Obamacare IV

Obamacare IV

© 2014 Rick Adamson

By Rick Adamson 12.2.14

Objective

To provide health insurance for 30-40 million uninsured people in the USA.

Most working folks have health insurance through their employers. The uninsured are, therefore, the unemployed, self-employed, dependents of workers who elect not to cover their dependents and/or spouses due to the cost, employees of businesses who do not provide health insurance, part-time workers and folks who choose not to have coverage, i.e., young people.

My Solution

Do nothing or, if the citizens of the country decided they were willing the foot the bill, allow the uninsured to be covered by Medicaid. The cost would be approximately $140 billion per year or $1.5 Trillion over ten years (35 million people times $4,000.00 each per year).

The Obamacare Solution

Everyone (other than the disabled and those covered by Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare) would be required (mandated) to purchase a health insurance policy which provides for certain mandated essential benefits (or more) so that the pool (or group) would be so large that costs would be reduced, i.e., the premiums of the young and the healthy would offset the higher costs of the old and the unhealthy resulting in lower premiums for all, on average. The added cost relating to the required minimum mandated essential benefits would be spread across the large pool such that premiums for all, on average, would be reduced. The average family would save $2,500.00 per year in reduced premiums.

If the mandated insurance policy was not purchased a fine (penalty) would be imposed.

Provide for certain new taxes (on businesses) to help off set any added cost to FedGov.

The new law would pay for itself.

Key Provisions of Obamacare

     Everyone will have the benefit of health care.

The law already provided for emergency medical care for everyone. It’s that not everyone had an insurance policy. This sign appears in every hospital in the USA (except for the reference to Medi-Cal). As a result, no one in the USA was denied care in the case of accidents or severe illness.

     Insurers cannot drop you if you have large claims

A 1996 law (HIPPA) made it illegal for an insurance company to drop someone simply because they had large claims. See more here…

     Insurers must provide coverage even if you have preexisting conditions

A 1996 law (HIPPA) made it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions if they had been covered by another group plan for six months or more. See more here…

     Children can be covered by parents until they are 26 years of age

     Cadillac tax

Obamacare imposes an annual 40% excise tax on plans with annual premiums exceeding $10,200 for individuals or $27,500 for a family starting in 2018. It is a luxury tax and is meant to discourage employers from providing plans which offer generous benefits.  It applies to many corporate sponsored plans but also to many union sponsored plans in which the unions have negotiated for generous benefits.

There is significant support for repealing this tax but, if it is repealed, where will the money come from to pay for Obamacare? The answer is you the taxpayer.

     Medical device tax

Obamacare imposed a 2.3 percent medical device excise tax that manufacturers and importers will pay on sales of certain medical devices beginning Jan. 1, 2013.  Some argue that the tax will stifle innovation and send jobs overseas.  See more here…

There is significant support for repealing this tax but, if it is repealed, where will the money come from to pay for Obamacare? The answer is you the taxpayer.

    Individual mandate

Obamacare imposed a health insurance mandate that took effect in 2014.  This means that every citizen (with certain exceptions) must have a health insurance policy. If an employer purchases the policy (most working Americans are covered by their employer’s group health care plan) that's fine but if not the individual must purchase the policy.  Fines are imposed if the required policy is not obtained.

There is significant support for repealing the individual mandate. But the participation it provides is needed to make the concept viable and, alternatively, the fines for non-participation are needed to pay the costs. If it is repealed where will the money come from to pay for Obamacare? The answer is you the taxpayer.

     Corporate mandate

The Obamacare “employer mandate” is a requirement that all businesses with over 50 full-time employees provide health insurance for their full-time employees, or pay fine. Full time employees are those who work more than 30 hours per week. Fines are imposed if the mandate is not followed.

There is significant support for repealing this mandate. But the participation it provides is needed to make the concept viable and, alternatively, the fines for non-participation are needed to pay the costs. If it is repealed where will the money come from to pay for Obamacare? The answer is you the taxpayer.

Some argue that the mandate provided an incentive for employers to not hire new workers and to cut current worker’s hours.

     Insurance policies must provide for mandated Essential Benefits

See a list of these benefits and a discussion thereof here…  Policies that did not provide for these benefits had to be upgraded which resulted in policy owners being faced with higher premiums. Most policies issued to individuals (vs. groups) were no longer available which forced these individuals into the Obamacare insurance exchanges.

     The IRS is charged with enforcing the law.

The law, effectively, only applies to those who file income tax returns which is about ½ of the population. Non-filers, for all practical purposes, are not subject to the law. Many non-filers are law abiding folks who simply are not required to file a tax return. However, non-filers also included those who operate on a cash only basis such as drug dealers and prostitutes and many other service providers. The law, therefore, will be unenforceable because the IRS has no authority over the ½ who do not file a tax return.

           

     New Bureaucracy

Washington has become the home of at least 31 new federal programs, agencies, and commissions to oversee the government-run health insurance regime. The bill itself is 2,700 pages long and contains 381,517 words.  Bureaucracies in the Obama Administration have thus far published over 12,000,000 words of final Obamacare regulations, and they are just getting started. Regulations cost money!

Conclusion

Draw you own. But on 11.25.14 Chuck Schumer, D-NY (the leading Democratic proponent of the law in the Senate) said that the Democrats blew their opportunity to help the middle class by passing the health care law. This is significant! Read more…

The Government took over of ⅙ of the US economy, disrupted the entire health care system and the lives of millions of the people who were happy with their coverage (85% of the folks). The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that Obamacare will cost taxpayers $2.6 Trillion over ten years (assuming none of the law’s provisions are repealed) and that, in the end, 30-40 million people will still be uninsured. This is almost double my estimate if we just allowed the uninsured to have Medicaid and 100% more than Obama said because it was supposed to pay for itself. And do not forget, FedGov is notorious for spending more than is expected or predicted.

Moreover, we should all be very suspect of any huge proposed law that does not have bi-partisan support (not a single republican voted for it) nor the support of the majority of the American people. Invariable, such laws do not work out well because they unduly benefit one group or industry to the detriment of others and the spin associated with such laws may be based on lies. In this case the beneficiaries are the insurance companies and those who will game the system. And, of course, you know about the lies; but if you don’t, you will by the end of 2015 when Obamacare is fully implemented.

There has been much talk about Professor Gruber and the lies he helped fabricate to deceive the American public.  What I find amusing is that there is little talk about the fact that those who voted for the law (congressional Democrats) were the ones’ deceived and lied to by Obama, Reed, Pelosi and Guber. We in the public were not deceived until later; the Democratic leaders deceived their own in order to get the required votes.  Remember the now famous Pelosi statement “vote for the bill so we can find out what’s in it”. It is possible, given that statement, that even the Democratic leaders were deceived but that’s another story.

Obama and crew knew that congress (much less the public) would not go along with a new entitlement costing trillions of dollars so they structured a bill that appeared to pay for itself and appeared to contained no new taxes on the folks. Then they fabricated lies saying it would have no effect on most peoples’ health care choices and that it contained no new taxes on the folks.

The end result: a massive deception that resulted in the largest fraudulent, ineffective, inefficient and unenforceable entitlement program in American history. I say unenforceable because the IRS will be in charge and only 1/2 of the population file income tax returns; the IRS has no authority over the other half.

Shame on the Democrats! Vote the Bums out!

P.S. Remember, Hilary Clinton is the Grandmother of Obamacare.  Back in 1993 she was in-charge of developing a new health care system on behalf of President Clinton. It went nowhere until the administration dusted it off, made a few changes and called it Obamacare.

Ferguson

Ferguson

© 2014 Rick Adamson

By Rick Adamson 8.21.14

I have been watching the news concerning Ferguson, Missouri in recent days and there are a few things that I do not understand. This is a City with 21,203 residents almost 70 percent of which are African American (according to the 2010 census). At the same time, the Mayor and most of the City Council are white. The police chief is white and 50 members out of 53 on the police force are white.

Back in 1990, 75 percent of the population was white, so there has been a dramatic change in terms of racial makeup of the City.



One would expect that our system of government would result in elected and appointed officials that are representative of the population of the community as it's composition changes over the years. Not so in Ferguson, however.


Many of the protesters have expressed distrust of the elected officials and, in particular, the criminal justice system and the police. Some feel that their only recourse is to take to the streets in protest. Of course, every American has the right to protest as they so choose, as long as it is peaceful.

I have a suggestion that might help solve some of the issues surrounding representation and distrust. Vote! The turnout for the last Mayoral election was only 12 percent! At last count, votes are color blind but they must be cast to count.

Becoming active in the community and voting would be a more productive endeavor for the Citizens of Ferguson because, the truth is, unfortunately their interests will not be looked after if they do not look after them themselves.

And That’s that!

  

Obamacare III

Obamacare

© 2014 Rick Adamson

By Rick Adamson 11.6.14

A survey of available data concerning Obamacare (ACA) enrollments leads me to the conclusion that the law is not working and will never work. The administration claims 10 million have enrolled. Of the 10 million enrollees 30% went into Medicaid.[1] Three fourths (3/4) of enrollees were previously insured leaving only about 1.7 million (17 percent) who were previously uninsured.[2] Put another way, only 17 percent of the 10 million represent those who were the target of the law (uninsured persons).

To summarize:

Total number enrolled                                                                     10 million

Total new Medicaid recipients                                                         -3 million      

Total previously uninsured                                                         -1.7 million

Total enrollees who were previously insured                           5.3 Million

The idea is that the 5.3 million will pay for the free or heavily subsidized coverage of the 1.7 million and the 3 million. Considering the negative impact on jobs, mass upheaval of the industry, and cost (estimated to be $2.6 Trillion in the first 10 years[3]) it would have been smarter to have given the 1.7 million free or low cost government provided healthcare.

In the end, Obamcare will be accomplish nothing as it is projected by the CBO that upon total implementation 30 million people will still be uninsured. Except, of course, increasing the premiums on the 85 percent (93 million people) of the insured prior to ACA (who are happy with their current coverage), increasing the burden to the government (more Medicaid obligations and other welfare subsidies for the lower income people who sign up) and totally upsetting the current system. [4] 

Just look at the projections:

30 million currently uninsured read more…

-9 million put on Medicide read more…

-7 million enrolling in Obamacare read more…

+16 million who will lose their coverage or not sign up for coverage, equals

30 million still uninsured per the CBO read more…

Note that "subsidies" is just another word for WELFARE for the new medicaid and many Obamacare recipients.

FedGov needs to fix the law by repealing and replacing it or by expanding Medicaid so that it covers the 1.7 million (in addition to the 3 million) discussed above, eliminating the individual and corporate mandates, eliminating the tax on medical devices, restoring the individual market by eliminating the prescribed plan requirement for individuals and leaving in place the provisions concerning pre-existing conditions for group plans, among other corrections.

If not dealt with soon this law will become the largest socialistic entitlement program in the history of the USA. It will benefit no one other than the insurance companies and crooks [5] (who game the system) and will cost the American people dearly.

[1] http://www.newsweek.com/medicaid-enrollments-bring-obamacare-enrollment-more-10-million-244346
[2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/05/10/new-mckinsey-survey-74-of-obamacare-sign-ups-were-previously-insured/

[3] http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-now-estimated-cost-26-trillion-first-decade_648413.html

[4] https://screen.yahoo.com/obamacare-impacting-insurance-industry-023346332.html

[5] http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/gao-sting-finds-it-easy-fake-it-get-obamacare-premiums-n162456

Immigration

Immigration

© 2014 Rick Adamson

By Rick Adamson 2.18.13

The politicians are calling for comprehensive immigration reform. Such a discussion needs to be divided into two parts- Legal immigration and Illegal immigration. Most of the political discussion that we hear does not make a distinction but it is mostly about illegal immigration.

Illegal Immigration

The Democrats want to give amnesty to the 12,000,000, or so, illegal immigrants because that means 12,000,000 new democratic voters. The Republicans want border control first and no amnesty. Some Republicans have even suggested deporting all illegals and letting then get in line for legal immigration, which will never happen.

I do not think it is possible to ship 12,000,000 illegals home but I would like to know who they are. The government knows who I am and who you are but they do not know who the illegals are. We need to institute a worker program that allows non criminal workers to come here to work and then go home. We could register them and do background checks and let them come in with minimal intrusion. But we would know who they are. Under this program we would be able to register the existing illegals and allow them to work. They would then get in the line for legal immigration.

Some States are issuing driver licenses to illegals at the same time that it is against the law to hire them. This should be stopped. A Federal ID should be issued to those who are here legally. There should be no amnesty. We should allow those who come forward and get registered to begin a path to citizenship but no blanket amnesty. Those that are considered undesirable should be sent home.

The greatest incentive for illegal aliens to come to the United States is to find work. If there are no employers willing to hire them, then the flood of illegal aliens will subside as it has during the great recession. The Immigration and Reform Act of 1986 outlawed hiring illegal alien workers, although common practice has proven that measure ineffective for two reasons:

The law requires proof that the employer knowingly hired the illegal worker.

The prevalence of fake documents make it difficult to prove the employer knew that the employee’s work documents were not legitimate.

The Obama Administration has launched a new worksite enforcement policy that ostensibly is aimed at employers and avoids the arrests of illegal workers that was an integral aspect of previous enforcement efforts. As Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano described it in a November 13, 2009 policy address, "We’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration. We are auditing the books of thousands of employers suspected of relying on illegal labor to achieve an unfair advantage in the marketplace."

"Addressing the demand side" presumably means going after the employers who supply the jobs rather than the supply side, meaning the illegal workers. But, does the new policy really go after the employers? How does it differ from the enforcement policy inherited from the Bush Administration? As explained below, the new policy will likely have the effect of undermining any effective prosecution of employers for deliberately hiring illegal alien workers in order to hold down payroll costs and to have a more malleable and easily exploitable workforce. That is the antithesis of going after employers.

The new policy centers on an increase in audits of the I-9 forms that have been required of all employees since 1986. When discrepancies between the information on the I-9 form and Social Security Administration records and/or immigration records are found, employers are required to terminate those workers found to be using fake Social Security numbers, immigration documents or identity documents or face penalties. This action is only a form of penalty on the employer in that it means new workers will have to be hired to replace the illegal workers. Similarly, the cost to the illegal alien worker is not detention and deportation, but simply the need to find a new employer. In this new enforcement policy, the alien is free to reuse the same fake documents to apply for a job with another employer. In that sense, the policy is a form of musical chairs for the illegal alien worker.

When illegals are found in this matter they should be deported. Again, the Democrats do not want to offend these potential new democratic voters so they ignore existing law.

According to Minnesota Public Radio News on November 9, 2009, Mark Cangemi, a retired DHS official, commented on the new Obama Administration policy; "Why give people an opportunity to leave the employment without taking any action against them as individuals? Put them into proceedings! Let them argue their case. If they have a case that allows them to remain in the United States under the law, so be it. If they don't, then the law stands to be enforced."

After winning the 2008 election, President Obama has surrounded himself with individuals who support granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens living in the United States.

Members of the Obama administration — including the President himself — have repeatedly made clear their support for and intention to push amnesty legislation through Congress.

Previous debates over amnesty legislation have revealed overwhelming public opposition to any type of plan to legalize the illegal alien population. Knowing this, the Obama administration will likely attempt to make their amnesty proposal more palatable to the American people by tying the legislation to empty promises of immigration enforcement.

The Obama administration’s record on enforcement thus far, however, tells the American people everything they need to know about the administration’s commitment to immigration enforcement. President Obama has undermined nearly every enforcement measure available to him, including:

Delaying — on three separate occasions — a requirement that federal contractors use the federal E-Verify system to ensure that their employees are legally authorized to work in the United States and not illegal aliens;

Gutting worksite enforcement operations by allowing illegal aliens to remain in the workforce to compete with American citizens and legal immigrants for jobs;

Undermining the 287(g) program, which allows federal officials to train state and local law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of federal immigration laws, by forcing agencies who participate in the program to focus on removing “dangerous criminal” aliens, as opposed to all illegal aliens;

Failing to utilize the National Guard to secure our porous borders;

Advocating passage of the PASS ID Act, legislation that would gut uniform security requirements for State-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and re-establish many of the security and immigration loopholes that allowed the 9/11 hijackers to carry out the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

Altering the immigration detention system in such a way that will almost certainly lead to an increase in the number of illegal aliens who abscond after apprehension.

Accordingly, the Obama administration has not only failed to effectively secure America’s borders and enforce immigration laws, but has also taken affirmative steps to disable enforcement. All of this administration’s efforts are geared toward allowing illegal aliens to live, work, and collect public benefits as the administration seeks the political opportunity to formally legalize their status in the United States.

Costs of Educating Children of Illegal Aliens

The largest public outlay for illegal aliens is paying for the education of their children. This cost is borne largely by state and local governments. Under the 1982 Supreme Court Plyler v. Doe 5-4 decision, states are prohibited from denying K-12 schooling to these children. Many of them are born in the United States and are considered to be U.S. citizens, but, like their foreign-born siblings, they would not be in the country and a burden on the taxpayers if their parents were not illegally residing in the United States.

We need to eliminate the automatic citizenship for children born to persons who are here illegally. Many people believe the constitution requires that persons born here automatically become citizens, however, that is not the case. In fact, the Supreme Court has never heard a case involving this issue.

Illegal Immigration and Public Health

The impact of immigration on our public health is often overlooked. Although millions of visitors for tourism and business come every year, the foreign population of special concern is illegal residents, who come most often from countries with endemic health problems and less developed health care. They are of greatest consequence because they are responsible for a disproportionate share of serious public health problems, are living among us for extended periods of time, and often are dependent on U.S. health care services.

Because illegal immigrants, unlike those who are legally admitted for permanent residence, undergo no medical screening to assure that they are not bearing contagious diseases, the rapidly swelling population of illegal aliens in our country has also set off a resurgence of contagious diseases that had been totally or nearly eradicated by our public health system. Under current law, an alien who worked illegally in the U.S. can only become eligible for Social Security benefits by becoming a legal U.S. resident. But officials at the State Department and Social Security Administration (SSA) are preparing a plan that would pay benefits to illegal aliens who have returned to Mexico.


Legal Immigration

The Case for Immigration Reform

Immigration has a profound impact on the issues that Americans say matter most to them. Concerns about national security, the quality of education, high tax burdens, urban sprawl, and many other “front burner” issues are directly affected by an influx of more than one million immigrants annually. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that, left unchecked, immigration will be the principal cause of a 50 percent increase in our population during the first half of the 21st century. A factor that is important to our national future deserves comprehensive and thoughtful consideration by the people’s elected representatives. Yet while poll after poll shows that the public is anxious to consider a wide array of immigration reforms, legal and illegal immigration continue to careen out of control.

Mass immigration is fueling unprecedented population growth.

Immigration now adds more than one million people—the equivalent of two Denvers—to our population every year. At our current pace of immigration, our population will grow to more than 400 million people by 2050. That’s tens of millions of additional people needing schools, jobs, and housing—as well as water and other precious natural resources.


Today’s immigration is extremely costly.

Unlike previous eras of immigration, today’s immigrants are 50 percent more likely to use welfare than native-born Americans. Providing for the needs of immigrants costs American taxpayers as much as $20 billion a year. We cannot provide high quality education, health care, and retirement security for our own people if we continue to bring in endless numbers of poor, unskilled immigrants. America is still working to meet the challenge of assisting our own poor and disadvantaged; mass immigration compounds the problem and impedes efforts to raise the standards of living for all.


Mass immigration depresses the wages of poorer Americans.

The gap between rich and poor in America continues to widen. Job competition by waves of new immigrants depresses the wages and salaries of American workers and hits hardest at minority workers and those without high school degrees. America’s focus must be on training our own labor force to face competition from abroad, not on importing new workers to compete for jobs at home. One exception is that highly skilled and those earning advanced degrees here should be actively recruited to stay and work here. This is necessary because we currently have millions of unfilled jobs because we do not have enough citizens with the required skills to fill them.


Mass immigration conflicts with today’s national security priorities.

Current immigration levels are so high that immigration officials are unable to thoroughly screen immigrants before allowing them into the country—as September 11, 2001 tragically underscored. Lower legal immigration levels, an entry-exit system to detect those who have overstayed their visas, and heightened enforcement efforts are essential in order to regain control of the system and meet today’s heightened need to know who is coming into the country.


Mass immigration is overcrowding our schools.

In the last decade, school enrollments have increased by 16 percent, an increase that the U.S. Census Bureau attributes largely to the immigration influx. Department of Education officials say that by 2100, the nation’s schools will have to find room for 94 million students-nearly double the current number.


Mass immigration is straining our already fragile environment.

As our population grows, demands for resources increase; increased pollution, deforestation, waste, habitat destruction, and soil erosion are the result. America’s environmental priorities can’t be reconciled with the new infrastructure and resource consumption that continued population growth will require. Resources like water and energy are straining under the constantly increasing demand.

Already, America’s sprawling urban areas are encroaching on fragile coastal wetlands and paving over farmland at alarming rates. Just maintaining the current massive level of immigration will require the construction of millions of new homes (and the resulting loss of farmland and open space) and put tens of millions more cars on already crowded roads.

The U.S. today is a fully populated nation of almost 290 million people, not the sparsely settled territory of 150 years ago. Our priority should be preserving our remaining wilderness areas, conserving our natural resources, and ensuring a better quality of life for future generations.

In just the last decade, the U.S. population has grown 13 percent—and 85 percent in the last 50 years. That population growth has put an enormous strain on already overburdened U.S. water and energy supplies and other natural resources. It’s fueling sprawl by escalating pressure for new housing developments, more roads, and strip malls that inevitably encroach on wildlife habitat. Our sprawling urban areas are encroaching on fragile coastal wetlands and paving over farmland at alarming rates in order to meet the needs of a constantly increasing population.

Environmentalists agree that population growth is a serious issue but many don’t speak out publicly for fear of alienating the social, economic and religious constituencies who support continued population growth. This is particularly true when immigration reform enters the discussion. Thus, it often goes unmentioned that Census Bureau data shows that over 80 percent of future U.S. population growth will be due to immigration.


It’s Time to Reduce Immigration to Sensible, Manageable Levels.

America needs an immigration policy that helps us reach our goals as a nation, a policy that takes into account the environment, the economy, and the ability of our infrastructure to accommodate large numbers of immigrants.

Common sense dictates that we must stop adding new burdens to institutions and systems that are struggling. Immigration alone did not cause these problems, but making real environmental headway, safeguarding national security, and repairing our failing educational and health care systems will be all but impossible as long as we continue today’s massive immigration levels.

The Choice is Ours.

In 1972, a two-year study by a joint presidential-congressional commission with representatives of major corporations, unions, environmental organizations, and urban, ethnic, and women’s groups recommended freezing immigration at its then-current level of about 400,000 a year as part of a national population policy. Yet since then, annual immigration levels have risen dramatically—to over one million today.

Business interests and humanitarian concerns are important considerations that must be weighed in the formulation of immigration policy. But it is also important that the interests of the American public are not allowed to take the back seat. Our immigration policy must take into account the legitimate needs of American business and the political, economics, and familial interests of the millions of people around the world who would like to immigrate to the United States. But most of all, U.S. immigration policy must be designed to benefit the American public and to ensure a healthy and prosperous future for their descendants.

Immigration Reform III

Immigration Reform III

© 2014 Rick Adamson

By Rick Adamson 10.20.14

I think that all immigration should be stopped ASAP and remain that way until we fix our immigration system. The reason is that at least three major components of our present system (legal immigration, VISA and illegal immigration-border security) are severely defective.

The defects result because FedGov enacts laws (some of which are silly) and then fails to enforce them either due to policy or failure to provide adequate funding.

For example:

1. 40 percent of our illegal immigrant population is made up of persons who overstay their Visas. These are students and others who are granted entry for a certain purpose for a certain period of time after which they are expected to go home. That’s 4 to 5 million people running around who, by law, should not be here! Our systems and procedures for making sure that these folks leave at the appointed time have failed.  Consider the 911 terrorists.  They had violated their Visas and were here illegally. FedGov knows (or knew) who these people are but they do not know where they are or what they are up to.

2. We have laws relating to who may legally cross our borders.  We do not enforce those laws due to policy reasons (political correctness).

3. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 required the construction of about 700 miles of fencing at our southern border.  The fence has never been completed due to lack of funding and for policy reasons (political correctness).

4. Our path for legal immigration involves very long waiting times and requires thousands and thousands of dollars of legal fees in order for immigrants to follow the law.

5. Working folks have been coming across our southern border for centuries, to work and then go home, but we do not have a working temporary worker program.

6. We have silly laws on the books that say that persons from certain countries, but not others, get special treatment if they can just set a foot on our land.

7. We have followed a policy that if a person is born on our soil they are citizens.  A multi billion dollar travel industry has developed around this silly policy whereby pregnant women from all over the world arrange a trip here in order to deliver their children just so the child will be a US citizen.  This is, of course, in addition to children born to illegals already living here.

8. One of the problems with undocumented (illegal) persons is that FedGov does not know who they are. Think about it.  FedGov knows who you are.  It knows where you were born, whether you have ever had a parking ticket, where you went to school and much more. But, they know nothing about the 7 or so million undocumented aliens in our mists.

The first step to fix our immigration system is to acknowledge and agree that we are a nation of laws and that we all agree to abide by and enforce our laws. Further, that if it is determined that a law is producing unwanted effects; the law should be changed not ignored.

Secondly, we need to realize that we are not the world’s welfare safe haven. Our constitution, as amended, and the citizen’s rights contained therein, does not apply to non citizens.  Non citizens have no right to come here. We may elect to offer them the privilege of coming here but they do not have any rights, under our constitution.

Third, like virtually every other country in the world, we must get control of our borders.  No one should be allowed to enter illegally.

Forth, with regard to the issues raised at the beginning:

1. Issue no new Visas until we have developed and funded a system for keeping track of people, here on a Visa, and making sure they leave at the appointed time.  We also need a new law making it a felony for anyone to overstay their approved time (VISA) in this country.
2. Enforce our laws and get control of the borders-

• The border must be controlled and a verification process set up that would provide for an independent body to periodically attest to whether it is secure.

• Anyone caught illegally immigrating after immigration reform is passed would be charged with a felony (and that includes those who overstay visas).

• Demand that Mexico police its own borders. It's time FedGov held Mexico accountable.

• Post the national guard/military on the border.

3. Fund and finish the frigging fence.
4. We need to completely rethink the idea of who should be allowed to immigrate to our country. Traditionally, emphasis has been placed upon those who would likely contribute to the well being of the country and assimilate into our society. More recently we have acted as if everyone and anyone in the world had a right to come here. This has resulted in certain groups that have failed to assimilate and who have made no positive impact upon our society. Many of these groups have become a burden to society. There is no logical reason, unless one believes that we owe the world a better life and that that better life should be paid for by one’s neighbor, to invite people here knowing full well that they have nothing to offer our country, that they will not learn the language, that they have no intention of assimilating and will, most likely, demand more from society than they contribute. After the reassessment we should prepare a list of countries whose citizens will be considered for immigration along with a number specifying how many people will be considered each year.

I realize that this approach is politically incorrect but I see no benefit to our society to have people immigrate from countries like-
     √  Iran
     √  Iraq (except for those who aided and abetted our efforts in war time)
     √  North Korea
     √  Afghanistan (except for those who aided and abetted our efforts in war time)
     √  All other anti-American Muslim countries

The list goes on but hopefully you can see the logic.  The question to be answered is why should we allow someone to immigrate to this country?  Not, why not?

Then we should come up with a reasonably simple, quick and inexpensive path to immigration and citizenship.

Lastly, our policy has been that once we allow someone to immigrate we allow family members to immigrate without going through the same vetting process.  This has
resulted in five immigrants for every one approved through the vetting process. This is
ludicrous and should be abandoned.  If a family wants to be together they my do so, in
their own country.

It has been proven (in England, Germany and France) that unbridled immigration of persons/groups that refuse to assimilate into society fails to produce satisfactory
results. See articles here… and here… and here…

5. Require that all aliens, who desire temporary work in the USA, register with the government by providing their name, age, family members, country of origin and address in the USA.  Once approved, he or she is sent papers allowing them to work for a period of time and then return home. These folks do not get a visa and are not permanent residents.
6. Change the law so that immigrants from South America are subject to the same rules as those from Mexico and Canada. The preferential treatment had to do with protecting children from trafficking and providing for political asylum for certain persons. The law should be changed so that most anyone could apply for help in these situations but in order to be considered one must go through our Embassy rather than swamp our borders with swarms of people crossing illegally.
7. Only citizens can beget citizens.  Citizens cannot be created by criminals just because they are born on a certain piece of soil.  To think otherwise is ridicules. Citizenship should only be bestowed upon children born to Citizens or persons who are permanent residents of the country. The same goes for entitlements. See this article on the subject here...  
8. We need to pass sensible laws relating to undocumented immigrants who are already here-
• Require that all undocumented aliens register with the government by providing their name, age, family members, country of origin and address in the USA.  If they don't, within three months, it's a felony (not deportation). Once the foreign national registers and approved, he or she will become permanent residents and will be sent an I.D. card allowing them to apply for papers allowing them to work and their children born here, thereafter, would be Citizens (not because the parents are Citizens but because they are permanent legal residents).
• Registered resident alien workers can, eventually, apply to be citizens here. And their applications will be placed behind those applying legally (there should be no advantage given just because they entered illegally).
• There is no amnesty. There is a vetting process. But there is also hope that a hard-working, honest, foreign national might build a life here.
• The feds would have the power to immediately deport anyone who is a criminal or is otherwise undesirable.
• Non Citizens may not receive entitlements (that is reserved for Citizens) and may not vote.
• If an immigrant cannot find work in America, he or she is deportable.
• Those who commit crimes must be tried and, if convicted, jailed and deported after their sentences are completed.

This is a common sense plan that will improve our security, provide for the workers we require and is fair and humane to all those affected.

GOD bless America