My immigration proposal, revisited.
October 24, 2007
Back in April of 2006 I spent a few minutes documenting my proposal for immigration reform. Congress is considering an old proposal called the Dream Act (formerly the Student Adjustment Act of 2003) so I thought I would restate my earlier proposal:
Everyone has been weighing in on the immigration debate so I thought I would make my proposed solution public. The concept behind my solution is to recognize that workers from Latin America are here to stay. My plan allows anyone from Latin America to work and live freely in the United States under the following conditions:
- They register as a non-citizen worker before entry.
- They must pass a criminal background check before entry.
- They receive a non-citizen passport issued by the U.S. before entry.
- They must obtain a U.S. based bank account.
- They must obtain a U.S. drivers license in order to drive in the U.S.
- They must not vote in Federal, State or local elections.
- They must not apply for or receive welfare.
- Their children may attend public schools.
- They may use public healthcare facilities as long as they pay the medical bills within one year.
- They must not commit any crime.
- They do not have to pay taxes on the first $35,000 of income per family per year (no SS or Unemployment).
- They must return to their home country if they are unemployed for more than six months (stay at home mothers/fathers exempt if spouse is working).
Workers are only half of the solution. The other half will be employers:
- Employers must conduct instant checks on each newly hired non-citizen and recheck those non-citizens each quarter.
- Employers must report non-citizen employment, and income.
- Employers do not need to withhold any taxes.
- Employers do not need to provide health insurance.
- Employers must not pay more than $35,000 per year to non-citizen employees.
The penalties:
- Make it a felony (mandatory jail time) for employing a non-registered worker.
- Make it a felony for working in the US without registering.
- Expel workers who commit crimes, do not pay medical bills, or remain unemployed.
The carrot:
- Allow non-citizen workers who have lived and worked in the US for more than five years, have a clean record and have paid their bills to move to the head of the line for citizenship (they will, of course, lose their tax free status).
Let me know if I missed anything. We can make this work. Too bad our elected officials will never be able to get anything done…
