What might Trump’s ‘Pathway to Legal Status’ Mean?
President Donald Trump is expected to introduce immigration reform during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
As an olive branch to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the president will introduce a “pathway to legal status” according to senior administration officials.
No details have been offered by the administration, but a path to legalization might include some sort of express lane through which illegal immigrants, who are gainfully employed, not a ward of the state and who have committed no crimes other than entering the country illegally would be granted residency (green card) and placed in line behind those who have already applied for citizenship. By placing the fast-pathers at the end of the line, the new applicants won’t cut in front of those who have been in processing for some time.
By joining the legal American workforce these migrants will be able to command higher wages, will pay more in taxes and be able to spend more of their money here in the U.S. as they will be able to lawfully open bank accounts and buy cars from dealerships.
As an enforcement action and to incentivize illegals to take advantage of the new process, the measure may also include the mandatory use of e-verify for all employers and those that use contract labor.
E-Verify is an electronic system that compares information from Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification to Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), and Department of State (DOS) records to instantly confirm that the applicant is authorized to work in the United States.
Making this process quick, accessible and affordable will be the key to legalizing the migrant workers who obey the law, are productive and are not a burden on the state.
Frankly, although I like olives, I’m not ‘real big’ on giving the fruit bearing branch to placate a bunch of self centered elected officials……..But I do have a logical side and realize that the deportation of all illegals is insurmountable and not practical.
DO YOU LIVE NEXT DOOR TO A FELON? No? You sure? IF your neighbor entered the (our) country illegally, his crime is a misdemeanor UNTIL he gets a social security card, applies for any social service, enrolls his children in school under the auspices of being a citizen. FALSIFYING ANY GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT IS A FELON….punishable by fine and JAIL followed by deportation. Not nearly as many as some think ‘live in the shadows’ and are falsely claiming citizenship and all of the ‘rights; that go with it, to include voting.
If one is brought to this country as a child, (& can prove it) they are allowed to apply for citizenship under the Dream Act…this will likely cause parents to be deported, so few do. I listened to a Congressman say that one of these ‘children’ had been deported…actually it’s two and BOTH were arrested for committing a crime. One, released & waiting trial managed to kill a woman.
Trump has indicated that those that have a criminal background (to include the 2200 prisoners Obama commuted sentences for) would go first with those ‘newly arrested’. This will take years….so details have time to develop.
In the meantime E-Verify is a must as is ENFORCEMENT of our laws. If it takes a wall, so be it….At $12-20 million is cheap compared to the cost of welfare and overcrowded schools and ER’s.
Oh, on spending their money here….F.A.I.R just reported that $45 BILLION DOLLARS a year is sent out of the country to families to live on, pay passage or protection. That’s up from 15 Billion in 2006.
Jan, I agree. Unfortunately, e-Verify won’t stop all that money headed out of the country through wire transfers or the mail.
Hopefully, the government can figure out how to tax any money leaving the country for whatever purpose.
That would be fair as it is applied to anyone that seeks to send money overseas no matter where they come from. Unfortunately, no one is going after the illegal immigrant cash being exported without a license.
After looking at my comment again, I see that I was unclear on a couple of things. Hope this takes care of that…..You are right E-Verify won’t stop the outflow of money to home companies. What it does is to insure that jobs go to those honestly, legally in the country. It will ‘verify’ that the social security number actually belongs to that individual and is not ‘stolen’.
When it comes to the 45 Billion being sent out of the Country, I had intended to show that large amounts of their earnings DO NOT circulate and help our economy…..and should have added that an impressive, large number of the unskilled and retail workers fall in the ‘low income’ level and are eligible for at least food stamps and LARGE tax refunds. An example based on when I was the Retail Store Director/Manager for the Salvation Army, I had a young woman who had 2 children and a green card. Her wages were slightly above minimum wage. Although taxes were paid from her check..she had government assistance in several areas…Her tax return was a whopping $2700 without altering her assistance help……I’m simply trying to show where some of the holes in this “contributing to our economy’ argument has some really fair size holes in it. If I haven’t, let me know….