As the husband of a legal immigrant to this country, I truly understand how broken and challenging our current immigration system is. I am fully aware of the cost and invasive process that immigrants go through to enter our county legally, as I have lived this firsthand. That being said, I am passionate about this category. I am proposing some commonsense policies that attempt to protect our industries that we are aware illegals are imbedded in. i.e. agriculture, construction, while also protecting our country and social safety nets from abuse.
- Immediately deport any migrant who has a criminal history, either in our country or their home country. This includes any migrant who is currently incarcerated or has pending charges.
- Review the current tax status of all remaining migrants. Those who have paid both federal and state income taxes for the previous year and are not currently receiving any financial assistance from government programs should be eligible for a path to legal resident status.
- The processing of these migrants’ legal status should not be completed by the current USCIS system and nor should it be expedited as that would create a backlog for those who have applied legally and lawfully as they already face long delays.
- A special division of USCIS should be temporarily created to handle these claims. This would involve hiring a limited number of temporary employees with the strict guidelines that once these claims have been adjudicated and migration brought under control, this division would be abolished. This department will work closely with ICE to ensure that if any of the people working through this process does not meet qualifications, they will be promptly deported with a 10-year ban on reentry.
- Each applicant to this program must submit to all of the same processes and expectations currently set for legal migration, including medical exams and interviews. As each of these migrants entered illegally, the scrutiny under which their applications are reviewed will be heightened, also they will face 10 years of legal resident status prior to being eligible for citizenship.
This is a very rough draft of how I think illegal immigrants should be handled, I would love input and feedback to grow on these thoughts.