We need to stop kidding ourselves about certain very important central truths regarding the current immigration mess we are in. The fact is that there are millions upon millions of illegal immigrants all over our nation, and there is no way we are actually going to catch them all and get rid of them. Meanwhile, more and more pour across the border every single day. So we are talking about a population situation that simply is not going to change significantly for the better any time soon. It is a waste of time to spend energy and money arguing to round them all up and deport them, as that's not going to happen and in fact wouldn't be realistically possible. If we just focus on doing our best to push them into the shadows and deny education opportunities to their children, deny them health care, and deny them jobs, then what we are saying is we will strive to create an undergound population so impoverished and disenfranchised and removed from regular society that resort to crime, gangs, drug peddling, and violence against U.S. citizens is guaranteed.

It doesn't matter if you feel any sympathy for immigrants destined to poverty, or if you take a tough-on-crime approach to these symptoms that arise from current immigration policies.  That these are the facts and the expected outcomes is a given, and the question becomes, "Are we going to try and put a stop to it, or just complain about it but refuse to do the heavy lifting it takes to actually stop it?"  If we know there is a huge illegal immigrant community that we won't be able to deport, that we won't get our hands on until they end up committing an act of violence or other crime, and who will continue taking jobs more easily (as the lowest labor on the market) while using social services they haven't paid into, then it seems logical that the best way to reduce these negative aspects of the situation would be to eliminate them as a cheap labor source, as an underground community, and as non-payers into services they will later use.  How? The answer should be obvious.

The first group to address, partly because they are perhaps the easiest to address and there is less contentious, are children of illegal immigrants.  Many illegal immigrant parents would risk their own freedom if it meant a chance to make their children legal residents, and a program that grants legal residency -- not citizenship -- to all children under 18, who do not have any juvenile criminal records, would be a good place to start.  At age 18, if the child was raised inside this country and has been in our schools and participated generally as a normal part of the community, then they can at that point be granted a chance to apply for citizenship on in expedited process.  Meanwhile, parents who are willing to bring their children in, and who do not themselves have any criminal record in Mexico or in the U.S. (both grounds for immediate deportation, within 24 hours, in this plan), can apply for a temporary visa and must return to Mexico while awaiting the results.  If they are eligible, they can return to their former home in the U.S. and continue living and working but must meet a list of new requirements that includes monthly payments for back taxes, becoming proficient in English, and reuniting with their children to encourage strengthened legal ties in this nation.

Remember that the temporary visas mentioned here are within the framework discussed in the previous entries in this series, so we are talking about education and employment criteria as well as the awarding of points towards eventual long-term status or potentially future citizenship.

This addresses illegal immigrant families in a way that protects children who are good examples of the sort of positive, educated, "Americanized" immigrants we want to encourage in our country, and allowing otherwise law-abiding parents to leave voluntarily but eventually return and reunite with their now-legal children, while becoming a temporary legal working resident if they take advantage of the available options. Without incentives and faith that they will be better off turning themselves in, illegal immigrants will continue to refuse cooperation and to remain in the shadows, and we will be unable to do anything beyond the failed enforcement methods on which we've already wasted too much time and resources. Accepting that the best way to deal with them is to first bring them into the light, we can consider the best inducements to get them to come forward and decide how much we are willing to offer in exchange. However much some may not want to admit that this sort of compromise is necessary, the truth is that it will have to happen sooner or later, because any proposal is doomed to failure if it lacks an element of compromise to induce these immigrants to engage in a legal process. Refusing compromise now ensures that sooner or later, down the road, someone will offer amnesty because the problem will simply be too big to deal with any more. To prevent that, we must act now.

There are of course details to be worked out, but in the context of a broader policy that puts more enforcement at disincentives at the border coupled with large, fast-paced deportation facilities along the border as well, this sort of plan would help us quickly get control of the influx of illegal immigrants while filtering through the best residency candidates from those already residing in our nation. When you also throw in the combination of increased penalties and major financial incentives as a stick-and-carrot approach to employers of illegal immigrants, there is a clear opportunity to move forward with successful immigration reform that achieves positive, decisive results that could win strong support among the American people in general and GOP voters in particular.

It would also increase our party's appeal to the Hispanic voting block, which is growing rapidly and will tilt away from us for a long time if we don't take up this issue in ways that don't alienate this significant segment of our population. It should also be obvious that this support among Hispanic voters would of course further increase when we factor in all those future voters engaged in our new immigration process, and those who live here illegally now but who see their children given a chance at the American dream while they as parents get a second chance. And we can do all of this without amnesty, since the end result could be described as merely changed from grabbing them and tossing them out, to meeting them at a predetermined place and politely escorting them out and showing them how to enter properly. Meanwhile, the financial factors all shape up favorably for our nation, for American workers, and for the immigrants themselves. The end game is win-win for everybody, and it can work because it truly gets everyone involved (government, private industry, Mexico, and the immigrants themselves) at the table working together to fix the problem in new, unique ways.

Such a plan requires blunt admissions and brave action, and a tireless public relations plan to explain the real depth of the problem and the true value in these solutions. Ultimately, despite a small segment of the population (made up of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike) who will oppose anything short of 100% deportation, most people are rational and just want results that stop the problems arising from illegal immigration and offer reasonable solutions beneficial to our country. Voters will listen to someone who steps forward with a serious, bold plan that combines strict enforcement with honest admissions and rational ways of achieving results that simply must be achieved. I am convinced that once confronted with such a plan, voters will reward the candidate and the party on election day.