I believe that there are solutions to the immigration problem, not perfect, but reasonable and fair solutions. There are many issues surrounding legal and illegal immigration. If no action is taken soon, the political situation around these policies will worsen, as municipality by municipality attempts to address the issue in their own way, creating a patchwork of inconsistent and arbitrary laws. My views on dealing with conflict are based on treating everyone involved like family and you are my American family. Immigration is an increasingly emotional and divisive subject. I solve problems for a living, as many of you do. My real world approach to addressing these issues may not be welcomed in ideological political circles. In layman’s terms, do you want to be happy or do you want to be right? Political considerations often blur the right choice. For this issue, I am more interested in having an honest discussion of the issues than I am in making inflammatory statements to increase my influence with a particular constituency.

Legal Immigration

Contrary to some organizations’ views, we do and have always had a need for legal immigration. The H-1B visa program currently allows 65,000 persons per year. I would sponsor an amendment to raise that number to 125,000 per year. Although it has always been promoted as needed by information technology firms, it is also needed by other industries, such as various types of engineering firms. Currently, many students who are entering college are avoiding science and technology fields in the pursuit high-paying careers. In conjunction with issuing more I would also strengthen the penalties and ban companies that violate its provisions from hiring employees through the H-1B visa program. Although some organizations have advocated a temporary worker program, I would not support such a program as it has been promoted. It is a massive loophole in any attempt to control and manage immigration to the U.S. I would, however, support a seasonal worker program for specific agricultural industries. In many industries, the protests that they can not find workers are based on the fact that they refuse to pay market wages, which causes workers to avoid those jobs, and those wages are distorted through the use of illegal and/or undocumented labor. I also support a combination of legal immigration based party on skills and party on family ties. Call it a compromise, if you’d like.

The Illegal Immigration Debate

There is a serious debate about how to address the undocumented worker or illegal immigration situation. There are accusations and misinformation being thrown around. There are also some uncomfortable facts that both sides need to recognize in order to come to a fair and just accommodation:

• The U.S. government intentionally looked the other way as illegal immigrants poured into the country. The current and previous administrations knew that large numbers of people were entering the country and working here illegally. Our government knew that people were overstaying their visas and never tried to track them down. Our government knew that they were not just in the West and Southwest and that they were everywhere opportunities presented themselves. Businesses that hired undocumented workers gained an unfair competitive advantage over businesses that attempted to follow the word and spirit of the law. This forced business owners to either break the law or go out of business.

• Undocumented workers have an impact on the communities that they live in. It’s true. Whether it is good or bad depends on where you live and your views on illegal immigration. In some communities, businesses have used undocumented workers to lower wages and working conditions. They do work hard and don’t complain about poor treatment, leaving low income locals locked out of job opportunities.

• Illegal immigrants come from many countries. While the majority of undocumented workers come from Mexico and other Latin American countries (commonly referred to as Latino), I can assure you that they come from many other countries as well. Many now illegal immigrants entered the country legally and then stayed here under the assumption that the government would never come looking for them. While most stayed for the economic opportunities, not all had such good intentions.

• Undocumented workers from Mexico affect the well being of Mexico. While most anti-immigration organizations talk about the money that Mexicans send back home from the U.S., the real damage is not the potential economical impact on the U.S., but rather the damage done to democracy in Mexico. Mexico is an ally of the U.S., but on this issue, it has steadfastly worked against our interests. Mexico has established nearly 50 consulates around the U.S., following the migration of its citizens in the U.S., to help them establish lives here. These actions allow the Mexican government to avoid dealing with its own massive economic inequalities by using the U.S. as a pressure relief valve. What would have happened in the last Mexican election if there were five to six million more working class people voting? It could have changed the outcome of that election.

• The U.S. needs immigrant labor. Like many developed nations, we need immigrant labor to help us maintain our economic growth and help us handle the retiring baby boomers. While we need immigrant labor, we need it to be legal. We need people to follow the rules and not reward them from evading capture (admittedly out in the open in full view of the appropriate federal authorities).

• Undocumented workers do not have a legal right to stay in the U.S. or become citizens. By definition, undocumented workers are people who have entered the U.S. in violation of its immigration laws. People who have knowingly come into the U.S. in direct violation of the law do not have the right to live in the U.S. legally, although some do have opportunities to apply for asylum. There are not many countries, if any, that allow uncontrolled and undocumented immigration. In fact, Mexico is one of the toughest countries on illegal immigration out of the democratic countries in the Americas.

Legal Children of Illegal Immigrants The term “anchor babies” has been used to describe the U.S.-born children of undocumented workers in the United States. Even if the proposal I propose were to be adopted, not everyone would be allowed to remain in the U.S. However, we need to work together to develop solutions that address what happens if the parents go back to their native countries. For those children who do not have legal guardians and go with their parents, we will need to make provisions for their education overseas and their eventual return as legal adults.

Solving the Problem vs. Name Calling

The comprehensive immigration reform legislation that did not pass failed for several reasons – political demagoguery, incendiary language, and, to me, the attempt to force the legislation to passage, even in the face of concerns by some constituents. By failing to recognize that some Americans, had legitimate concerns (really anger) about the way government intentionally looked the other way and, in some instances, encouraged it with the help of the business community.

We have a problem that needs to be solved. I realize that the ideologues among both parties will not like or appreciate what I propose.  Any candidate or elected official who tells you everything you want to hear is deceiving you and will seek the first opportunity to blame someone else for their failure to carry out their promises. I can not promise you anything on this subject, other hard work, building relationships and coalitions with willing Republicans, and working with those communities impacted by the situation. The main components of my humble proposal:

• People who are in the U.S. illegally and want to stay will register with federal government. They will have one year to do so with the exception of those who are serving overseas in the U.S. military, who will have more time. They will be provided social security numbers by the federal government.

• Those who want to stay will admit to having committed a misdemeanor by violating U.S. immigration laws, pay a small fine (not $5,000), will receive a 5-year probation with a provisional status that allows them to work and stay in the U.S. provided that they do not commit violent crimes or felonies.

• Those who make it five years after submitting their statements of their intent to stay in the U.S. and admitting to violating U.S. immigration law will be granted legal residency status and will then have to get in line for U.S. citizenship.

• Undocumented workers who are found to not have registered after the one-year period, will be deported.

• The federal government will implement/expand a visa and visitor tracking system to prevent people who come here legally, for vacation, work or education, from overstaying their visas. When businesses receive no match letters from the federal government, they will have six months to respond to the government’s letter and six additional months (nine for small businesses) to prove that the employee is legal or no longer working for them.

• Businesses found to have hired undocumented workers will be fined and punished, including their executives. Leadership starts at the top of an organization and in too many cases, executive leadership turns a blind eye to practices that improve the bottom line (it has happened before in other situations).

• There will be no physical border fence. Not because I really care about the aesthetics or symbolism of the fence. Rather, I am more concerned about the damage done to those ecosystems that rely on access to areas blocked by a fence. I will propose more border control and ICE agents, as well as using technology to monitor the border.

I’m sure that some of you who have read my thoughts on immigration are concerned about the approach that I’ve laid out. I want to solve the problem. In most conflicts that are constructively resolved, there is a little give and take in the process where you have to address each other’s concerns and not just your complaints. In the solution I propose, we have to recognize that people who knowingly come here without appropriate documentation are in violation of U.S. immigration law. It is against the law. We also have to recognize that millions of illegal immigrants are here in the U.S. because the government intentionally did not enforce the law, turned a blind eye to companies that blatantly flouted the law, encouraged them to come, and then pretended that it wasn’t aware of the magnitude of the problem. Finally, the U.S. has traditionally set an example for the world for our strength, our perseverance, our resiliency, our democracy, and our charity. It is one thing to talk about compassion, forgiveness and freedom. It is another to practice it. This is not a perfect solution, but it is a workable solution that puts us in a position to pursue prosperity together.