Borders Open

Immigration… it’s such a touchy subject. While it may not be on the same social level to some as abortion or gay marriage, in some parts of our country, it is the dominant issue. Even if you are not living in California, Texas, or other southern state, immigration is an issue every state must face. It appears that most Americans choose to disregard the illegal immigration issue because it is not currently affecting their location or state… as far as they are aware of that is.

Illegal immigration harms us all in many ways. The end result is that illegal immigration is costing the American taxpayer billions of dollars per year supporting immigrants who have chosen to enter our country through illegal means. We are paying health care costs that will never be repaid, we are allowing food stamps and other life necessities to be obtained freely, and we are allowing cash only workers subvert the job market. Everything an illegal immigrant does harms each and every American citizen. They NEVER pay a single cent in government taxes but receive monetary benefits from our taxpayer funded programs.

You may say that the illegal immigrant fills a low paying job need and that without these workers, thousands of small business owners will be run out of business and the ramifications felt by this would be worse than “supporting” the existence of an illegal immigrant workforce. I say you are wrong. Why should certain business owners be “allowed” to circumvent the rules and regulations all LEGAL business owners must abide by? Why are they deemed so important that their accounting practices are overlooked and pushed to the side because their workforce is made up of illegal immigrants? In my opinion, illegal immigrants are in fact a government subsidy.

A company employing a workforce of illegal immigrants doesn’t have to pay any taxes on their wages which in turn, affects every citizen and business owner who does. The worker doesn’t pay any government taxes on their income which in turn, affects every citizen and business owner who does. The harm is being done because of their failure to pay taxes like every LEGAL immigrant and citizen must do.

You may say they are poor people who need the money to survive and they need it to send to their destitute family across the border. While that may be true, the net effect of that being true creates even more harm on the American tax payer. If they are in fact, sending their money back home, that money is leaving our economy and entering a foreign market. Is that helping our local economy or national economy in any way? I don’t think so.

America has long been the sought after Holy Grail for foreigners looking to upgrade their lives. American borders are open to anyone who wants to legally enter our country unless you are a terrorist or citizen of a militant adversary. Given that we ACCEPT people who want to legally enter our borders, illegal immigrants have no rational argument to stand upon. If our borders were summarily closed for an irrational arbitrary reason, I can see a potential argument for illegal immigration into a country where you can sustain your family and live without fear of starvation. But, that is not the case.

Some politicians want to immediately deport any illegal immigrant within our borders. We are building a massive wall along our border to help stifle the influx of illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican/American border. Other politicians want to immediately give legal citizenship to all illegal immigrants. I have an idea that can suit everyone.

Finish the wall and hire the necessary security force to patrol it. Immediately issue tax identification numbers to ALL illegal immigrants with a stipulation that they MUST complete proper immigration paperwork within 6-12 months or they are promptly deported with no return for a minimum of three years. ALL illegal immigrants are fingerprinted and checked against international and national criminal databases BEFORE being given their tax id. ALL business owners who continue to employ illegal immigrants after 12 months will be IRS audited and their taxes will be raised 25% on income before taxes for a minimum of three years to pay for their accrued past “savings.” After three years, the business will be audited again and if illegal immigrants are still employed or have been in the three year period, the business owner is sent to jail for 2-5 years for tax evasion.

It’s pretty simple. Shore up our borders to make sure the illegal immigrants aren’t allowed entry, allow legal immigrants to enjoy their entry into America, and punish the businesses who employ immigrants and immediately gain tax dollars from the current population of illegal immigrants. Can you think of anything that would be fairer? By fair, I mean not offering government handouts like immediate legal immigrant citizenship or by failing to collect taxes upon the revenue generated by the illegal workforce. The legal citizens of our country deserve fairness and until we correct the illegal immigration problem, we are subsidizing thousands of business and over 11 million illegal immigrants in our country.