Good fences make good neighbors. No secure borders, no secure citizens, either born or naturalized or waiting in line. Get our troops out of Afghanistan, and station them along the USA-Mexico border (no fences, please — wasteful and useless).
Guest-worker programs are ineffective and immoral. France and Germany promoted a similar program, and now a permanent minority underclass, complete with crime and poverty and welfarism, has take over. Besides, would you want to live in a country where you seek citzenship, yet you are treated as a second-class citizen? Either you are a citizen or you are not — no middle ground.
No more welfare state. Market forces, without public subsidies, would balance out migrant patterns.
The STEM Jobs act was a positive step toward immigration reform, passed by the Republicans, blocked by the Democrats.
End free access to public services — education and other bureaucratic entities — without proof of citizenship. Mexico does this — so should the US.
Under no circumstances should we reward people for entering the country illegally — the rule of law is what immigrants are looking for, right? — which does not exist in Mexico or elsewhere to any great extent throughout Latin America or in Asia.
The matter of kids born "there", but raise "here" — a thorny issue. . .
Never should a country reward breaking the law, but the situation itself is not the fault of the men and women today who were brought to this country as two or three month or year old children.
Still, the anchor-baby policy is unacceptable.
But why has immigration become such an issue today, while it was not an issue at all over one hundred years ago?
The generous welfare state. The welfare state cannot coexist with a welcoming immigration policy. The welfare state must be removed, then the United States government can have more open borders.