I’m not opposed to something like that but our military is becoming less human capital intensive and more technology intensive. I’m not sure there’s a need for these people to be in the military. If you want to load up the military and put them on the border, maybe that’s an option but I don’t think they should get military benefits or pay; they work in exchange for room and board. But listen, I don’t think military service is the answer. I think the real issue is getting some kind of service out of these illegal immigrants, many of whom want to become citizens at some point. The service we get out of them doesn’t necessarily have to be military service. I say we give them a choice between deportation and work. If they choose to work on selected projects for five years and at the same time become proficient in English, they can take the citizenship test at the completion of their five years of service.
There are plenty of infrastructure projects that could be undertaken and completed much more quickly if we employed the labor of illegal immigrants. How many roads and bridges could be built, expanded or repaired with crews working around the clock? How many high speed rail lines could be constructed? A lot of these infrastructure projects were represented as being shovel ready. Why take five years for a highway project when it can be done in a fraction of the time with the labor of illegal immigrants?
But I think we need to be careful about this. We have a set of rules for immigrating legally to the United States. I think these rules need to be followed. Realistically, we’re not going to round up all the illegals here and deport them. That isn’t going to happen, so we need to figure out how to deal with it.
First, we need to round up all the illegals who have committed crimes (other than coming here illegally) and send them back to their home countries. Let their prisons deal with them. If they come back after this, we just shoot them. If these are violent criminals, let’s get the rope and find a sturdy tree and get rid of them once and for all. Why should the taxpayers fund these criminals and why should they be given any legal rights here? Fast track them to the gallows.
Second, we need to identify and locate those who are here illegally and get both service and taxes out of them. If they’ve been working under the table or just under the radar, they’ve been avoiding income taxes. Let’s go back and calculate how much they owe and get that from them. If they can’t pay, off they go back to their home country. So, they have to pay up and give us service before they have an opportunity for citizenship.
Third, we need to make sure we have a system in place to keep track of people entering the country on work visas, student visas, etc. We have plenty of technology to track these people in one way or another. When their time is up, they have to go or face the consequences.
Fourth, we need to make it very difficult on illegals here. They shouldn’t be able to open a bank account or get a driver’s license or get a job or put their kids in school or get any type of government services or assistance. Maybe they’ll leave voluntarily.
Fifth, we need to make sure we have control of our borders.
Sixth, we need to make it very difficult under all circumstances to become a citizen. These people don’t have a right to citizenship. They don’t have a right to come here and use our services and become a citizen. This may encourage people to come here illegally, but if we have the other systems in place to make it difficult for them to stay here illegally or even get here illegally, I think we can mitigate this.
Digger Cartwright 