Need An Immigration Solution

Dear editor:

Illegal immigration is a major problem in this country today and the U.S. Senate is trying desperately to solve it with a bill that will lead many immigrants to citizenship in this country. The effort to solve this problem is a good one. The resolution and compromise that our senators are working on is a program with a three pronged approach: 1) Illegals who have been in this country for over five years would eventually be granted citizenship if they remain employed, had background checks, paid fines and back taxes and learned English; 2) Those who have lived here for two to five years would have to travel to a U.S. border and apply for a temporary work visa; 3) If they have been here less than two years they would be required to leave the country.

This all might sound good on paper, but how will these people be identified and who will see that the law will be carried out? Do our senators really think that someone who has been here less than two or five years, who right now cannot be identified or found, is going to step up and say “Hey, I’m an illegal immigrant, have been here less than two years, and as a result am going back to my country of origin?” And for those here for over five years, scraping by to make a living, how are they going to come up with the money to pay fines and back taxes? Doesn’t sound very realistic.

And what about our porous borders that illegals will continue to cross making the problem a continuing one? Somehow we need a solution to all this, but what is in the Senate right now is not a practical one.