Another stab at a Modest Proposal for Immigration Reform

Immigration reform is a hot topic, and since noone seems to be willing to take my annexation suggestion seriously, I'll make a new suggestion to help solve the current crisis with the ongoing flood of illegal immigrants.

The U.S. has about 300Million folks now, the rest of the world another 6Billion. Of that 6Billion even if one in ten found the idea of living in the U.S. attractive and had the means to get here, that would mean 600Million folks are clammoring to enter the United States. I think a United States with close to 1Billion people within its borders might not be a place many current residents would be comfortable with.

Therefore some sort of limitation on who can enter our country to settle down must be considered. Another important consideration is the prevention of unauthorized folks setting up shop here, and the policing of the population to ensure that those here, belong here.

I'm going to ignore the important considerations of securing the border and policing the country internally for the moment, instead I'd like to focus on the selection process, since I think by creating a streamlined and sensible legal method for adding to our population, the incentive and will for folks to subvert our laws and sneak into our country will be reduced.

A couple things have to be considered, firstly how many folks should be allowed in, secondly who should those folks be, and thirdly how shall we decide which folks will be the folks that become good ol' American folks.

To the first point, how many, let's set a target of no more than 1% per annum of the current population. That would now allow 3Million folks to become Americans every year. That may seem like a lot, but it's 3Million vital, striving, focused, and working people that can help support the baby boomers as they reach pension age.

That rolls nicely into the second consideration, who should these folks be? They should be people between the ages of 22-30, and any children they have wouldn't be allowed to join them until they've been here and been able to maintain a steady income for at least 3 consecutive years (after 2 years of compulsory public service). Also where should they be from?. With over a billion people in both India and China, those countries should have priority regarding who gets into the United States. English profficiency, good health, and a 2 year commitment to serve in our military (combat wouldn't be required, but as the backbone of civilian support, these entering workers could relieve a great deal of strain on the military, plus they could be paid sub-minimum wage as they wouldn't yet be full U.S. citizens. There are countless non-sensitive jobs that need to be done, and to make that as a requirement to begin the process of becoming American seems hardly onerous.)

Thirdly, for the selection process, I suggest a series of reality shows across the globe administered by a new U.S. Immigration and Entertainment Corp. They'd hold competitions throughout the globe (with the consent of the local governments of course) filming the selection process and offering IPTV feeds of the contestants for voting by the current citizens of the U.S. (think American Idol meets Survivor meets Real World meets Big Brother meets Jeopardy! meets Ellis Island). China would get a quota of 30% per year, India would get 25%, Africa would get 15%, Europe would get 10%, recognizing that Mexico does have a special relationship they'd be allowed a disproportionate allocation of 10% and the rest of the world could haggle over the remaining 10% (any unused allocation could be traded between regions, too, there could be a lucrative market for immigration slots between nations)

These suggestions may not seem particularly 'libertarian' and they aren't. But I think before they can enjoy the freedoms of a free nation, immigrants should be expected to work for the defense of the freedom that they seek.