| Former
Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) whose state is known for
its diverse cultures has brilliantly weighed in on the
immigration issue in his new book, Immigration
Wars: Forging An American Solution. Jeb Bush
and his co-author, Clint Bolick contend in their book
that there must be immigration reform. Their arguments
consist of an analysis and solutions, combining immigration
reform with securing the border.
With
America’s population expansion declining over
the years the authors assert the country’s future
will be dependent on making sure it has a large immigrant
population as was the case in the 1920's and after World
War II. For the first time the US will compete with
other countries for immigrant workers and their skills. Because
of this, they believe there must be a complete reform
of legal immigration and want to prioritize skill-based
immigration over extended family reunification. Former
Governor Bush stated, “We need to grow our population
with young, aspiring people that embrace our ideals
and create value for all of us. One of the
means to do this is to transform our immigration system
from stem to stern.”
What
he proposes in the book is a path to legal status, stating, "It is absolutely vital to the integrity of our
immigration system that actions have consequences --
in this case, that those who violated the law can remain
but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship…To
do otherwise would signal once again that people who
circumvent the system can still obtain the full benefits
of American citizenship." Although some argue that this
is self-deportation he commented directly that it is
allowing those who broke the rule of law to come out
of the shadows, remain in the US legally as long as
they learn English, pay a fine, live a life of dignity,
and embrace American values. Anyone who supports
the rule of law and has fought to defend America’s
constitutional ideas should think this fair. The
reader can take the words “the cherished fruits
of citizenship,” and see precedence from the Bible
when Moses was allowed to view the Promised Land but
not enter it.
The Bush plan allows for those who have come
to America to have legal permanent status. He
states in the book, "Over a period of time, they can have a legalized
status that allows them to live a life of dignity, but
not necessarily a path to citizenship, so as to not
create incentives for future people that aspire to come
to our country to do so illegally when they could come
legally."
Also, a part of the plan as expressed in the
book is the recognition that those who have come illegally
need to pay a fine or do community service. He
explained it like this, “These specifics that
are required for someone obtaining legalized status
should be tempered by practical reality. If you
make the fine so large it becomes so punitive that people
cannot afford it, that won’t work. Also,
if you have no consequences that is not appropriate. The
rule of law must be respected. We need to find
a middle ground, the need to pay some compensation with
a balance on the amount in order to get the maximum
participation.” He thinks this is extremely
important and to back up this point uses the PEW Research
Center statistic, that only 40% of those eligible to
apply for citizenship in 1987 did so.
What he proposes in the book is a guest worker
program combined with a strong revamped e-verify system
and a guest worker ID card using biometrics. He
also wants to limit extended family reunification to
spouses and minor children, in favor of skill-based
immigration, noting, “We need a guest worker program,
a legal immigration system that is less costly and more
efficient, and an e-verify system when all combined
would be deterrents against illegal immigration. I
am hoping that this plan will allow more folks to come
to our country to pursue their dreams.”
As former Governor Bush summarized, “President
Bush in 2007 had an immigration plan that passed the
House and for a brief moment had 60 votes in the Senate. Today,
I think people want to get it resolved for political
purposes, economic purposes, and for justice purposes.
The best way to prevent illegal immigration is to make
sure that we have a fair and workable legal immigration
system. Unfortunately the current immigration system
is neither.”
Although there are many plans currently being
considered people should read Immigration Wars because
the solutions offered are pragmatic, realistic, and
reasonable. The authors address and identify many of
the urgent issues and how to resolve them. This book
is a must for those who feel there is a need to reform
the immigration system, dealing with both the legal
and illegal issues. |
