Greenbacks for Green Cards
My father once told me that you could often gauge the potential success of a great idea by how many people it infuriates at first blush. In that context, I believe authorizing states to sell green cards to a group of sponsored illegal immigrants for $10,000 apiece over the next few years is a potentially great idea.
If one million green cards were sold in California alone this coming year $10 billion dollars (which equals half California's current budget deficit) could be raised just in my home state. Confirming Dad's point, I can already hear the far right bellowing about rewarding this sneaky group of illegal immigrants who snuck into America in the middle of the night and took countless jobs from the hard working white people of America. But while one group might call our illegal immigrants sneaky, another group (myself included), calls them resourceful. So resourceful, in fact, that in the State of California it's estimated that a significant portion of the $13 billion dollars in 2008 wired from here to Mexico came from these hard working "sneaky" people. Others will no doubt say that they suspect much of this money comes from illicit means like insidious gang or drug activity. I'd ask these people to walk down to their local Western Union office on the second Friday of every month and check out these nefarious impostors so convincingly masquerading as nannies, farm workers and various day laborers.
It is time to take the fear out of our dealings with those undocumented immigrants who in fact work hard and keep prices low for all of us. It is estimated that the undocumented immigrants contribute tens of billions of dollars to California's economy... and billions more throughout the U.S. Since it is true that immigrants use social safety nets and infrastructure how about having a significant portion of that group actually paying both federal and state income taxes and contributing to the cost of the services they are already receiving?
As one of the many safeguards against abuse of the cash for green cards system, we must of course insist on strict verifiable criteria. Each applicant must secure three US citizens in good standing as sponsors on their behalf. Like their respective backers, each applicant must have no criminal record (besides previous deportation proceedings) and a verifiable source of income that they and their employer are now willing to put on the books.
Additionally (as a friend of mine currently sitting on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental affairs smartly recommended), even though already here, each sponsored individual must pass the scrutiny standards of all foreign visitors, including the terrorist watch list, and a plethora of various criminal database record checks.
Getting Federal buy-in to a program like this is undoubtedly a key hurdle for anything close to this happening on a state level. Immigration status is a federal issue and legally falls under their regulation. However the states and their governments bear the brunt of the burden of caring for the millions of illegals in their local schools, social service agencies and medical facilities. By allowing states to reap the windfall and work to legitimize this huge group of stealth residents already inhabiting their social services system, taxes will suddenly inure to all governments local, state and federal. California has led the nation on auto emission, environmental and drug issues that are also "federal" issues. This might well be yet another West Coast social innovation whose logical time has come.
If one were looking for a common sense and or legal argument as to why we should reward this group of people who live and work here without proper documentation I would make the point that the idea of deporting some ten million people already very much embedded into the fabric of society is both impractical and ridiculous. The argument for taking that approach should simply be abandoned. If we apply an approach like I'm suggesting to the entire 20+ million illegal immigrants in the U.S. we could possibly generate $200 billion dollars in real revenue for our state governments. It is quite conceivable that the vast majority of the hardworking and most desirable illegals currently here would be able to find a way to work toward legalizing their status and contribute to the support of the social systems they already use.
In my opinion, the tacit acceptance of these millions of people living and working in America is tantamount to a prescriptive easement which arises if someone uses part of "your" property with your permission. State law, which varies by state, defines the time period required for such a view to be taken and I would argue that three years of living in our state earning a living while the great majority of us turn our heads in silent acceptance neatly fits into this category for those seeking legal refuge. For some to make this 'greenback to green card' approach palatable they may need to see the program as the payment of back taxes or as a penalty based revenue stream. In reality, I couldn't care less what label is applied to the plan so long as the result means expediting the transition to citizenship for the millions of people it would effect, and allow our governments to collect the revenues long overdue and so desperately needed right now.
It has been said that the sight of the gallows tends to focus the mind. The budget deficit in California is the closest we have been to the steps of the gallows I've seen in the twenty years I've lived in California. This crisis, like all others, will simultaneously create great opportunity. Our catastrophic budget hole has produced a potentially magical moment that should force all sides to consider smart, pragmatic, capital raising approaches like the marketing of green cards to qualified, worthy, sponsored applicants. The time has come to embrace this group of people while at the same time helping steady the precarious state of the state in which we now find ourselves. A crisis is a terrible opportunity to waste!
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Excuse me... the current fee for employment based visas is US $ 500,000-1 million. Everyone who starts a business in the US with a capital of at least $1 million and ten employees gets one:
http://tra
It says:
"Employment Fifth Preference (E5)
Employment Creation Investors receive 7.1 percent of the yearly worldwide limit. All applicants must file a Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur with USCIS. To qualify, an alien must invest between U.S. $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on the employment rate in the geographical area, in a commercial enterprise in the United States which creates at least 10 new full-time jobs for U.S. citizens, permanent resident aliens, or other lawful immigrants, not including the investor and his or her family."
Yes, it is that simple. And at the same time that hard... where does one take the million from?
That is a horrible idea. Even if illegals did buy green cards it is just a quick way for the government to get some easy money. The services these people use will not be balanced out by this. You're just trying to put a band-aid on a deep gash and it won't work. Enforcement of the LAW will fix the problem. Crack down on employers who hire these people and make E-verify mandatory for all employers so that identity theft can be halted drastically. No mass deportations necessary (except for criminal aliens) because people will deport themselves when they have no jobs. The problem can be solved somewhat easily we just have absolutely no will or courage from either party to do so.
For somebody who wants to end racism, you are quite the xenophobe.
:-)
This is a brilliant idea. Many people easily spend more than $10K to get their green cards, but this money goes to paying unscrupulous lawyers and deadbeat Americans for fake marriages. I think most of them would be willing to pay anywhere from $10K to $20K or more to legalize themselves, and if this money went to state governments instead of lawyers, better for all of us. Where would they get the money? This won't be a problem, I assure you. Do you know that the average coyote charges anywhere from $3000 to $6000 to ferry people across the border from Mexico? Many people who come illegally are already in debt when they arrive. How nice if these large sums of money went to state governments instead of drug-ferrying coyotes. In my opinion, it is already too late to turn back the tide of illegal immigration - the talking points are already moot, and we need to adjust to the reality instead of using recycled arguments that do little more than confuse the public about what is really going on.
You don't have to pay a lawyer if you don't want to and it's neither that expensive nor are you dealing with particularly unscrupulous people. Please keep in mind that the average realtor will collect much higher fees than the average immigration lawyer for much less work that has much less impact on your life.
:-)
As for the fake marriage..
How about our government hires 66,000 ACORN workers to process their paperwork as opposed to GPS (ing) our front doors?
You lost. Live with it.
The American people will never accept amnesty for anyone guilty of having committed identity theft/fraud. As of last week the government estimates that 9 million illegals have filed false I-9's.
The victims of identity theft have suffered very real and devastating consequences in their lives.
Now that's a nicely burning straw man.... burn, baby, burn.
Ten thousand is too much for these workers to afford, and then what is the state going to do with that money? The same things they've been doing that have dug them into a hole? How about having free Universal healthcare and then not complaining about "that immigrant got sick and needed medicine," and begrudging peoples' well-being. And just because they are willing to work for peanuts doing the most menial labor jobs doesn't mean it's right for us to hire them at those bargain basement prices. The problem is survival. Until you unwind surviving from money you will always have people doing desperate things for money and treating others horribly in order to save it.
For some reason the blog author wants you to think it would be hispanics who would largely take advantage of this 'pay for green card' scheme. It wouldn't be. It would be Indians with expired Visas.
$10k dollars seems low. Time for a dutch auction?
Given the existing lottery system gives Green Cards away in decent numbers, and that legal fees to file are in the thousands, then it might be viable.
We already sell them... for about a million a piece. See above.
um, this idea is interesting in theory, but one question? Peope move to this country for betterment, a better job, life , house, opportunity. They obviously need to make more money so HOW would they be able to afford $10,000? The only ones that would be able to drop that kind of coin are probably ones that we wouldnt want here (drug cartels, te.rr0rist
Actually, the people who come to this country for work know how to save money. They are not shopping addicts like the citizens of their host country.
:-)
Yes - can I say YES YES YES???? I know an undocumented worker, his wish more than anything is to legalize his status. If you want to attack him - he's already heard it all - so please spare the faux outrage.
I would think the cost to provide social services would increase significantly, as I'm sure not all illegals are receiving the care they need at the moment. *Especially* after paying that 10k, some would probably need it. ;0) www.HelpFr
The sad fact is that this probably will work, but only because of the absurd state of our immigration system. However, don't begin to pretend that the poor farm workers are going to utilize this.
A guy I know from Bolivia ended up spending something like $14k in application and attorney fees to get his green card. For him, the $10k plan would have saved him some money and several years of legal hassles and run-arounds. So, yes, I suppose we could get some well-off immigrants to do this, but no one else.
He got either ripped off or there were problems with his status. You can get excellent service from a first rate immigration attorney for $5k.
The Lionsgate Canadian connection should remind him that not so long ago Canada had a program to buy Canadian residency for $250,000. invested in a Canadian company. It didn't take long for the resourceful in Hong Kong (and I was there at the time) to figure out that you could use the same $250,000. over and over by utilizing different companies which is why there are so many Chinese in Hong Kong that now have a Canadian residency backup if anything happens to Hong Kong.
It won't take long for the Mexicans with money to figure out how to utilize this plan. The poor in California will still be illegal.
The US has the same thing. It's just more costly. I believe pretty much any country has something similar.
The plan does sound viable to me. However, I think a $10,000 fee is extortive. I do think the fee should be high enough that the immigrant would no longer be as willing to work for less than a legal citizen but $10,000 is such a large amount that many - if not most - would not be able to come up with it and would continue to work and live under the radar.
These people are not going away. They need us and, what's just as true, we need them. We must find a way to integrate them into our society legally. To do anything else makes a mockery of this country that was founded by immigrants and has prospered through the efforts of people who immigrated looking for a better life.
how about having their employers pay? 10 grand is probably doable for most. Then the immigrants can continue to support their families in Mexico, or wherever. win-win.
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