Also
published on Newsmax. #TRUMPING
President
Trump is aligning immigration policy to our national wellbeing. His approach is comprehensive and
consistent. It is a welcome change and
not a moment too soon.
Immigration
is a privilege not a right.
A
nation has every right and reason to make sure those who enter are who they say
they are and those who want to stay are beneficial not burdensome. It is amazing that these fundamental
sovereignty issues are debated.
A
border wall with Mexico is a necessary requirement for protecting national sovereignty
and blocking future illegal immigration along America’ southern border. Hopefully, Israel will be consulted on design
as their walls are the most successful of the modern era. National Park lands along the border could
effectively use razor sharp sisal and other natural barriers to mitigate visual
impacts. Instilling a culture of
proactive excellence among border and customs enforcement professionals is
another critical element to assure our safety.
Eliminating
sanctuary cities and reinstituting the rule of law is necessary for public
safety. Punishing companies who hire
illegals must show that laws matter.
President Trump’s strong stand on enforcing immigration laws has already
had an effect. Intercepts of illegal
immigrants along the Mexican border plummeted 40.5% from January to February.
Trump’s
temporary ban on issuing visas to people from failed states is prudent and
legal. The six targeted countries
continue to be chaotic war zones where viable public records are
nonexistent. Bribes and terrorist
agendas creating fake identities are a border control nightmare. Better to pause and plan, with appropriate documented
waivers, until integrity is established
Trump
aligning U.S. policy with established and proven policies in effect in other
countries is a strategic step in the right direction. Many nations use economic benefit as the
guiding principle of their immigration policy.
Australia and New Zealand have always filtered for needed skills and
education. Australia issues visas to skilled workers based upon a
points-based system, with points allocated for certain levels of education. Visas are often sponsored by individual Australian
States, according to their specific skill needs. Australian businesses also
sponsor visas for highly sought after skilled workers. Australia and New Zealand have never been assailed
for racism or nativism.
In
the 19th Century, America needed people to populate its ever
expanding territories. The federal
government gave transcontinental railways vast land grants to incentivize
laying rails to link the continent. The
Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads launched major advertising
campaign throughout Scandinavia to attract settlers to turn their land grants
into vibrant farming communities that, in turn, used the railroad to ship
goods.
In
1882, U.S. policy turned away from economic development and went down the
slippery slope of nationality based immigration. Initially, California workers wanted to block
Chinese immigrants to stabilize wages.
Other laws followed, which established national quotas instead of
skill-based immigration. This shift came
to grief in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Liberals, led by Senators Ted Kennedy and Phil Hart, filled the
legislation with diversity goals and codifying the concept of “anchor babies”, where
a child of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil establishes entitlement for
family members to move to America.
President
Bush supported the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT90), which established
flexible immigration caps and made permanent the admission of "diversity
immigrants" from "underrepresented" countries. The cumulative result opened the floodgates to
burdensome instead of beneficial immigrants.
Immigration policy completely changed from economic wellbeing and
security to a liberal social engineering effort.
The
1965 and 1990 laws completely wrecked U.S. immigration policy. I encountered this bizarre new regulatory
world, twice. In the 1980s, I had to
personally appeal to Attorney General Ed Meese to allow the former CEO of KLM
and his wife to retire in Florida. It
was amazing that U.S. immigration officials had rejected a wealthy corporate
executive because there were too many Dutch immigrants. In 2006, I had to appeal to the Bush White
House to allow a Swiss Doctor, and his Nurse Practitioner wife, to join their
parents in America and work for a Washington area hospital. These happened at the same time poverty
stricken immigrants from Third World countries were being welcomed on a daily
basis.
Liberals,
and even some Republicans, have spent decades creating damaging and surreal
U.S. immigration policies. These
policies threaten national security, burden government services, and deprive America
of people who can substantively contribute to the national economy.
Thankfully,
during his February 28, 2017 speech to Congress President Trump embraced a
“merit based” immigration policy to benefit America’s economic revitalization. Trump’s subsequent Executive Orders and
initiatives are putting our national interest in the right place, in the right
ways.
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