Name:   copperline - Subject:   We need to get clear about what we mean... Date:   4/17/2016 4:31:08 PM

Thinking about immigration today, I guess I was prompted by Hound’s assertion that we should have a temporary moratorium on immigration… one of the things that The Donald has made part of his campaign.

Just what does that mean & how would you do it?

My sense of Illegal immigration is that this happens when people enter the country and upon entry state that they are here for a temporary visit (like a vacation or a work-related trip)… then they overstay and disappear from the view of the Immigration Service.    My question is how far would you go to stop that from happening?

For instance, would we stop foreign tourists from entering this country?  For those of us worrying about Islamic terrorists, would we seek to stop people based on their religious affiliation or just their ethnic identity?      For those of us who worry that immigrants won’t integrate into US culture, should we focus on stopping Hispanics but allow the Canadians & Europeans?   Would we stop foreign students from studying in the US?  How exactly would we verify the intentions of each person that crosses the border?   Will religion become a criteria for entering the US, and how would we verify that they were truthful about their religious beliefs?   Would an immigration moratorium be placed on people from every country in the world, or just those on a particular list?   If an immigration ban was just temporary, then what would be need to be in place so it could (eventually) be lifted?   What would happen if the temporary ban turned out to be a 20+ year ban because we never thought in advance what we wanted the new policy to be & couldn’t agree how to lift it?   Would that matter to anyone?

For me, the specific idea of a ban on Muslims or a general moratorium on all immigration is so problematic as to be almost impossible… mainly because of the unintended consequences here and abroad.   I would be strongly in favor of revising our immigration policies to include a path to citizenship, particularly for people in families who have now settled in this country… especially for children born here, even if their parents weren’t citizens.   As far as "bulding a wall & having Mexico pay for it" goes, this is a complete pipe dream... unworkable, ineffective and particularly misleading to the US public.   Other countries are not going to subsidize US immigration policy & enforcement operations... that is up to taxpayers here.