set time period within which to comply, undocumented individuals as they are identified would still be given an opportunity to qualify while held in temporary custody and subjected to a modest monetary fine. This fine can be worked off by doing community service, and upon qualification would not be held prejudicial.

The borders would be made less porous just the same and that would be treated as a separate issue. Meantime we have a need to identify who is here and what their intentions are. I have not heard any of our so-called leaders or statesmen come up with a workable alternative to what I am presenting. Maybe channel vision comes with the political territory. Any comments out there?