How to make immigration reform really work

OK - as part of his immigration reform package, President Bush is willing to ask Congress to pony up $4.4 billion to implement border controls before the other provisions kick in.

President Bush sought to reassure conservatives this morning that a new immigration bill would provide for much more effective enforcement, as he endorsed a new plan to devote as much as $4.4 billion in annual fees raised by the legislation to bolster border security and prevent illegal immigrants from being hired in workplaces.

"We're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept," Bush told members of the Associated Builders and Contractors gathered for a conference downtown.

By endorsing the plan by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the president was sending another signal that conservatives should rethink their opposition to the comprehensive immigration bill, which remains stalemated in the Senate.

Bush's remarks also seemed to answer the call of some GOP senators for the White House to send up a bill providing for up to $10 billion to $15 billion in additional funding for border security before the Senate takes up the immigration bill again. It was not immediately clear whether the president's offer would satisfy conservatives.

$10 billion? I got your $10 billion right here. Simply revise the probationary Z-visa provision in the immigration bill thusly:

All illegal residents of the US (all individuals, not only heads of households) are required, within 90 days of the bill signing, to report to the US Customs and Immigration Service, register and obtain a biometric identification card, pay a fine of $1,000 and pay "bail" of $4,000. Upon registration and payment of the fine and bail, the illegal resident alien obtains a probationary Z-visa and is legally allowed to work as long as he or she continues to follow the processes to clear back tax debts and pass a background check. The bail may be refunded to the individual if he or she chooses to leave the US prior to applying for citizenship; if the individual does not apply for citizenship within five years, the bail will be forfeited and the individual may be subject to deportation.

Any illegal resident alien not wishing to register and pay up may avoid doing so by leaving the country, but must obtain an exit visa with biometric identification -- a record that will identify them as a former illegal resident alien if ever they attempt to re-enter the US.

Any illegal resident alien who neither registers and pays to stay nor registers and leaves will be presumed guilty (the same way a blood alcohol level of .08 is presumptive proof of guilt) of felony evasion of immigration controls and subject to a prison term and fines, similar to the penalties set forth in the bill for coyotes and document forgers.

These provisions force the illegal resident aliens out of the shadows and into the sunlight. Any who do not choose to get right with the immigration laws will be outlaws and subject to arrest, fines, imprisonment and deportation. Given the choice of getting a pass to stay in the US legally or going underground as a wanted felon, I think only the truly bad actors will choose the latter.

You can expect easily 10 million illegal resident aliens to take the Z-visa offer: at $1,000 each, that's $10 billion in fines upfront, plus tens of billions more in "bail money" and back taxes over the transition from bill signing to full implementation. So my plan is not only fiscally sound, but it separates the "good" illegal resident aliens who are here for economic and political freedom from the "bad" ones who have other ideas.

Key to making this plan work is eliminating "sanctuary laws" and requiring aggressive internal enforcement to find and round up those "bad" aliens. There should be no excuse not to do this, as any illegal resident aliens who didn't have bad intentions or a dodgy background would have ample incentive to register or leave.

And if advocacy groups worry about the ability of illegal resident aliens to come up with the cash upfront to register, the bill can provide for sponsorships by US citizens who are willing to lend the money to an illegal resident alien and share in that alien's legal obligations to fulfill the rest of the normalization process. The sponsors would individually have to put more than just money where their mouth is: as persons vouching for the good character and intentions of their sponsorees, they would be legally liable if those sponsorees fell short of their legal obligations.

The best immigration bill that can pass (this) Congress

On Tuesday in Texas, John McCain spoke again of his comprehensive immigration reform bill:

"I think it's a matter of national security," McCain said, "and to do nothing — to leave the status quo — would be an abrogation of our responsibilities to the American people."

McCain, speaking amid a series of fundraisers in Houston, added, "If they've got another proposal that will pass the Congress of the United States, then let's hear that."

Let's detour to Monday in Oklahoma, where McCain expanded on the national security theme:

"We have 12 million people. We don't know where they are or what they're doing," McCain said to reporters after speaking to members of the Oklahoma House. "We've got to secure our borders."

McCain said he met with Oklahoma lawmakers who supported sweeping state immigration legislation that Gov. Brad Henry signed into law on May 8. Among other things, the measure would deny most public benefits to illegal aliens, target employers who hire illegal aliens and provide protections to citizens and legal immigrants who lose their jobs to illegal immigrants.

"They passed that legislation because they were frustrated, understandably. The federal government did not carry out its responsibilities," McCain said.

He said border control is a federal responsibility. "That means fences, that means walls," McCain said.

If our national security is at stake (and it is), then that's what ought to be fixed first and foremost, before anyone worries about "normalizing" illegal aliens. McCain's grand compromise pretends to put border security -- "fences and walls," along with electronic employment eligibility verification and other measures -- ahead of normalization by making the vaunted Z-visa contingent on the "trigger" of implementation of these security measures.

However, between the time the bill becomes law and the time the trigger measures are in place, illegal aliens will have a provisional authorization to work and travel -- so who needs a Z-visa? Moreover, the provisional status becomes valid if a background check doesn't show up anything unusual -- by the end of the next business day. Doesn't allow for much time to turn up anything on the applicant, does it? Of course, the more extensive background check that follows the "instant read" will be more reliable and no doubt won't take too much longer to complete, right?

`(1) IN GENERAL- An alien who files an application under subsection (a)(1)(A) for adjustment of status, including a spouse or child who files for adjustment of status under subsection (b)--

`(A) shall be granted employment authorization pending final adjudication of the alien's application for adjustment of status;

`(B) shall be granted permission to travel abroad pursuant to regulation pending final adjudication of the alien's application for adjustment of status;

`(C) shall not be detained, determined inadmissible or deportable, or removed pending final adjudication of the alien's application for adjustment of status, unless the alien commits an act which renders the alien ineligible for such adjustment of status; and

`(D) shall not be considered an unauthorized alien as defined in section 274A(i) until such time as employment authorization under subparagraph (A) is denied.

All of which applies, of course, only to those aliens who come forward to apply. What of those who don't meet the requirements for application, or who have good reasons -- say, a criminal background or terrorist connections -- not to apply? There seems to be no provision in this bill for those folks.

McCain is right that allowing the status quo to continue is an abrogation of Congress's duties. He is also right that this bill is probably the best that can pass the current Congress. But what he fails to see is that the appropriate action is not to pass this bill, but to change the composition of Congress to get one that can pass a real border security bill on its own merits.

If Senators like Ted Kennedy are willing to hold border security hostage as a bargaining chip to get benefits for illegal aliens, they should be required to make that strategy clear to the American electorate. Not all of them would get turfed out in 2008, but it's likely enough of them would that we might finally get a Congress able and willing to implement border security. Then, and only then, should we deal with the question of absorption of the most anodyne of the illegal aliens currently in the US -- as well as the identification and disposition of all of the other illegal aliens currently here.