A WAY FORWARD ON IMMIGRATION
If, as reported, the President is finally ready to act on immigration, by executive order, there is a relatively practical way to address most of the issues. Those issues encompass the need to register some 12 million undocumented aliens and provide a path to citizenship, to avoid a bitter confrontation over amnesty, to avoid mass deportations, to regain control of our immigration policy and secure our borders.
This can all be accomplished, more or less, by simply re-ordering our priorities. Let me explain.
At present, the law requires an undocumented immigrant , to leave the country before reapplying for re-entry. This would require that the immigrant take his/her place at the end of a long line (thousands) on a wait list that could take up to five years to reenter, lawfully. Clearly, that provides little incentive for any longtime undocumented alien with a family or job or other responsibility to give himself up in order to register. This fact, alone, is responsible for most such aliens remaining in the shadows and thwarting government efforts to control the problem. Resolving this anomaly becomes paramount. Eliminating the stigma of criminality for having entered the country without proper documentation is key. Recognizing the value of such people who have risked their lives, suffered the exploitation by employers, paid their taxes and and labored diligently to establish new roots as loyal Americans deserves to be weighed against the sin of failing to register.
In the tradition of giving criminals credit for "time served" upon sentencing we can give undocumented aliens credit for "time served" as good citizens. The President can, by executive order, change the order of priority by giving these undocumented aliens credit for the time they've been in this country. Allow them to establish their date of arrival in the U.S. (or as nearly as possible) to determine their place in line for re-entry.
Thus, a long-time resident of twenty years of more would move to the head of the line and become eligible for immediate lawful re-entry. Those who have been here the longest, presumably with the most to lose, will now have the most to gain and have the incentive to register. By speeding up the re-entry process, the turnaround time for each such undocumented alien can be accomplished in a matter of weeks, without substantially prejudicing those currently in line. By removing the criminal aspect by such prioritizing, there is no need to speak of amnesty. It becomes a non-issue.
The system can be tweaked to weed out undocumented aliens with criminal records, to clear up unpaid taxes and fines or to favor veterans and family members. Rules can be established for determining arrival dates in the U.S., persons with special skills and a path to citizenship. By regaining control of the immigration process, separate lists can be established for temporary workers and for permanent residents. Illegal border crossings can be reduced to manageable proportions and millions of immigrants can begin to live normal lives.
Best of all, Republicans might now be inclined to negotiate a new bi-partisan immigration law to supersede the President's executive order.