Every time we have divided government, the bongo drums come out and we’re treated to a chorus of the bipartisanship national anthem. Its traditional lyrics involve Republicans selling out to Democrats and pretending it was “compromise.” This time, the lyrics are a little different, in that any compromise would have to involve Democrats working with a man they’ve insisted was Hitler and congressional colleagues they call his unthinking minions. For the President, he’d have to compromise with people who call for his imprisonment and have literally cheered attempts to murder him. Well, allow me to step in and offer to Democrats and Republicans where the line is on behalf of at least half of the American people when it comes to “compromise” on immigration.
No citizenship, ever!
I know that’s the goal of Democrats – to create a new group of voters for themselves – but no, that’s a non-starter. I am going to work with what Democrats say they want, not what we know they really want: to move illegal aliens “out of the shadows.” Personally, I don’t care if they live or die in the shadows; they moved there of their own free will and far be it from me to care about criminals in our country unlawfully. But this is what Democrats claim to care about, so I will work from this point.
They don’t get citizenship, even by marriage, and can never vote. Ever. They can work, they can move around, travel, leave the country and come back without fear of deportation, but the price for Democrats in “winning” the illegal aliens is that this is the end of birthright citizenship. There is no compromise on this – only children born to actual, real Americans can be Americans by birth.
The children of these amnestied illegal aliens with legal status will not be citizens. They can stay with their families, but it is the responsibility of their families to make sure they are citizens of their home countries, not ours. They can attend schools here, but only if the parents pay taxes. That means a work permit – a new “Purple Visa” or something – that allows them to function effectively as a Green Card holder without any chance of citizenship.
Only after five generations or so can a family apply for citizenship without returning home and going through the legal process. And only then, if they are fluent in English, no part of the process can be aided by another human being; no translators at all, and they have to have lived in the United States for the whole generational line. If someone returns home, the line is broken and resets.
We also need to end dual citizenship for people from countries with, say, more than 2-3 percent of the illegal alien population. If a country can’t control its flow of people invading our country, they should lose the benefits of having Americans among their citizenry. Pick and live with that choice.
There needs to be a tax on remittances. How much of a tax, I’ll leave to the experts, but there needs to be a cost to sending money out of the country to help cover the cost these illegal aliens impose on us while they’re here.
They can qualify for Medicaid, but only if they’re working and paying taxes. If they aren’t working, we will treat them to the point of stabilization and then deport them. We aren’t the world’s emergency room.
Commit a crime, and you’re out. Not only are you out, but your whole family is out. No stragglers, which shouldn’t be an issue since no one is a citizen. If you are convicted – and being in the country on this special Purple Visa eliminates the prosecutorial discretion that would allow a plea bargain – everyone goes. There are no degrees, no levels of seriousness of crimes that will differentiate between staying and going; it’s all “go.” DUI? See you later.
As part of this “Move People Out of the Shadows Act,” only citizens will count for apportionment of Congressional representation. We count everyone, so we know who is here, but Green Card, Purple Visa holders, and illegal aliens do not factor into congressional districts. If Democrats favoring these people over Americans has nothing to do with voting, this won’t matter. Resources can be allocated to areas based on total population; Congressional seats should only be based on citizenship.
I recognize that a lot of the jobs done by illegal aliens need to be done, and there aren’t enough Americans willing to do them. That will be the case as long as the social safety net is allowed to function as a hammock for the lazy. But that fight can be for another day. This is a “compromise” for Democrats to get exactly what they claim they want – legal status for non-criminal illegals moves them “out of the shadows.” Let’s see how serious they are about that by offering it up with a price that could only be considered high if their previous declarations were insincere.
Oh, and there has to be an unambiguous provision in the bill that states if any of this law is tossed by a court, the whole thing is void, and it reverts back to them all being illegal. I don’t trust any liberal judges to dissect this any more than I trust any Democrat to be honest and trustworthy.
Derek Hunter is the host of the Derek Hunter Show on WMAL in Washington, D.C., and has a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and is the author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on X at @DerekAHunter.
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