Welcome to the May issue of NorthBay biz magazine. This month’s magazine is replete with North Bay business success. From banking to wine to tech, we analyze individual leaders and leading companies to discern the unique ingredients in their recipes for success. You’ll also find, of course, our usual complement of features and columns, including several new ones that have been introduced since the beginning of this year. As always, we welcome your comments, suggestions and ideas on how the area’s only locally owned business publication can serve you and the business community better.
The latest national brouhaha shouting down the rest of the news is the raucous debate underway in Congress regarding what to do about illegal immigration. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth centers around the question: What kind of law will offer an acceptable way to deal with the estimated 12 million people who are in this country illegally, while at the same time controlling (if not completely stopping) illegal immigration in the future? I guess it’s time to put my oar into the water on this issue, but I’ll concede up front that this is an extremely complex, multifaceted problem that makes cobbling together any consensus difficult if not impossible.
Where to start? How about the recent demonstrations in several major U.S. cities where the demonstrators chose to wave the Mexican flag in their protest against American policy? Isn’t this about the demonstrators wanting to stay in this country and become American citizens? Isn’t waving flags of another country sending the wrong message? Maybe at the next march it might be more prudent to employ some strong symbolism to help sway public opinion—like waving the American flag if they want to call this country home. I think this is at the heart of part of this problem.
Immigrants who come to this country need to become assimilated as quickly as possible. That means being able to speak the language and adopt our culture and, ultimately, respect our borders. Every successful and enduring country has a national identity framed from a common language, customs and borders. Diversity is wonderful within a context of commonality, but there’s a threat here that can become devastatingly divisive. The issue isn’t about race or ethnicity; it’s about the danger to the country if we fail to make immigrants Americans. Many people believe too many immigrants are retaining the language, customs, culture and political agendas of their native countries. If that’s true, then in fact, the immigrants who are here are, in actuality, invading this country. And no country can withstand that kind of assault for long—without assimilation.
There are also many factions campaigning for open borders. It worries me when our politicians are among this camp because I don’t understand how anyone in a position of responsibility concerning our national security can rationalize an open border policy given the existing threat of a terrorist attack. I understand there are certain incentives aligned with open borders, but that position is tantamount to selling the security of the entire country for either “cheap labor” or “cheap votes.”
It’s true that our current immigration policy is too convoluted. It takes entirely too long to convey citizenship upon the millions of worthy applicants. A five-to-seven-year wait is ridiculous and needs to be streamlined. How about two years maximum? Either you’re acceptable or you’re not. The talk of building a wall along our border is equally ridiculous. It flies in the face of what our country has stood for since its inception. Were she able, the Statue of Liberty would weep at the thought.
So how do we deal with all the illegal immigrants in this country? Talk of rounding them up and somehow transporting them back to their original countries doesn’t work on so many levels there isn’t enough space to comment. And if we were to grant those already here amnesty, what signal does that send to the millions who did it legally and waited their turn for years? What about the signal it sends to all those future immigrants contemplating the legal or illegal roads to entry?
We should establish policies that encourage immigration and make it easier, not harder, to come to this country. First, we should raise immigration quotas for people who are highly trained and educated who want to come here. Once here, they begin to contribute immediately to the economy, which benefits everyone. And we should do the same thing with all the unskilled that yearn for a chance at a better life in America not only for themselves, but also for their children and their children’s children. Of course there’s a catch to my plan. Everyone has to be here legally. And maybe there’s a way to do that just by shifting the existing focus a little.
What do we do with all the illegal immigrants who are already in this country? How’s this—don’t do a thing! Instead of making them felons and incarcerating or deporting them, let’s make any employer who hires a noncitizen the bad guy—you know, big fines, jail time for repeat offenders. I guarantee as appealing as cheap labor might be to some employers, the prospect of huge fines and possible jail time would quickly quell their thirst for this bottom line nectar.
When immigrants can’t get hired and can’t go on welfare without a legal visa or work permit, they’ll have only one choice—return to their native country. Once they’re back home, they’ll discover a new plan in place. One that will be administered just like a major credit card database, in which background checks and identities can be verified. Once you establish who you are, you become eligible to file for citizenship. And as part of the process, you’ll be issued a guest worker ID that will allow you back into this country legally. You don’t jump ahead of all the people who’ve already applied and you don’t make worthless the efforts of all the immigrants before you who did it the right way. Business still gets its cheap labor and politicians their cheap votes, but the immigrant is on a legal and shorter track to become a citizen while being allowed to work here. The immigrant can begin to improve his family’s fortunes while becoming a productive, assimilated future citizen of the country.
That’s it for now. Enjoy this month’s magazine.
