I agree with some sort of comprehensive immigration reform. But I have some caveats.
1. Enforcement of existing law has to be proven to work first. That means a fence.
2. Aliens who crossed the border illegally will not be granted permanent residency from within the US. They can apply at the US consulates in Mexico. No problemo. On the other hand, those aliens who commit felonies in the US must be deported far into Mexico, not merely to the US border.
2a. Smugglers and “coyotes” must be aggressively chased to ground and prosecuted, with long jail terms for these modern-day slavers, rapists and murderers.
2b. Employers of aliens must be punished. Sanctuary cities must be denied all federal funds. Locales that enforce the law should be rewarded somehow, perhaps with a special, non-monetary honor.
3. Quotas for legal Mexican temporary and permanent immigration must be raised to at least double their current level. Not only highly educated but also highly motivated hard workers should be privileged in this. The US loves hard-working Mexican immigrants, even if the first generation speaks Spanish. No Mexican should be forced to wait more than one year for his or her request for immigration to the US to be granted or denied. This 10-20 year wait we have right now is unconscionable and the cause of most of our Mexico/America immigration problems.
4. Mexico must be forced to establish symmetrical legal immigration policies with the US. No more of this “do as I say, not as I do” from Mexico.
How’s that?
