Immigration
In my view, there are four cornerstones needed to establish a strong foundation for our immigration policy:
- Strong border security
- A legal immigration system that encourages economic growth
- Temporary worker programs to provide for future labor needs
- Employment verification standards that are strict enough to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants.
The number of illegal aliens crossing the border who are linked to human smuggling or drug cartels has continued to increase. I am in favor of strong border security.
Our legal immigration system should encourage economic growth and give future immigrants an incentive to work their way through the process. I am in favor of continuing to offer visas to foreign-born graduates of American universities. We should encourage them to accept jobs in the U.S. rather than go back overseas.
We should also develop a mechanism to deal with the increasing demand for migrant and other unskilled workers. A temporary worker program could allow certain employers to hire the workers they need to run and grow their business. This program would only be used to fill jobs that existing Americans were either unable or unwilling to perform. An easy-to access worker verification system is needed to let employers check each new hire’s legal status.
By granting businesses access to a qualified foreign labor pool, they would have no viable excuse for circumventing the immigration laws.
We Are A Nation of Nations
I believe our immigration policy should be generous, flexible and fair. It should also reaffirm the original values, principles and ideals upon which the United States was founded:
“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.”