Eleven Million Immigrants are Ready to Pay Part of the United States Debt -By Signing a Binding Contract with American Conditions
A Framework to Fix a Broken System
How many "illegal" (the term for one side of the debate) or "undocumented" (the preferred term by the other side) immigrants are there in America? The Department of Homeland Security indicated about 10.8 million in 2009. So for the purpose of this proposed contract and article, we are going to say, "the 11 Million Immigrants" (11M), and this essential issue should be resolved with the American Citizens (AC) and not with any Democrat or Republican party.
Are these 11M individuals paying taxes? The answer is probably unclear; however, if the 11M hope to be legalized to make their dream come true in this country, they should stop those ridiculous protests on the streets, alienating more Americans, and then talk directly to the American Citizens before it is too late to find a solution. If the AC are fed up with the current broken system and the incompetence of the government, they should decide this issue and not the government. This sounds like utopia, but I may have found a way to appease the majority in this country: A win-win solution.
The 11M are on a path (trapped) to lose their battle with their main party: the American Citizens. The 11M must convince the AC that, although they may have broken the law by the way they entered this country, they have something fundamental that AC need: They have the power to pay the American debt.
However, the two main American parties are using the subject of immigration to revitalize their bases to prepare for the elections in November of this year, as they need the votes for their self-preservation as well as for their parties to continue in power. This is American politics, and this is better than one-party rule, or multiple parties confusing everybody without principles or philosophy. Yet with the immigration issue, nothing is going to be seriously done this year. Let me tell you why.
About sixty percent (according to CNN) of Americans seem to be against immigration reform with citizenship and ask the government to enforce our current laws, while thirty-three percent (according to CNN) are in favor and ask the government to fix a broken system. Why is this about the AC and not Congress taking up immigration reform? Because it is likely the current congress will not approve legislation with a clear path to citizenship a few months before the elections just to be unseated by the popular backlash against the reform. Nevertheless, the subject is just as important as agitating the bases to protest either in favor of or against immigration reform.
I have heard for decades, over and over, politicians saying we need border security. The government in fact has increased the budget and added more agents and more technology, but the problem continues. On the other side, I have heard politicians saying over and over that undocumented immigrants are doing jobs that Americans don't want to do, and we need a common-sense approach. It is about energizing constituents to vote in each election by replaying the same movie.
And the worst of the worst: politicians are playing the racial card on both sides of the spectrum to make this issue a confrontation between Hispanic and non-Hispanic Americans even though the 11M are not all Hispanics. It is probably true that there are those who hate Latino communities, but this is a very small minority; we cannot assume that all 60% are racist. As we all know, most of the people in this country are not native-American, and they are descended from immigrants as they are now first-, second-, third- or fourth-generation Americans. And these American Citizens have created what almost all of us believe in and feel: American Exceptionalism and the love for our country.
Most of the 60% of AC have concerns that are potential deal breakers. And these are the facts that are increasingly getting them fed up with the system:
-Most of the 60% are concerned that new laws will give more collective rights to government benefits (such as welfare, grants, financial aid, Social Security, Medicaid, etc.) while we have the worst fiscal deficit ever in America. They also fear that new laws will permit illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for jobs at lower wages. Another primary concern of some politicians and others is if the 11M become American citizens and have a tendency to be liberal, this country will become a progressive country (moving to the left) like Europe on the path to becoming a Greece.
-Towns across America struggle to balance their budgets with a great part of their residents (11M) contributing very little or almost nothing to this country.
-Individuals use our public schools while some (11M) or their parents contribute virtually no property tax dollars to our system. (A great amount of property taxes in America is for education.)
-Police provide services to everybody that lives in this country while the 11M contribute zero dollars to support the police department.
-Individuals commit crimes and overburden the prison system despite the fact they broke the law by entering this country illegally. (Let's be clear that these individuals must not be here, and they are not part of this proposed contract as they are a small minority.)
-Individuals use healthcare at the emergency rooms contributing zero dollars to this service.
-Courts provide rights to individuals contributing zero dollars.
-Individuals use public places such as parks, roads, etc. contributing nothing to our system.
All of the above perhaps does not apply to all of the 11M as some are fully in compliance with their taxes.
Most of the 33% of the Americans who support immigration reform have legitimate concerns about how to legalize the 11M or enforce the current law:
-Most of the 33% want a path to citizenship because we can't indefinitely sustain a subclass in America. These immigrants, like others in the past, will evolve to become part of the American culture.
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