We must ensure comprehensive immigration reform in 2014.

If we don’t make immigration reform a priority by December 1, 2014,we may not see another opportunity for years.

What will our country look like then?

It is no secret that the US immigration system is a mess. It is so out of touch with our society that even the people running it don’t know what to do. To deport or not to deport has become a heated argument all across America. The fact is, our immigration system has not been designed to achieve a unified strategic plan, so it doesn’t.  Instead, it has been cobbled together, one piece at a time, for over four hundred years. We have created laws that, at times, have been set up to achieve specific individual goals, such as keeping out people from specific nations, or allowing other European countries higher numbers of immigrants in order to keep our country light-skinned. We have never looked at our country and asked what it needs to grow and be healthy. We have only looked at our country with an eye towards protecting that with which we rightfully stole. Looking at the state of our country today and it is obvious very little has changed. We are still run by a paranoid minority that is trying to keep their hold on the country and keep “undesirables” out.  In a word, our immigration laws are “hateful,” and where hate is involved, the one thing our immigration laws don’t do is discriminate—they hate everyone.

• They hate the schools and universities that try to strengthen our competitiveness in the face of global competition by limiting their access to bright young minds and deporting many graduates and pre-grads, who otherwise could have been high-value alumni donors.
• They hate big business by limiting their access to the bright young people we educate so well. These corporations offer these students internships that train them with highly specialized skills, only to ship them back to their home countries where they become that same company’s chief competition.
• They hate small businesses who need labor to flourish amidst the American obsession for ever cheaper goods and services in the aftermath of a national financial meltdown.
• They hate the law’s enforcers who are confused as to whether or not to enforce the current laws on the books, or worse yet, are minimally trained in immigration law procedures but expected to perform immigration law enforcement duties.
• They hate the politicians who must decide whether to submit to their party’s extremist policies to gain their support and watch their popularity among voters plummet, or give the voters what they ask for and risk the ire and abandonment of their party’s extremist kingmakers. Either way they stand to face almost certain failure in their next election cycle.
• They hate American families who are already facing a high divorce rate by separating and deporting one or more parents from the family. Add to this a ban from re-entering the US for several years, and the family must struggle to survive more stress and endure more hardships than most successful families.
• And let’s not forget the immigrants. It hates them by waving the jobs they seek in front of them and then criminalizing them for coming here and taking them.
• It hates the migrant workers who normally return to their home country after harvest season, by increasing border security and forcing them to stay here, in a much more expensive society, all year round for fear of getting cut off from their livelihood.
• It hates the solo worker who normally comes here for a year or two and sends money back home to raise and care for their family by forcing them to stay in the US indefinitely, forever cut off from their home and family, for fear they might not make it back to their jobs when they need to get back to work.
• Most of all, our immigration system hates our children. It casts a shadow over their lives with the threat of ripping their parents, relatives, neighbors and classmates right out of their lives overnight, without warning. When this actually happens, it shocks and disrupts them so violently and completely, we are certain to see a new generation of rebellious young US citizens who hate our laws and authority figures. Expect to see them wreaking havoc on our society very soon.

Our current immigration system works against every person in the United States. This situation has been like this for many, many years, and it gets worse with each passing day.

So why haven’t we fixed it already?

The answer is obvious—it’s right in front of us every time we read or watch a news cast about the deadlock in congress over immigration reform legislation.

Our political system has failed us.

What should our immigration and naturalization system do for our country?

1. Allow our schools to train the best minds from around the world
2. Allow our corporations access to recruit, train and retain the brightest minds from around the world.
3. Allow our small businesses to access the labor pool they need in order to be competitive and give the American people access to the goods and services they need.
4. Protect our families and prevent the breakup of otherwise peaceful and law-abiding citizens.
5. Protect our children by not depriving them of the parents they need to raise them.
6. Keep our politicians from sabotaging our efforts at establishing fair and successful immigration laws.
7. Protect our families from Drugs and criminals who would do harm to our families and neighborhoods.
8. Create an inviting and rewarding environment for workers from around the world to support their families as they see fit whether that be sending money home, seasonal work or bringing their families with them to create the life they desire.
9. Incentivize immigrants who are already in our country to step forward and become a legal and welcome part of our society.
10. Ensure for the safety and well being of immigrants who don’t wish to be citizens.
11. Have this system be self-funding so as not to burden the American people with the problems of the world.
12. Train people to support and carry out the laws that we create to do these things, and give them the tools and support to do this.
13. Give citizenship to anyone who joins our military.

Can you think of anything else our immigration laws should do for our country and for the immigrant labor and brainpower we are going to need to compete in the 21st century?