Since my conservative friends keep sending me Lou Dobbs' opinion on immigration, I thought I'd slide open the Overton Window a bit and open the discussion here. Be aware that this is not necessarily what you want to hear.
(Update) Since the trollrating gangs have removed many of my comments, the comments section may seem choppy. This is, of course, a flaw in the concept of trusted users, some of whom seem to think that the FAQ on troll rating applies only to others. I have no solution to the problem, except, as so often the case, for the site to actually ban people who abuse troll ratings. This is analogous to the non-enforcement of the existing immigration bill, Simpson-Mazzoli, passed in 1986.)
Here's a subject we can all have some interest in.
Since politics is the art of compromise (Otto von Bismarck), I'll drop a few of my more utopian desires and postulate that we do have national borders, that we do need to control the movement of citizens of various countries, that we do need to protect the lower wage citizens of this country from waves of people who can be exploited by employers due to their illegal status.
Granted that, what kind of immigration bill(s) would you write?
I'd start with English as the official language, only genetically related children allowed as automatic citizens (easily enforced, applicant pays for genetic test), national ID card (for everyone, naturally, passport format) combined with national labor eligibility database (not state optional), full Federal funding for all these mandates, including the immigration enforcement squads (necessarily Federal, of course), full enforcement of employer violations, including chicken packing plants, yard and garden companies, construction, and hotel and restaurant services.
I'd suggest that national health care for all such eligible citizens, and a Federal minimum wage of eight bucks/hour would be pragmatic additions.
This should help a lot.
What to do with existing illegal aliens?
My theory is that full enforcement of the above provisions would make being in the country so unattractive that all we'd need to do is supply federally funded bus or train tickets from major centers of illegal activity (funded by fines on employers caught breaking the law) to the border with Mexico.
To my conservative friends: I'll put this up as a diary on DailyKos. You're smart enough to figure out how to register there. I may edit the diary if someone points out that I omitted something. You can read always, post after one day, write diaries after one week.
As always, no personal attacks, rather, factual landslides preferred.
I think these bills could pass.
(Update) I am sad. DailyKos has once again failed me. I can't believe the number of "Let's just jump on this without actually reading it!" comments. I've recced the people who actually tried, even while opposing my suggestions for a compromise, to actually deal with what I said, rather than just jumping on the opportunity to pretend I'm a conservative.
The whole concept of trying to understand the people with whom you disagree, rather than just throwing feces like a howler monkey, seems to be in short supply.
I'll leave this diary up, as an example of how NOT to bring people across the aisle. Perhaps some wiser head will prevail.