The Solution to Illegal Immigration

I have it! I have the answer! I'm brilliant! OK folks, it's very simple. How do you eliminate any type of undesireable behavior? You eliminate the motivation. What's the primary motivation for illegal immigration in America? Employment. So what's the solution? Just three little words: Make Employers Liable.

I propose that any person or company found to be employing an illegal immigrant be fined $5000 per illegal, every time they're caught, even if the employer was unaware. $5K would be not so much as to put a company out of business (usually), but definitely enough to convince an employer not to close his eyes when his employees are likely (or even possibly) undocumented.

If employers refuse to hire illegal workers, then we won't NEED to actively block them or kick them out--they'll leave of their own accord because they won't be able to find work.

Maybe this is impractical for other reasons... I don't know. Maybe with identity fraud, it really ISN'T possible. But we should at least CONSIDER it. Perhaps we could start with lesser fines during the first few years while we work out the kinks in the idea. Say a $500 fine the first year, then $1000, then $2000, then $3500, then $5000.

Once we get that worked out, we can further reduce the motivation by eliminating the constitutional provision that grants citizenship to the babies (born in the US) of illegal immigrants. But that would get a little tricky. To challenge one's status, the onus would have to be on the government to first prove that the parents were indeed illegal, not the other way around.

We could have a statute of limitations, to protect people from the sins of their fathers. I'd suggest that once a US-born illegal reaches the age of 18, even they would be considered a citizen unless the government could prove the person had NOT maintained residency up to the age of 18. (This would also prevent risking the disposition of legitimate citizens.) And for orphaned minors (or those in similar condition), we would show mercy if there were no adult guardian to care for them, and permit them to stay as a non-deportable permanent resident--but they would not have citizenship unless they went through the same process as anyone else with a green card.

I should call my representative.