America was populated during two rounds of mass immigration. The first was during the first ice age approximately 13000 years ago when people from Asia crossed the glaciers that connected modern Russia to Alaska. The second round began in the 1600s and continued until World War Two. Much of this immigration was legal. Since the 1940s, however, most immigration into the US has been illegal and poorly unregulated. This is problematic from both a national security and a human rights standpoint. Our immigration policy must:
- Legitimize every immigrant who enters America.
- Attract the highest quality immigrants to America.
- Provide sanctuary to those in need.
It’s important to separate boarder security from the debate on immigration. Our boarders must be secure: if that means deploying 100 US soldiers on every mile of our boarder then so be it. Unlike security, immigration is a question of national wealth. The fact is more people create more trade which creates more wealth. The continental US is nearly three times the size of India with about one third the population. Why aren’t we focusing on wealth creation?
Currently, the US is still a highly competitive nation in terms of immigration. People from around the world very much want to work here. We should evaluate the type of people we need and then test immigration applicants for those skills. We determine quotas for each test and provide entry and a path to citizenship for those individuals. If we were adding 7-10 million usefully skilled people to America every year, all Americans would become wealthier and our domestic marketplace would become more efficient.