IMMIGRATION REFORM

(PART TWO, 2024 Campaign Platform)

The PART ONE essay, provided a concept of operations for establishing lasting world peace. Now let’s turn inward to solve the most egregious, deliberate policy any president has ever inflicted on our national security; open borders. 

(But before we get into PART TWO, just a reminder from the previous essay. There has for decades been an election-year document known as the Republican Campaign Platform, which is supposed to, “outline the Republican Party’s official principles, policy stances, and priorities.” THE LAST REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN PLATFORM WAS PUBLISHED JULY, 2016)

OK, PART 2, IMMIGRATION, WHAT WE KNOW OR AT LEAST IS MOST LIKELY TRUE:

  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 46 million people living in the U.S. were born outside the U.S.
  • Cartels have exploited Biden’s disastrous border policies to create one of the largest human trafficking and smuggling operations in the world.
  • Unaccompanied minors create a tremendous human resource issue for border patrol. They housed, fed, clothed, transported, supervised and relocated over 130,000 children in FY 22 at about $8,776 per child.
  • The word is out around the world, you can come to America illegally, there is no border.
  • The number of illegals entering the U.S. has averaged 8,584 per day since Biden took office.
  • “Got aways”, those who do not voluntarily check in with Border Patrol, do not want to be caught because they are likely criminals, drug dealers, gang members, cartel operatives, human traffickers or terrorists.
  • Imported drugs, mostly through Mexico are killing, on average, about 300 young Americans per day on Biden’s watch.
  • Branden Judd, National Border Patrol Council President, in an interview made four important points you will not hear about on most main-stream-media: 

1) “During January, 2022, 2,206 pounds of fentanyl was seized on the southern border”.

            2) “If we seize 5% of the drugs crossing the border, we are very lucky.” 

3) “90% of our Border Patrol resources are performing administration duties every day.”

4) “For example, in a 150-mile crossing area we have only four agents on patrol.”

  • The Biden administration’s unspoken/unwritten policy on immigration is pure and simple open borders. While it is a huge and growing national security issue, and an embarrassment in the eyes of the rest of the world, it is, first and foremost, the most despicable deliberate national program any president has led in modern U.S. history.  It is the epitome of the democrat programs to develop and nurture identity groups, enable them with disincentivized federal cradle-to-grave entitlements and in doing so develop a solid recurring voting bloc. Shameful.

If the Republican Party was to brain-storm a possible 2024 campaign plan to clean up the illegal immigration mess, it might look something like this:

  1. Institute a policy that will voluntarily cause the mases of illegals to remain home, forever.

2.Free up the Border Patrol agents to fulfill their intended mission; catch illegals and stop the flow of drugs and human trafficking.

3.Create a path to citizenship for the hard-working, law-abiding illegals already in the U.S.

4.Provide a clear distinction for illegals so that ICE can locate, arrest and deport those without an Immigration Card.

5.Do all this with a program that pays for itself.

This is absolutely doable and become a vital part of the 2024 campaign. Here is the program outline and possible timetable:

  • Now through November 2024, campaign on this program as part of the Campaign Platform.
  • November, 2024: Republicans win the presidency and majority in the House and Senate.
  • February 2025:  Hold hearing and pass a 10–20-page law that will accomplish the above immigration program.

PHASE ONE, Spring, 2025: The Immigration Reform Act (IRA) should:

  • Require every state to set up Illegal-Immigrant-Card (IICard) processing sites.  The logical solution is to add positions to each existing DMV office.
  • Additionally, in Phase One, every law enforcement agency in the United States will forward information to the FBI on every felony committed by an undocumented inhabitant (who, what, when and where).  The FBI will establish and maintain a national database of these cases which allows for an immediate check against an application for an IICard.

PHASE TWO, 1 July thru 31 December, 2025:  Every undocumented inhabitant in the U.S. will be invited to report to an IICard registration site in the state where they reside in accordance with a published alphabetical schedule (last name beginning in A, B, C, or D report during July, 2025, etc.).  the DMV will check into the FBI felony data base and if an applicant has a felony conviction, that person will be taken into custody, deported and will NEVER be eligible for an IICard.  This is an example of the specificity of the language that must be in the IRC; one strike and out. 

At this point you, the reader, are thinking something like, invite the illegals to report to the DMV, are you out of your mind?  Please stay with me, they absolutely will report to the DMV. 

Prior to appearing at the IICard registration site, each applicant must download a Federal Form, Employer’s Statement of Employment or a form for self-employed individuals.  Fill it out and have it signed by their employer or a reputable knowledgeable U.S. citizen. The form must contain a statement of strong penalties for any citizen signing a false statement. Registration fee for the IICard is $50 per year which is the first step in fulfilling the objective of immigration reform without taxpayer dollars.   

The IICard will have a number for each individual; for example, if issued in North Carolina the identification number will be NC123-45-678. The card will include a photo, height, weight, hair color, address, number of direct family members, issue date and termination date (one year).  

Also, during Phase Two, the IRS will establish a National Registry of Card numbers; it will be used like a social security number. Every card issued by the state DMV will automatically be updated on the IRS registry. Every IICard holder will file income tax just like a citizen.

When Phase Two ends, 31 December, 2025 it will never have to be repeated because every illegal immigrant in the U.S., on 31 December, 2025 will be either a legal holder of an IICard or they are deportable.  That is, on 1 January, 2026 we will know how many employed illegal aliens there are, where they live, where they work, what they do and how many direct family (spouse and children) members they have.  The remaining non-IICard holders need to be located and deported.   

PHASE THREE, 1 January, 2026:  The day following the initial 6-month registration period any employer who employs an undocumented worker (no IICard) will be subject to a fine of $25,000 for each worker; no exceptions, no excuses.

This simple act of requiring illegal aliens to carry an IICard will have four positive and immediate results:

First, employers will protect themselves from potentially heavy fines by only hiring inhabitants who have a valid IICard.

Second, undocumented inhabitants who choose not to apply for an IICard or were denied an IICard will not be able to find an employer who will take them on.  They will therefore be unemployable, will be constantly liable for deportation if detained for any reason and will likely return to their country of citizenship. Noncard holders will not be eligible for any state or national welfare support.

Third, foreigners contemplating illegal entry will soon learn that no employer is going to hire them and illegal entry will be a futile effort. This will shut down the thousands of illegals massing on our borders, forever.  Here why it will work. By early summer, 2025, wannabe immigrants around the world will understand the constrained time-line to get to the border, contact a Cartel operative, cross the border, process, find a home, find a job and get an employer verification all before their DMV-scheduled appearance will be impossible to accomplish and they will remain at home.    

Fourth, this will provide the 20,000 Border Patrol agents the opportunity to concentrate their efforts on the illegal entry of drugs, terrorists, gang members and those operating in the slave/sex trade.  90% of Border agents are currently busy processing 8,000 illegals per day.  

PHASE FOUR, 1 July 2026 thru 30 June 2027:  This phase begins the twelve-month reissue of IICards; $50 fee.  The IICard color will change each year.  ONLY those inhabitants holding an IICard can receive a renewal card; NO NEW APPLICANTS.  Additionally, they will be denied renewal if they have been unemployed or made less than $5000 or if they have been convicted of a felony or if they failed to pay their income taxes.  Any card that is not renewed by the annual renewal date will automatically be moved to the government’s deportation list.

In order to fund the Immigration Reform Act, a provision in the law will require IICard holders to file income taxes and pay 10% Federal income taxes on gross income. The IRS will establish a National Registry of Card numbers and the data base will list earned income and taxes paid for the previous year.

During the IICard renewal process, the DMV registration center will access the IRS data base to determine if the applicant has in fact been employed, made at least $5000 and paid taxes.  No tax records, no card renewal and the applicant will be detained and deported.  The Federal Government will retain 2% of the tax revenue to fund national data bases for The Immigration Reform Act. The remaining 8% will be returned to the States in proportion to the number of IICard holders. 

Any IICard holder convicted of a felony will have their card pulled, be detained and deported.  That person’s file and IICard number will be annotated at the national registry to ensure that any future attempts to reapply will be denied.

Card holders who keep a job, obey the law and pay their taxes can apply for citizenship after five years.

See Chapter 2 of FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA for a few more details on how to implement this Immigration Reform Act.

Finally, what I am proposing to all of our Republican candidates is that you latch on to a list of programs and set them up as your 2024 Republican Campaign Platform.  The first was PART 1, the concept of operations to set the stage for World Peace. Second, PART 2 above, a doable plan for Immigration Reform. Coming next is PART 3 a detailed concept to simultaneously fix education and race relations across the nation for generations to come.  

If you know of a Republican candidate for office, please pass this on to them.  Thank you.

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of two books, Vision to Execution and Fix the Systems, Transform America as well as the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.