Immigration

Immigration

Jeff Crank on Immigration

As Coloradans watch Congress navigate the minefield of national immigration reform, we ought to weigh our reactions against the effects illegal immigration are rendering on our own state's services and resources.

By some estimates, there are 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 220,000 in Colorado alone. The influx of illegal immigrants to Colorado - and it is growing on a daily basis - is placing an enormous strain on our state's education, economic and healthcare systems. As one of the most rapidly growing states, Colorado is at a critical moment in which it must acknowledge its need for more stringent federal immigration policies.

The time has come for our nation to adopt a multi-pronged, comprehensive and orderly approach to immigration reform. While there are extreme positions at both ends of the spectrum, the solution lies in a middle ground that both acknowledges today's security realities and honors our country's legacy as a welcoming nation to all people.

Fundamentally, the first step to true immigration reform is committing the necessary resources to protect our nation's borders and enforce existing laws. In 2005, U.S. Border Patrol stopped 1.19 million people trying to enter the U.S. illegally; 98.5 percent of them were caught along the southern border.

Border security is a matter of national security, and any attempt to address the larger problems of illegal immigration without first stemming the tide across our borders is nonsensical. It is imperative that Congress commit the resources to increase border patrols by allocating funds to hire more border agents, particularly along the porous southern border, and providing the necessary resources for those agents to act swiftly and decisively. As a nation, we must be committed to safeguarding our borders and enforcing existing laws or we will never see an end to the epidemic of illegal immigration.

Hand-in-hand with strengthening our borders is eliminating the long standing, yet ineffective policy of "catch and release." With growing frequency, local authorities are catching then releasing illegal immigrants because there are too few law enforcement agents to properly process them through the system. Any new immigration reform effort must abolish this flawed policy and establish a clear dictate that any illegal immigrant detained on U.S. soil will be immediately returned to the country from which they came. As a nation, we must have in place, and stridently enforce, strong deterrents to illegal entry into the U.S.

Likewise, we must adopt a zero tolerance for so-called "sanctuary cities" that provide a safe haven for illegal immigrants. U.S. cities that decide unilaterally to ignore federal immigration law ought to be refused federal funding. This is a national problem that deserves a national, unified response, and municipalities that attempt to pave their own trail should be refused federal dollars. I will sponsor legislation to end federal funding to "sanctuary cities".

Effective immigration reform must also take into account the needs of employers and employees. We need in place a clearing house to provide employers instant, immediate access to verify an employee's status. Until we create a verifiable database for employers to double check the status of employees, we should not financially penalize businesses for employing illegal immigrants. State-of-the-art technology is already developed and its application ought to be utilized to ensure the lawful hiring of employees and workers.

So also, we need a system that provides easier access to work permits, but that stops short of granting amnesty. Illegal immigrants should never be rewarded for breaking the law with immigration amnesty. Granting easier access to work permits and visas will create a legal path for low-skilled foreigners to temporarily work in the U.S. and it will return billions of dollars in revenue to our tax coffers. Temporary work visas must never lead to automatic citizenship. Unless they become legal citizens, they should work for a period of time and then return home. The bottom line is that in order for immigration reform to succeed, we must reestablish respect for our immigration laws and curb those policies that have proven ineffective. It will take a multi-faceted approach to properly address border security, law enforcement and judicious work rules. The health of Colorado's economic, education and healthcare systems depends upon lasting and pragmatic solutions.

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