A conservative alternative to the DREAM Act
As conservatives, we acknowledge, and in fact celebrate, that the United States is a nation of laws. However, we also acknowledge that the United States is, and always has been, a nation of compassion. In fact, I would argue that the Unites States is arguably the most compassionate nation in the history of the world. I would also argue that while we embrace compassion with an open heart, we do, and must always, embrace our compassion with open eyes as well.
Therefore, we do have compassion for the children of immigrants who were brought here, through no fault of their own, illegally. For those children that in all other aspects played by the rules, excelled academically and have stayed on the straight and narrow, we do feel that they are a special case, and are most worthy of our compassion. After all, we embrace the tenet of Compassionate Conservatism. We believe that conservatism is a good thing -- a valuable thing. In our country, it is also a good thing -- some would say a prerequisite thing, and certainly a moral thing -- to allow our compassion to go hand in hand with our conservatism.
The Democratic version of the DREAM Act has been floating around the halls of Congress for over a decade, and has enjoyed a measure of bipartisan support. However, it has never enjoyed enough support to pass. We think that is because, at the end of the day, it provides a back-door amnesty to the undocumented parents of the undocumented children. Our coalition does not support amnesty, and as long as the undocumented children could someday file a petition to legalize their undocumented parents, we are divided on the DREAM Act.
However, a conservative alternative would solve that problem. A conservative DREAM Act would not provide for any path to citizenship, or even legal permanent residency status. It would allow these children to stay in this country as non-immigrants or guest workers. This offers a very relevant distinction; it provides no mechanism for the children to petition anyone, including their parents, to come to or stay in the United States. Therefore, there would be no amnesty for the parents, and no future “chain migration.”
I would add one caveat: the undocumented children that would otherwise qualify for this alternative DREAM Act that choose to serve for 4 years in the military should be given an opportunity to become citizens. Right now, these undocumented children are ineligible to serve in the military. This alternative DREAM Act would allow these young men and women to serve our country, and if they do, they should be eligible to become American citizens.
However, this alternative DREAM Act would significantly tighten up some of the other aspects of the Democratic DREAM Act, such as criminal records. We want young men and women who respect the law to be able to qualify as candidates for this bill. It would also lower the age to qualify for this bill from the current 35 years old, thus dramatically reducing the potential pool of candidates.
This conservative alternative DREAM Act would serve our country well. It would solve two very pressing issues: what we should do with the high-achieving, undocumented children in this country, and what we should do about border security.
Finally, to those on the left that would argue that anything less than citizenship is a non-starter, I say that is simply not true. In fact, just a few months ago, I spoke in Tucson, Arizona to a large audience of primarily Hispanic Evangelicals at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference’s Immigration Summit. At that event, I suggested the plan as described above. During the Q&A session at the end of the program, we took a vote, and only 10 out of approximately 900 attendees had a problem with this “non-citizenship” plan.
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Romney Says He Favors 'Self-Deportation'
Mitt Romney said in that he favors what he calls "self-deportation" over policies that require the federal government to round up illegal immigrants and return them to their home countries.
"The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here," Romney said.
Romney's answer came after he was pressed on how he could be in favor of illegal immigrants returning to their home countries and applying for citizenship while also saying that he does not want the federal government to round people up and deport them.
Romney said that if employers enforce high standards for legal documentation of their employees, potential illegal immigrants will not be able to find work. He says this will allow the federal government to avoid having to round up people because they will leave on their own.
SOURCE
Background
Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.
Why is "La Raza" the one Spanish term that is NEVER translated in the American mass media? Because translating it would make it a lot less respectable. It means "THE RACE" -- The mixed Hispanic "race" of Mexico. Racism is fine South of the Rio Grande only, apparently.
The "line" of this blog is that immigration should be SELECTIVE. That means that:
1). A national government should be in control of it. The U.S. and U.K. governments are not but the Australian government has shown that the government of a prosperous Western country can be. Up until its loss of office in 2007, the conservative Howard government had all but eliminated illegal immigration. The present Leftist government has however restarted the flow of illegals by repealing many of the Howard government regulations.
2). Selectivity should be based on "the content of a man's character, not on the color of his skin", as MLK said. To expand that a little: Immigrants should only be accepted if they as individuals seem likely to make a positive net contribution to the country. Many "refugees" would fail that test: Muslims and Africans particularly. Educational level should usually be a pretty fair proxy for the individual's likely value to the receiving country. There will, of course, be exceptions but it is nonetheless unlikely that a person who has not successfully completed High School will make a net positive contribution to a modern Western society.
3). Immigrants should be neither barred NOR ACCEPTED solely because they are of some particular ethnic origin. Blacks are vastly more likely to be criminal than are whites or Chinese, for instance, but some whites and some Chinese are criminal. It is the criminality that should matter, not the race.
4). The above ideas are not particularly blue-sky. They roughly describe the policies of the country where I live -- Australia. I am critical of Australian policy only insofar as the "refugee" category for admission is concerned. All governments have tended to admit as refugees many undesirables. It seems to me that more should be required of them before refugees are admitted -- for instance a higher level of education or a business background.
5). Perhaps the most amusing assertion in the immigration debate is that high-income countries like the USA and Britain NEED illegal immigrants to do low-paid menial work. "Who will pick our crops?" (etc.) is the cry. How odd it is then that Australians get all the normal services of a modern economy WITHOUT illegal immigrants! Yes: Before the pandemic, you usually COULD buy a lettuce in Australia for a dollar or thereabouts. And Australia IS a major exporter of primary products.
6). I am a libertarian conservative so I reject the "open door" policy favoured by many libertarians and many Leftists. Both those groups tend to have a love of simplistic generalizations that fail to deal with the complexity of the real world. It seems to me that if a person has the right to say whom he/she will have living with him/her in his/her own house, so a nation has the right to admit to living among them only those individuals whom they choose.
I can be reached on jonjayray@hotmail.com -- or leave a comment on any post. Abusive comments will be deleted.
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