To more effectively handle our border policy and the overall direction that our country has had towards immigration for the past several decades we must introduce a tiered immigration policy that is responsive to the needs of the country and provides comprehensive and intelligent immigration policy.
The first thing that this policy will need to champion is the notion that not all immigration has the root cause or expected outcome.
At the upmost tier, Homeland Security must prioritize candidates that wish to gain permamemt U.S. citizenship and in-turn integrate fully into the American culture and ethos. These individuals and families must demonstrate the ability to add to our country’s economic, cultural, developmental and social fabric. Though exceptions may be possible, minimal requirememts may include;
- A demonstrated trade, ability to work, history of enterprise or exising financial resources to enable integration into American society.
- Demonstrate a reasonable level of English proficiency.
- Commit to meet civic contingencies / milestones required as a path to citizenship. (U.S. civics, Character References, Community Involvement etc.)
The second tier of legal immigration should focus on economic benefit to the country. Many immigrants come to the U.S. in search of better financial opportunities, effectively creating an underground labor force with little to no recourse from abusive practices, while permitting an artificially low wage floor that limits opportunities for U.S. workers that have full access to wage and job safety regulations. Moreover, a significant percentage of wages are expatriated, taking from local economies.
To remedy current issues, a workers visa program can take much if the exising H1B visa framework, with the following liberties:
- A workers’ visa is timebound and categorized to a specific industry (construction, hospitality, manufacturing, professional services, IT, etc.)
- States are responsible for managing controls and levers as-needed or forecast to manage volume and time durations.
- Workers’ visas can contribute to law-adherence or character requirements for residency requests in the future, but do not inherently provide any priority consideration.
- Employees with a worker’s visa will be subject to standard taxation schedules, but which will be used to fund local, state and federal spend without expectation of recompense or refund
- Workers’ visas can not be extended to relatives.
The third tier of visas will be the exising tourist and student visas, but time limits must be enforced. Violations of the exit dates will incur civil penalties and potential forfeiture of future considerations.