Besides death and taxes, there is one other certainty in life: The government will make a problem so complex that it becomes unsolvable.
The problem of illegal immigrants is a clear example. What to do with up to 13 million undocumented people is a divisive discussion tearing our country apart.
Deporting all of them is one proposal, but the cost is huge, and a nation with a $20 trillion debt has not found the money to do this without adding to that debt. From a humane standpoint, how would deportation prevent families with children born in the United States from being split apart? Their children would be allowed to stay, but their parents would be forced to leave.
Another proposal is to allow illegal immigrants to stay with certain actions required (fines, community service, etc.) as conditions for residency. Those who propose this solution add a “path to citizenship” as in intrinsic element and won’t budge.
I’d like to offer an alternative. Allow law-abiding illegal immigrants to stay, register for a permanent green card and pay income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare premiums — but deny them a path to citizenship. It is illogical to reward people who broke American immigration laws by granting them citizenship.
This way economic elements such as agriculture, restaurants, hotels, and other jobs would not be disrupted. Farmers are already voicing grave concerns that crops will not be harvested.
Most importantly, the fissure in our country would begin to close, and we could focus on other problems as Americans instead of as Democrats and Republicans.
John J. Kauza
Pittstown
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