Issues
Both parties have been complicit in creating a highly dysfunctional immigration system in the United States. Millions of would-be American citizens remain gridlocked in an unmanageable backlog of asylum and naturalization applications. Meanwhile, insufficient border security in recent years has allowed millions more to bypass our immigration process altogether. We have been failing to uphold our Constitutional commitment to due process, while also neglecting our basic duties of national security. At the same time, immigration has long been, and remains, vital to the prosperity of our country.
Political compromise is necessary to ensure a secure southern border while also acknowledging immigration as a core American value. As a nation, it is time to devise fair, functional, and publicly supported immigration policies that prevent illegal immigration while also streamlining the legal immigration process to ensure the hard-working men and women seeking opportunity in our country can do so.
Secure Border
Ensuring a sealed and secure border cannot be a politicized and partisan issue. This is strictly a matter of national security that cannot be ignored from administration to administration. Unidentified people entering a nation is an issue that must not be neglected by either side of the aisle. To quote David Frum, if liberals won’t enforce borders, fascists will.
Cost-effective and practical monitoring measures, such as the use of drones and thermal imaging, should be increasingly employed in conjunction with physical barriers and Border Patrol agents to achieve this goal.
Accessible Pathway to Citizenship
We must provide more transparent, more accessible, and more sensible pathways to citizenship. The United States could implement a points-based immigration system that evaluates applicants based on a range of qualifications and experiences aligned with national priorities. Ideally, this should reduce citizenship wait times to less than one year, streamline the process, and help reduce the existing backlog.
The points-based system would include aspects of their life, such as existing family within the United States, criminal background, skilled labor or education level, etc.
Implementation of artificial intelligence could also assist overwhelmed employees in sifting through countless documents.
Prioritize Asylum Backlog
Funding allocation needs to ensure the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has adequate resources and funding to tackle the enormous backlog of asylum cases. Processes must be implemented to efficiently eliminate illegitimate asylum claims, ensuring that qualified cases are addressed within a reasonable timeframe. This can be achieved using the previously mentioned point-based systems, white lists, black lists, and an increased use of artificial intelligence to comb through asylum cases and address glaring red flags that do not require time-intensive individual review.
These obvious red flags would include factors such as a violent criminal record, to expeditiously address their case and alleviate the backlog.
Citizenship Opportunities for Undocumented Immigrants
There must be a streamlined and straightforward path to citizenship for long-term undocumented residents in the United States with a clean criminal record. After a designated timeframe of undocumented residency without any criminal offenses, your citizenship application should be given priority. Those who do not seek citizenship can then enter regulated guest worker or seasonal visa programs. The same should go for children brought into this country illegally who have become contributing members of our society. For over two decades, iterations of the Dream Act have been proposed and revised in Congress, with none passing the Senate.
The Dream Act is a perfect example of Congress’ inability to compromise. Years of the Left’s unilateral demands without addressing any of the GOP’s issues have resulted in a cycle of gridlock and inaction. Those who would have benefited from this legislation have been left out to dry due to the complete lack of concession and cooperation from our government representatives. Even if this act did not pass in its original entirety, the good that would come of even partial give and take from both parties to address this issue would be considerably more beneficial than no progress at all.