Name:   copperline - Subject:   We need to get clear about what we mean... Date:   4/18/2016 11:05:56 AM

With all due respect, I don’t think anyone of us has a concrete idea of a policy that would work so we may be in the position of demanding change while having no idea what changes we want.     Increased security screenings seems like something we could agree on, but just how that would be implemented is pretty vague.   And the devil is always in the details.   At best, increased security screening would affect the risks of potential terrorists, but do nothing about the labor or population growth problems of an unrestricted border caused by living in the wealthiest country in a very globalized world.

Use of the word “moratorium” seems inappropriate to me on all counts though.   A moratorium would be a ban on immigration, or at least a major overhaul that starts with greatly reducing the flow of immigrants at the border.   How could you even do that?   For instance, two families of four show up at the border, one is planning a vacation to Disney World, and the other intends to stay permanently.   How do you tell them apart?   If we use a simple criteria like “what is the purpose of your visit?” …. How would you know someone was being truthful? 

When I enter another country, I’m usually asked the purpose of my visit, I tell them I’m a tourist, my passport is scanned and I’m given a visa stamp.   That stamp may be time limited, I suppose, but I’ve never been told that I had X number of days before I should be out of their country.    Is that what we should be doing at US border checkpoints?   And regarding people who overstay their visa limits, would we really support the significant increase in law enforcement/immigration personnel needed to search & expel them?

For all the unanswered questions, dealing with skilled workers & foreign students who would seek out jobs in the regular economy should be relatively easy.   Those folks will be on the books of employers & naturally creating a record of their presence here.   But it’s harder to imagine solutions that would have much impact on low-skilled, low income immigrants who find it easier to work ‘off the books’.   A poor person with limited language skills is just naturally going to have a lower social profile….harder to track & less likely to draw attention to themselves.

The truth is that this whole immigration issue is all about low income/unskilled economic immigrants and to a lesser extent similarly poverty stricken refugees from war-torn regions… with economic immigrants being the largest, most problematic group by far.    A good immigration policy would not want to limit the number of educated immigrants nor those with a high potential for economic success.    And I have not heard a plan, or a piece of a plan, that deals effectively with making that distinction.