ENGLISH FOR SENATE POSITION PAPER ON:

Immigration Reform

Solutions for the problem of uncontrollable, illegal immigration must address all aspects of the issue if future remedies are to be effective.  Firstly, the cause of the problem must be recognized.  Overpopulation in Latin American countries is the major cause of the problem, especially Mexico, where the population has increased from 20 million in 1940 to 110 million in 2006.  By comparison, if the U. S. population had increased at the same rate, there would be almost  800 million people living here today instead of 300 million. Half of Mexico's population lives below the Mexican poverty level of  $2.00 per day per person,  In practical terms, the only alternative these 50 million people have is to work in and/or emigrate to the United States if they wish to improve their living standards.   Furthermore, with a very young population and an average number of four children per family (down from eight years ago),  Mexico's population will continue to grow rapidly over the next thirty years or longer.  Even under the best future circumstances (i.e., two children per family), Mexico's population will not level off until after it exceeds 150 million or more inhabitants..

Secondly, there is a real identity accuracy problem to isolate and identify illegal immigrants from Latinos and others who are here legally, either with green cards or as citizens.  A secure and verifiable national identity system is needed to enable employers to verify the status of all job applicants before effective employment controls can be enacted.  State motor vehicle agencies are not equipped to process and verify original documents of identity (i.e., birth certificates, etc). This is a Federal responsibility.  A secure national database constructed using original identity documents needs to be established for all residents and potential guest workers comparable to the level of security achieved by the passport application and processing procedure.  Once established, this system would enable employers to verify job applicants status with high accuracy.  It would also be most useful in combating identity fraud for all U. S. residents, which itself is a rapidly growing national criminal problem.

After the national identity and employment verification systems have been implemented and are working properly, then a Federally managed guest worker progam can be instituted, monitored, and controlled.   Run by the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL), potential employers would contract with the DOL to hire guest workers that would be paid at least the minumum wage, with mandated payroll deductions for income tax and social security and guarantees that fair labor standards practices will be enforced.   A special Social Security program should be established for guest workers only that would enable them to earn credits for retirement to be paid in only Mexico at age 67 after their 40 quarters of earned contributions have been credited to their accounts.  If the Mexican government cooperates, half of the U. S. income taxes collected from these guest workers would be remitted to the Mexican Treasury to pay for their and their families' health care and the education of their children in Mexico.  The Mexican government would assume full financial resposiblity for the health care needs of their citizens while they are employed in the United States.  Other countries could establish similar programs for their guest workers in the U. S., but would have to pay or guarantee reimburse their cost of transportaton to and from the United States

Regarding the guest worker program per se,  properly identified and certified workers only (no dependents) would be admitted to work a maximum of six months annually in the United States.  Guest workers would be permitted to work only for qualified employers under contract with the U. S. Department of  Labor.  A vigorous inspection program using Federal inspectors should be instituted to ensure that the guest workers are properly treated by their employers.  Employers guilty of serious fair labor standard violations would be severely punished and permanently barred from further participation in the program.  Every guest worker must return to Mexico for the remainder of the year at the end of his six month period of employment in the United States.   They would be permitted to work a maximum of twenty five consecutive calendar years in the United States in order to accumulate the minimum of  40 quarters of covered employment for their  Social Security pensions that will be paid at age 67 in Mexico.   Those workers desiring to obtain U. S. citizenship status would have to undergo the normal naturalization process.   Marriage to a U. S. citizen would be prohibited for all guest workers while they are participating in the program.  Pregnant guest workers would be immediately returned to Mexico and barred from further participation in the program.

Finally, Mexicans already illegally residing and gainfully employed in the United States would have first priority for employment under the guest worker program, but must adhere to all requirements including returning to Mexico six months annually as mentioned above.  Dependents of guest workers who are not U. S. citizens must return to Mexico.  In the case of minor (less than age 18) dependents that also are U. S,. citizens, they also must return to Mexico until reaching age 18, when they can return to the United States, unless they have a parent or guardian that is a resident U. S. citizen and accepts full financial responsiblity (no welfare recipients) for their care and upbringing until reaching age 18.

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