If you do read it, please let me know what you think. Please don't bother to argue, or call me an asshole, or otherwise be rude and or obnoxious. Please do just let me know do you see it as positive or negative as compared to the bill currently before the Congress, and as currently favored by President Bush. Thanks.
All the best,
Glenn B (see below)
********************
Dear Mr. President,
or Dear Senator Whomever,
or Dear Representative Whomever,
I am a native born U.S. citizen; yet I like the fact that the United States of America is made up of immigrants, from the very first people who later became known as Native Americans all the way to present day people such as my own wife. Immigrants, that is legal immigrants, have been a very good thing for the USA. They for the great majority abide by our laws from day one, and come here to better themselves while at the same time hoping to become U.S. Citizens through legal means. On the other hand there are millions of illegal aliens within our borders. No I did not call them Undocumented immigrants, nor did I call them migrant workers, nor did I call them Illegal immigrants – they are in fact alien to our country and our laws because they came from abroad into the USA either through illegal means of entry, or by legal entry and then overstayed their visas. They have for decades of them flocking here illegally and have been a great burden on our economy.
Despite my beliefs along the lines that illegal aliens are currently a scourge on the well being of our nation, I will admit to being a pragmatist in many regards, and I will therefore say that both the removal idea (as much as it appeals to me on a gut level), and the so called amnesty proposal or Immigration bill (that repulses me on a gut level) now before congress and liked by President Bush, are both losing propositions. Now that I have said that, let me tell you of a plan that I almost cannot believe the politicians have tried to push, then again maybe you have thought of this already - but maybe not. It is something I thought of today that absolutely popped into my mind out of the blue. I guess my almost 28 years as a federal agent, first with the Border Patrol, then with U.S. Customs, and now with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have had me thinking lately about how to solve the problem. My draft plan, at about 5 pages, is somewhat lengthy, but I am sure nowhere nearly as long as the current bill before the Congress.
Despite my beliefs along the lines that illegal aliens are currently a scourge on the well being of our nation, I will admit to being a pragmatist in many regards, and I will therefore say that both the removal idea (as much as it appeals to me on a gut level), and the so called amnesty proposal or Immigration bill (that repulses me on a gut level) now before congress and liked by President Bush, are both losing propositions. Now that I have said that, let me tell you of a plan that I almost cannot believe the politicians have tried to push, then again maybe you have thought of this already - but maybe not. It is something I thought of today that absolutely popped into my mind out of the blue. I guess my almost 28 years as a federal agent, first with the Border Patrol, then with U.S. Customs, and now with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have had me thinking lately about how to solve the problem. My draft plan, at about 5 pages, is somewhat lengthy, but I am sure nowhere nearly as long as the current bill before the Congress.
Please take a good look at it, and if you think it has merit, I urge you to formulate a new bill, based upon this framework, to place before the President, the Congress, and the People of the United States of America, for their consideration.
I would propose a plan/immigration bill that would:
1) Require immediate construction of a secure border barrier along our southern border’s entire length.
2) Require all illegal aliens, who were within our country prior to enactment of the bill to register with Citizenship and Immigration Services, and require the government to hire contractors to augment CIS employees to complete the registrations (with no use of ICE agents to do so, because ICE agents should be doing criminal investigations and not doing administrative work). The illegal aliens who do not register within a 6 month period would be removed without appeal or hearing if encountered after that time (remember this is an administrative removal, and they have no rights regarding criminal law under the civil removal proceedings).
3) CIS would register all the illegal aliens with tamper proof documentation to include photo, fingerprints, and the cards would contain individually numbered computer chips.
4) The government would then implement a mandatory workforce program consisting entirely of illegal aliens who have registered as above. Each registered illegal alien would be required to work in this program, full time, 40 hours per week, for a period of 2 years. A registered illegal alien would be required to become engaged in gainful employment under the program within 3 months of registration. Employment would be assigned by program administrators, and it would be the responsibility of the program administrators to ascertain that each registered alien becomes so employed.
5) The program would be named The AWARD Program; AWARD being an acronym for Alien Workforce for American Reconstruction and Development. The goal of this program would be to have the registered illegal aliens perform public service works. They would be utilized in non-skilled and semi-skilled labor jobs throughout the country. Jobs they would perform would consist of things like: street sweepers, pothole fillers, manual laborers of all sorts, janitors, cleaning crews, border fence builders, border tunnel fillers, road crews, parks maintenance crews, federal monument maintenance crews, prison workers, and on and on and on. They would then truly get a chance to do many of the jobs we U.S. Citizens and legal resident aliens supposedly do not want to do.
6) Pay for these positions would be equivalent to the federal government’s General Schedule pay rate at the GS-4 level: or $22,902.00 per year, with no locality considerations. That works out to an hourly rate of $10.97 per hour. There would be no pay step or pay grade increase(s) over the mandatory 2 year workforce period; however the pay would be equivalent to GS-4 step 1 for the current period of employment at the commencement of the 2 year period. The 2 year period of workforce labor must be completed without any breaks in service, except for 2 weeks of vacation, 2 weeks of sick leave, each year. Should a registered illegal alien become unable to work for any reason (beyond 2 weeks of sick leave) the alien would be removed from the program and removed from the country (remember these are people who already broke the law, we are giving them a chance, albeit a tough chance at that). All income taxes would be the responsibility of the registered illegal aliens who are in the AWARD Program.
7) The AWARD Program could be completely run by the federal government, or could be completely run by private business/industry while monitored by the government, or could be run by a combination of both. In other words, the registered illegal aliens could work directly for the government as public servants, or they could work in the private sector.
8) Any private sector business found to knowingly hire, or hire with a blind eye, illegal aliens who are not registered as above and eligible to be in the AWARD Program, would be fined $10,000.00 per illegal alien so hired for the first 5 offenses, and then $25,000 per illegal alien for any subsequent offense. The burden of proof for this administrative violation would be on the employer of the illegal alien(s).
9) A registered illegal alien who has completed a 2 year stint working in the AWARD program would be required to appear in person at a CIS office, to document his/her successful participation in the program. At the immediate time the registered illegal alien presented this evidence to CIS, his/her name, and alien registration number, would be entered into a computerized lottery, and the alien would receive an immediate decision as to whether or not he would be allowed to remain within the USA as an alien temporarily admitted for residence, or if he/she would be required to immediately be placed into incarceration for removal from the country. A set percentage, let us say 50% or as decided upon by the government but no higher than 50%, would be allowed to remain within the USA after completing the AWARD Program, and after passing a background investigation. (Much more likely to work than telling them they have to register, leave the USA, pay a fine, and then come back later as is the current plan in Congress. You see they now have an incentive, a guaranteed job, at a guaranteed salary, and a good percentage of remaining here after that program has been completed. This also has them actually working to the good of the USA.) Others who complete the AWARD Program employment, but then do not win residence, and then who voluntarily depart the USA, may immediately apply for legal entry without penalty.
10) Immediate family members (meaning spouse, sons and daughters) of the registered Award Program illegal aliens would be allowed to remain with the USA if already here at the time the bill is enacted. If not already within this country, they may join the registrant upon completion of that registrant’s successful completion of the AWARD program. If the spouse is already here, the spouse would also have to complete the AWARD Program, but this could be deferred until such time as the primary breadwinner completes the program. If the person selected as the primary breadwinner does not successfully complete the program, the other spouse (if also an illegal alien) would be removed with chance to participate.
11) Citizen spouses or children would not be required to depart with removed aliens relatives, however no status, or consideration, will be granted to an illegal alien, who does no register and then successfully complete the AWARD Program, based upon citizenship or legal resident alien status of immediate, or other, family members.
12) All aliens participating within the AWARD Program would be required to have 10% of their pay placed into a secure government account. The funds collected in these accounts would be used to fund, in part or in whole, removal of the alien should he/she not successfully complete the AWARD Program. Should the alien successfully complete the program, the money would be returned to the alien without interest, but only after the alien has become an alien legally admitted for permanent residence.
13) Registered illegal Alien AWARD Program status would be given to those who registered and then became employed as above (a temporary legal status); Lawful Permanent Alien Status would be granted to registered illegal aliens who had successfully completed the AWARD Program, and who have not been convicted of any misdemeanor of felony (and who would not at the time of application or during the process be charged with the same), and who have remained within the United States gainfully employed for a period of 2 years subsequent to his/her successful completion of the AWARD Program. Thereby a registered illegal alien could conceivably become a lawful permanent resident alien of the United States within 4 years from the date of commencing the AWARD Program. After 2 years of remaining gainfully employed in the USA as a legal permanent resident alien, these AWARD Program Aliens would be required to apply for U.S. Citizenship or depart the USA forever.
14) Upon enactment of the bill, the size of the U.S. Border Patrol would increase by 50%, and the Border Patrol would be given strict enforcement authority on an administrative level to immediately remove any illegal aliens they encounter at or within 50 miles of the border. Congress would write the law to give them authority to do so.
15) Re-create the position of Immigration Enforcement Agent - not a criminal investigator like an ICE agent, but rather a round-up agent whose main duty is to round up illegal aliens in our country away from the land borders. Same authority as a border patrol Agent, but within the interior of the country.
16) Allow for Border Patrol Agents, Immigration Enforcement Agent, and any federal or state law enforcement officers to share Immigration authorities, so that they could be used interchangeably when situations would require.
17) Any alien, once determined to be an illegal alien, encountered within the USA subsequent to completion of the illegal alien registration program would be immediately removed from the USA, no appeals, no deportation or removal hearings, no exceptions. The burden of proof to establish whether or not an alien is within the USA legally would be placed upon the alien; and this would be written into the bill.
18) All aliens within the USA would be required to carry at all times on their persons their alien registration card. Failure to do so would be prima facie evidence of illegal alien status for the purpose of arrest; but could be overcome for purpose of removal, by proof that the alien was actually here legally. The entire burden of proof as to legal alien status or registered illegal alien AWARD Program status, would be that of the alien – and this shall be written into the bill.
19) A reasonable amount of legal Immigration into the United States by aliens from abroad would be permissible each year. Immigrant status would be granted to those based upon needed skills. (I would suggest mostly unskilled, or semi skilled, laborers as opposed to highly skilled workers or highly educated professionals. The reason behind this would be that unskilled workers would continues to take truly undesired jobs. They would also have the highest degree of ambition to better themselves, and to better the lives of their children. This would then mean that those already immigrated here, and U.S. citizens would continues to reap the benefits of legal residence and citizenship, while those newly arrived would work their way up the ladder. Therefore U.S. schools would have more openings for U.S. Citizens with less competition from well to do foreigners who come here and start out at the top of the workforce heap.)
20) All new immigrants into the USA would be required to become gainfully employed within 3 months of arrival within the USA, or face removal. Failure to provide proof of gainful employment would be prima facie evidence of illegal alien status, and removal would commence.
21) There would be no temporary worker program. All aliens admitted into the USA would be admitted as Temporary legal Resident Aliens. Each would be required to actually become permanent legal resident aliens with 1 years of entering the USA. This status would be granted once they have been gainfully employed full time (for the primary breadwinner) for a period of 1 year (thereby they could achieve lawful permanent resident status after only 1 year as opposed to AWARD program Illegal Aliens who would need 4 years to accomplish the same, this would be the reward for having done it legally from day one). After 3 years of Permanent Legal Resident Status (a total of 4 years here, 1 as temporary resident and 3 as a permanent resident) each alien so admitted would be required to apply for U.S. Citizenship or depart the USA forever.
22) All applicants for U.S. Citizenship would be required to read, write, and speak English on a 5th grade level in order to be granted citizenship. Any alien failing to become proficient in the English language at the 5th grade level would be immediately incarcerated and then removed from the country no appeals.
23) English would be enacted in the bill, as the official language of the United States of America.
24) By registering as an illegal aliens, or by applying for the AWARD program, or by applying for legal resident alien status, and alien agrees to be voluntarily removed should he or she violate any part of the bill..
This is a plan that will allow illegal aliens to make amends and give something to the USA through the AWARDS Program, while at the same time getting something good out of it for them selves.
It is also a plan that would reward they who apply legally from step one, because they would get a fast track to legal permanent residence and to citizenship.
It is a plan to benefit the economy because preference would be given to unskilled and semi-skilled laborers, thereby keeping up a flow of legal residents who would accept less than desirable jobs, and afford business/industry with low cost labor.
It is a plan that would then protect the sovereignty of the USA and her borders because of increased law enforcement authority and enforcement; and because of the secure border.
It is a plan that would encourage legal immigration because those who immigrate here legally would be on the fast track to citizenship, and those arrested would face either removal or incarceration.
I would propose a plan/immigration bill that would:
1) Require immediate construction of a secure border barrier along our southern border’s entire length.
2) Require all illegal aliens, who were within our country prior to enactment of the bill to register with Citizenship and Immigration Services, and require the government to hire contractors to augment CIS employees to complete the registrations (with no use of ICE agents to do so, because ICE agents should be doing criminal investigations and not doing administrative work). The illegal aliens who do not register within a 6 month period would be removed without appeal or hearing if encountered after that time (remember this is an administrative removal, and they have no rights regarding criminal law under the civil removal proceedings).
3) CIS would register all the illegal aliens with tamper proof documentation to include photo, fingerprints, and the cards would contain individually numbered computer chips.
4) The government would then implement a mandatory workforce program consisting entirely of illegal aliens who have registered as above. Each registered illegal alien would be required to work in this program, full time, 40 hours per week, for a period of 2 years. A registered illegal alien would be required to become engaged in gainful employment under the program within 3 months of registration. Employment would be assigned by program administrators, and it would be the responsibility of the program administrators to ascertain that each registered alien becomes so employed.
5) The program would be named The AWARD Program; AWARD being an acronym for Alien Workforce for American Reconstruction and Development. The goal of this program would be to have the registered illegal aliens perform public service works. They would be utilized in non-skilled and semi-skilled labor jobs throughout the country. Jobs they would perform would consist of things like: street sweepers, pothole fillers, manual laborers of all sorts, janitors, cleaning crews, border fence builders, border tunnel fillers, road crews, parks maintenance crews, federal monument maintenance crews, prison workers, and on and on and on. They would then truly get a chance to do many of the jobs we U.S. Citizens and legal resident aliens supposedly do not want to do.
6) Pay for these positions would be equivalent to the federal government’s General Schedule pay rate at the GS-4 level: or $22,902.00 per year, with no locality considerations. That works out to an hourly rate of $10.97 per hour. There would be no pay step or pay grade increase(s) over the mandatory 2 year workforce period; however the pay would be equivalent to GS-4 step 1 for the current period of employment at the commencement of the 2 year period. The 2 year period of workforce labor must be completed without any breaks in service, except for 2 weeks of vacation, 2 weeks of sick leave, each year. Should a registered illegal alien become unable to work for any reason (beyond 2 weeks of sick leave) the alien would be removed from the program and removed from the country (remember these are people who already broke the law, we are giving them a chance, albeit a tough chance at that). All income taxes would be the responsibility of the registered illegal aliens who are in the AWARD Program.
7) The AWARD Program could be completely run by the federal government, or could be completely run by private business/industry while monitored by the government, or could be run by a combination of both. In other words, the registered illegal aliens could work directly for the government as public servants, or they could work in the private sector.
8) Any private sector business found to knowingly hire, or hire with a blind eye, illegal aliens who are not registered as above and eligible to be in the AWARD Program, would be fined $10,000.00 per illegal alien so hired for the first 5 offenses, and then $25,000 per illegal alien for any subsequent offense. The burden of proof for this administrative violation would be on the employer of the illegal alien(s).
9) A registered illegal alien who has completed a 2 year stint working in the AWARD program would be required to appear in person at a CIS office, to document his/her successful participation in the program. At the immediate time the registered illegal alien presented this evidence to CIS, his/her name, and alien registration number, would be entered into a computerized lottery, and the alien would receive an immediate decision as to whether or not he would be allowed to remain within the USA as an alien temporarily admitted for residence, or if he/she would be required to immediately be placed into incarceration for removal from the country. A set percentage, let us say 50% or as decided upon by the government but no higher than 50%, would be allowed to remain within the USA after completing the AWARD Program, and after passing a background investigation. (Much more likely to work than telling them they have to register, leave the USA, pay a fine, and then come back later as is the current plan in Congress. You see they now have an incentive, a guaranteed job, at a guaranteed salary, and a good percentage of remaining here after that program has been completed. This also has them actually working to the good of the USA.) Others who complete the AWARD Program employment, but then do not win residence, and then who voluntarily depart the USA, may immediately apply for legal entry without penalty.
10) Immediate family members (meaning spouse, sons and daughters) of the registered Award Program illegal aliens would be allowed to remain with the USA if already here at the time the bill is enacted. If not already within this country, they may join the registrant upon completion of that registrant’s successful completion of the AWARD program. If the spouse is already here, the spouse would also have to complete the AWARD Program, but this could be deferred until such time as the primary breadwinner completes the program. If the person selected as the primary breadwinner does not successfully complete the program, the other spouse (if also an illegal alien) would be removed with chance to participate.
11) Citizen spouses or children would not be required to depart with removed aliens relatives, however no status, or consideration, will be granted to an illegal alien, who does no register and then successfully complete the AWARD Program, based upon citizenship or legal resident alien status of immediate, or other, family members.
12) All aliens participating within the AWARD Program would be required to have 10% of their pay placed into a secure government account. The funds collected in these accounts would be used to fund, in part or in whole, removal of the alien should he/she not successfully complete the AWARD Program. Should the alien successfully complete the program, the money would be returned to the alien without interest, but only after the alien has become an alien legally admitted for permanent residence.
13) Registered illegal Alien AWARD Program status would be given to those who registered and then became employed as above (a temporary legal status); Lawful Permanent Alien Status would be granted to registered illegal aliens who had successfully completed the AWARD Program, and who have not been convicted of any misdemeanor of felony (and who would not at the time of application or during the process be charged with the same), and who have remained within the United States gainfully employed for a period of 2 years subsequent to his/her successful completion of the AWARD Program. Thereby a registered illegal alien could conceivably become a lawful permanent resident alien of the United States within 4 years from the date of commencing the AWARD Program. After 2 years of remaining gainfully employed in the USA as a legal permanent resident alien, these AWARD Program Aliens would be required to apply for U.S. Citizenship or depart the USA forever.
14) Upon enactment of the bill, the size of the U.S. Border Patrol would increase by 50%, and the Border Patrol would be given strict enforcement authority on an administrative level to immediately remove any illegal aliens they encounter at or within 50 miles of the border. Congress would write the law to give them authority to do so.
15) Re-create the position of Immigration Enforcement Agent - not a criminal investigator like an ICE agent, but rather a round-up agent whose main duty is to round up illegal aliens in our country away from the land borders. Same authority as a border patrol Agent, but within the interior of the country.
16) Allow for Border Patrol Agents, Immigration Enforcement Agent, and any federal or state law enforcement officers to share Immigration authorities, so that they could be used interchangeably when situations would require.
17) Any alien, once determined to be an illegal alien, encountered within the USA subsequent to completion of the illegal alien registration program would be immediately removed from the USA, no appeals, no deportation or removal hearings, no exceptions. The burden of proof to establish whether or not an alien is within the USA legally would be placed upon the alien; and this would be written into the bill.
18) All aliens within the USA would be required to carry at all times on their persons their alien registration card. Failure to do so would be prima facie evidence of illegal alien status for the purpose of arrest; but could be overcome for purpose of removal, by proof that the alien was actually here legally. The entire burden of proof as to legal alien status or registered illegal alien AWARD Program status, would be that of the alien – and this shall be written into the bill.
19) A reasonable amount of legal Immigration into the United States by aliens from abroad would be permissible each year. Immigrant status would be granted to those based upon needed skills. (I would suggest mostly unskilled, or semi skilled, laborers as opposed to highly skilled workers or highly educated professionals. The reason behind this would be that unskilled workers would continues to take truly undesired jobs. They would also have the highest degree of ambition to better themselves, and to better the lives of their children. This would then mean that those already immigrated here, and U.S. citizens would continues to reap the benefits of legal residence and citizenship, while those newly arrived would work their way up the ladder. Therefore U.S. schools would have more openings for U.S. Citizens with less competition from well to do foreigners who come here and start out at the top of the workforce heap.)
20) All new immigrants into the USA would be required to become gainfully employed within 3 months of arrival within the USA, or face removal. Failure to provide proof of gainful employment would be prima facie evidence of illegal alien status, and removal would commence.
21) There would be no temporary worker program. All aliens admitted into the USA would be admitted as Temporary legal Resident Aliens. Each would be required to actually become permanent legal resident aliens with 1 years of entering the USA. This status would be granted once they have been gainfully employed full time (for the primary breadwinner) for a period of 1 year (thereby they could achieve lawful permanent resident status after only 1 year as opposed to AWARD program Illegal Aliens who would need 4 years to accomplish the same, this would be the reward for having done it legally from day one). After 3 years of Permanent Legal Resident Status (a total of 4 years here, 1 as temporary resident and 3 as a permanent resident) each alien so admitted would be required to apply for U.S. Citizenship or depart the USA forever.
22) All applicants for U.S. Citizenship would be required to read, write, and speak English on a 5th grade level in order to be granted citizenship. Any alien failing to become proficient in the English language at the 5th grade level would be immediately incarcerated and then removed from the country no appeals.
23) English would be enacted in the bill, as the official language of the United States of America.
24) By registering as an illegal aliens, or by applying for the AWARD program, or by applying for legal resident alien status, and alien agrees to be voluntarily removed should he or she violate any part of the bill..
This is a plan that will allow illegal aliens to make amends and give something to the USA through the AWARDS Program, while at the same time getting something good out of it for them selves.
It is also a plan that would reward they who apply legally from step one, because they would get a fast track to legal permanent residence and to citizenship.
It is a plan to benefit the economy because preference would be given to unskilled and semi-skilled laborers, thereby keeping up a flow of legal residents who would accept less than desirable jobs, and afford business/industry with low cost labor.
It is a plan that would then protect the sovereignty of the USA and her borders because of increased law enforcement authority and enforcement; and because of the secure border.
It is a plan that would encourage legal immigration because those who immigrate here legally would be on the fast track to citizenship, and those arrested would face either removal or incarceration.
It is a plan that could work if given a real push.
Of course I realize it would need a lot of work in Washington, DC, but my plan is a basic framework, one I think to benefit us all.
I hope to garner support for such a plan by sending this proposal to my representatives within the U.S. Senate, to my representatives within the House of Representatives, to the Vice President, and to President Bush. In addition I will be sending copies to as many news media outlets as I can such as Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, local news papers and radio stations, and so forth. It is truly my hope that the bill currently before the congress that effectively grants virtual amnesty for illegal aliens will be replaced with something that would be of more benefit to the Citizens of our great nation.
With the greatest of respect for you and your office,
Glenn R. Bartley
(contact info)
I hope to garner support for such a plan by sending this proposal to my representatives within the U.S. Senate, to my representatives within the House of Representatives, to the Vice President, and to President Bush. In addition I will be sending copies to as many news media outlets as I can such as Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, local news papers and radio stations, and so forth. It is truly my hope that the bill currently before the congress that effectively grants virtual amnesty for illegal aliens will be replaced with something that would be of more benefit to the Citizens of our great nation.
With the greatest of respect for you and your office,
Glenn R. Bartley
(contact info)
The Fine Print: Did I forget to mention above, that if you think my plan will not work, then deport/remove all of the slime balls illegal aliens, and open the doors to those who have waited to immigrate legally!
No comments:
Post a Comment