Founders' solutions for illegal immigration

(Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a three-part series on solutions to
America's illegal immigration problem.)

Watching U.S. members of the House, Senate and the president's Cabinet in a joint session of Congress stand and applaud Mexican President Felipe Calderon's slam of Arizona's new immigration enforcement law, I thought, what a despicable act of disloyalty to one of their own states and a ludicrous leadership move to boot, especially when 71 percent of Arizonans agree with its new immigration law.

President Calderon, how can you possibly criticize the state of Arizona about its newly passed immigration law, when Mexico's immigration law states:

1) Immigrants can't be an economic burden.

2) Immigrants must be healthy.

3) Immigrants must have no criminal record.

4) Immigrants must show a birth certificate.

5) Immigrants must provide their own health care.

6) Government can ban foreigners due to race.

7) Illegal entry is a felony (resulting in jail time).

8) Illegal immigrants can receive no government assistance of any kind.

9) Illegal immigrants' children may not attend public schools.

10) Document fraud is subject to fine/jail.

11) Incarceration and deportation of illegals occurs without due process or a trial.

12) A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the goal of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison.

13) Federal, local and municipal police must enforce immigration laws, including checking "papers" of suspected illegals.

President Calderon, your speech in Washington, D.C., in front of our U.S. Congress sounded very hypocritical to me, to say the least! And it was very disappointing to see our Congress stand up and applaud your condemnation of Arizona's new law.

Last week, in Part 1 of this immigration series, I mentioned how it seems like the whole country is taking sides in the battle over the border in Arizona. I was wrong. It's the whole world! Yet it truly remains the tip of the iceberg of our immigration troubles, in light of the feds failure to enforce any immigration laws and how 17 other states are now cracking down on illegals and seeking to enact tougher immigration laws.

In Part 1, I also began to show how America's founders dealt responsibly and forcefully with immigration law. I concluded by outlining key criteria for citizenship from the Naturalization Act of 1795, which remain part of American law. These include:

1) five years of (lawful) residence within the United States; 2) a "good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States"; 3) the taking of a formal oath to support the Constitution and to renounce any foreign allegiance; and 4) the renunciation of any hereditary titles.

In order for us to regain control of the chaotic mess and national disunity posed by illegals and press on to achieve the success our forefathers had in immigration, I believe we must apply those four criteria to our naturalization process in a more practical way. Here are my streamlined recommendations to attain those goals.

I agree with Newt Gingrich, not only in his new book, "To Save America," but also his online list of 10 or so excellent suggestions for curbing the flows of illegal immigration, like stopping their government aid and closing safe harbors in sanctuary cities. However, I respectfully disagree with Newt on this one point: "Workers who came here illegally but have a good work relationship and community ties (including family), should have first opportunity to get the new temporary worker visas, but instead of paying penalties, they should be required to go home and get the visa at home."

We can argue ad nauseam over the need for more than 12 million illegals to go home, but we all know at this point that will never happen. The technicalities and costs of that many illegal aliens (and their families) to be tracked down, rounded up and deported is so staggering and impractical that its mere mention borders on absurd. (I will give my solution to illegal immigration at the end of this article.)

We must provide a better and more practical solution that doesn't cost our country billions in deportation costs and economic losses. I believe our founders provided us with a better process to graft them in as citizens and not lose the economic flow some provide for our country. Let me explain.

First, Congress must stop the flow of illegal immigration by putting up a viable border fence and reinforcing it by whatever means necessary. Then it must refocus the streams of immigration.

In order for the sheer force of Niagara Falls to be harnessed into usable energy, it must be intentionally funneled through proper and restrictive channels. I believe the same must be done with immigration, or ultimately we will hand our sovereignty over to other nations on a populous platter.

No farmer irrigates his land by merely opening the floodgates of water. Rather water flow is restricted and guided for optimum productivity. That is how our forefathers used to handle immigration, before our present age of tolerance in which we fear saying "no" to any particular people or country. Congress needs to re-evaluate and change our virtual open-door policy toward worldwide immigration. It needs to be intentional and selective but fair in the flow of future immigration. It needs to turn off the spigots in certain areas and turn them on in others. We need to treat all people without prejudice, but we need not fear restricting temporary flows of certain people. We need to better manage the ebbs and flows (temporary openings, closings and restrictions) of immigration streams into our country.

And a proper management and regulation of those immigrant tides absolutely begins with immediately turning off the illegal flows at our borders. We can't deal with the flood in the orchards until we cap the floodwaters coming into them. And that means giving our Border Patrol the total resources it needs to get its job done, and even utilizing military personnel in particular hot crossing spots. If we can protect borders in the Middle East, we certainly can here as well, if we just quit messing around. In fact, only when we secure our borders can we properly deal with the illegals inside the borders; otherwise, the cat-and-mouse game will continue and grow.

Our forefathers increased and decreased the influx of peoples because America was building a melting pot and because certain ethnicities often brought with them certain securities and degrees of productivity. Today, with America having achieved that great diversity, of course we shouldn't regulate the flows of immigration based solely upon ethnicity. Rather, we should regulate them based upon societal needs for balance, stability and growth.

James Madison spoke for most founders as he gave the purpose for immigration, "Not merely to swell the catalogue of people. No, sir, it is to increase the wealth and strength of the community; and those who acquire the rights of citizenship, without adding to the strength or wealth of the community, are not the people we are in want of."

Such intentionality today in immigration influx could even serve as an additional aid to lift us from our economic recession. For example, if we want to grow particular areas of commerce or infrastructure, then let's do what academic higher institutions do: recruit the people who possess expertise in those areas. Moreover, let's actively seek those who would strengthen the weaknesses in our culture, and provide (at least in part) for their import and allowance into our country, until that particular, societal dry ground for which they came has been satiated or saturated. Then we move on to the next "dry ground" or need for immigrant influx.

In 1790, our founders required immigrants to live in the United States for two years before they could become citizens, to prove their productivity and contributions (including moral influences) in society. The Naturalization Act of 1795 extended the residency requirement for citizenship from two years to five years. I believe a combination of our founders' 1790 and 1795 naturalization recommendations would work to solve our illegal-alien problem and serve as a proper protocol for citizenship.

As I mentioned earlier, we can't properly deal with the illegals within our borders until we've stopped the flow of any more at our borders. Then, and only then, can we turn our attention to the millions already residing in our country. What I then propose for them is not amnesty in any package, but a one-time solution based upon the 1790-1795 immigration law that would separate the wheat from the chaff, straining out potentially productive and law-abiding citizens who will pay their fair share of taxes as citizens.

I would give illegal immigrants already here a three-month grace period to apply for a temporary worker's visa. If they failed to apply within that time frame, they would be considered fugitives and would be found and deported. Once they applied and qualified for a temporary worker's visa, these immigrants would be placed on a two-year probationary period (the original 1790 requirement of residency). At the completion of that time, and if they remained in good standing, they would be issued a permanent worker's visa. And, after an additional three years (completing the five-year residency requirement from the Naturalization Act of 1795), they would qualify to apply for U.S. citizenship.

During their two-year probationary period, it would be their responsibility to check in to assigned governing officials and prove their productivity and progress as a part of the American landscape. Criteria would, of course, be established by Congress (as the Constitution requires) but enforced by local probationary personnel from the departments of naturalization in a similar way that probation officers monitor people on probation. If immigrants don't "check in," and do not have a good reason for not doing so, they will be deported. If they are law-breakers, they will be deported. If they don't demonstrate a good moral standing and aren't productive members of their community, they will be deported.

This is how America was built, and it is how it can be rebuilt again today – if we secure our borders, better regulate the influx of immigrants to meet and build up societal needs and offer a responsible path to citizenship for immigrants who are already working here and want to become productive American citizens.

(Next week in Part 3, Chuck Norris will discuss what he believes is "the greatest obstacle to border enforcement." For more on how to reawaken America to our founders' vision and plans for this country, check out Chuck Norris' brand new YouTube patriot service announcement.)