Note to subscribers: This immigration article was previously published some years ago. Since immigration consistently polls as one of the top three voter concerns for this election, and because neither Trump nor Harris have articulated a specific plan to deal with the issue, I am providing an updated concept of operations to shut down the open border and stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.
All persons residing in the U.S. are supposed to fall into one of three categories; that is, a U.S. citizen or those with a Green Card permanent resident status or temporary inhabitants with Visitor or Student Visas. However, an estimated 20-plus million inhabitants exist outside those categories; WE DO NOT KNOW WHO THEY ARE OR WHERE THEY RESIDE. They are undocumented and therefore illegal inhabitants.
According to polled voters, immigration is one of the top issues in this campaign. Candidate Trump has said he will execute a “mass deportation.” The questions are, who goes, who stays and how do we sort it out?
Of course, the Democrat’s “solution” to illegal immigrants in the U.S. is amnesty-for-all which will be a complete disaster for the country. “Amnesty for all” means ALL, including criminals, cartel operatives, trans-American gang members, human traffickers, drug dealers those out of work, those who don’t want to work, those sucking on welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, government housing and the many hard-working honest folks who love this country. To the Democrats, illegal immigrants are just another identity group to be sucked into the Left’s ideology and put on the voter rolls.
In 1954, border officials worked with local law enforcement to, they claimed, round up more than 1 million Mexican nationals and deported them to the Mexico side of the border.
IMMIGRATION REFORM END STATE.
If the Republican Party was to brain-storm a possible 2025 campaign plan to clean up the illegal immigration mess, what would we be looking for? It might look something like this:
Institute a policy that will shut down the mases of illegals crossing our borders, forever.
Free up the Border Patrol agents to fulfill their intended mission; catch all illegals and stop the flow of drugs and human trafficking.
Create a path to citizenship for the hard-working, law-abiding illegals already in the U.S.
Provide a clear distinction for potential deportees so that ICE can locate, arrest and deport them.
Do all this with a program that pays for itself.
HERE IS A DETAILED PLAN:
The objective of this Immigration Reform Plan is, by a certain near-term date, make documentation available to every non-citizen U.S. inhabitant. Thereafter, everyone undocumented becomes subject to deportation.
The “document” for the undocumented inhabitants will be an Illegal Alien Card (for simplicity, hereafter referred to as the IA Card). The cards will have the high technology of a drivers’ license to inhibit counterfeiting; will be changed and reissued annually; and each card will contain a picture, fingerprint and an IA Card number assigned from a U.S. central registry. This is a multi-phased operation but the Immigration Reform Plan can be fully operational within a few months after being signed into law.
This plan is simple, self-regulating, and does not require supplemental regulations or a federal bureaucracy to execute. This concept of operations is based on the assumption that Trump will be elected president 5 November, 2024.
PHASE ONE, THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
The President prepares a 10-page law based on the procedures explained herein followed by Congressional passage of the Immigration Reform Plan. The language in the law must be very specific and not subject to interpretation or change by States or local authorities. The reason for specificity in the law is to preclude the requirement for federal bureaucrats to interpret the law and re-write it into policy with unintended consequences.
PHASE TWO, MAY, JUNE, 2025
Each State will set up IA Card registration sites. A logical solution is to add one or two positions to every DMV office. Additionally, in Phase Two, every law enforcement agency in the United States will forward information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on every felony committed by an undocumented inhabitant (who, what, when and where). The FBI will establish and maintain a continuously updated national database of these cases which allows for an immediate check against an application for an IA Card.
PHASE THREE, JUL thru DEC, 2025
The tens of millions of undocumented inhabitants may report to an IA CARD registration site in the state where they reside in accordance with a published alphabetical schedule (last name beginning with A, B, C, or D report during July, 2025 etc.). If the applicant has a felony conviction, that person will be taken into custody, deported and will NEVER be eligible for an IA Card.
This is an example of the specificity of the language that must be in the Immigration Reform Law; one strike and out.
Prior to appearing at the IA Card registration site, each applicant must download a Federal Form, Employer’s Statement of Employment, fill it out and have it signed by their employer. No employer signature, no IA Card. The form must contain a statement of strong penalties for any employer signing a false statement. Registration fee for the IA Card is $50 per year.
When phase 3 ends it will never be repeated. Every illegal immigrant in the United States on 1 January, 2026 is either a legal holder of an IA Card or THEY ARE deportable. The IA Card holders will tell us who is employed, where they live, where they work, what they do and how many direct family (spouse and children) members they have.
PHASE FOUR, JANUARY, 2026:
This is the phase that begins to change behavior and thereby solve the dual problems of undocumented inhabitants and unsecured borders.
On 1 January, 2026, any employer who employs an undocumented worker (no IA Card) will be subject to a fine of $25,000 for each worker, first offense; $50,000 each worker, second offense. No exceptions, no excuses. No employer is going to risk his livelihood over the employment of an illegal alien.
Laws change behavior and add accountability of employers into the immigration solution.
This simple act of requiring illegal aliens to carry an IA Card will have four positive and immediate results:
First, employers will protect themselves from potentially heavy fines by only hiring inhabitants who have a valid IA Card.
Second, undocumented inhabitants who choose not to apply for an IA Card or were denied an IA Card 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 many may choose to return to their country of citizenship.
Third, and this is where a secure border begins to become a reality, foreigners contemplating illegal entry into the United States in order to work will soon learn that no employer is going to hire them and illegal entry will be futile. This inevitable behavior change will, by default, reduce illegal immigration to a trickle.
Fourth, this will provide Border Patrol officers the opportunity to concentrate their efforts on the illegal entry of drugs, terrorists, gang members, criminals, cartel operatives and human traffickers.
PHASE FIVE, 1 JULY 2026:
This phase begins the twelve-month reissue of IA Cards; $50 fee. The card color will change each calendar year. ONLY (again, specificity in the law) those inhabitants holding an IA Card can receive a renewal card. Additionally, they will be denied renewal if they have been unemployed and made less than $5000 or if they have been convicted of a felony. Once denied, they will be detained, deported and NEVER receive another card. Any IA 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 Law, a provision in the law will require IA Card holders to pay 10% Federal income taxes on earned income. Employers must issue a 1099 using the individual’s IA Card number to identify them to the IRS.
The Federal Government will retain 2% of the tax revenue to fund three national data bases for The Immigration Reform Plan. The remaining 8% will be returned to the States in proportion to the number of IA Card holders.
IRS REGISTRY OF IA CARD HOLDERS
The IRS will establish the National Registry of Card holders and their card number. That data base will eventually list earned income and taxes paid for the previous year. During the IA Card renewal process, the registration center will immediately 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 renewal and the applicant will be detained and deported.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REGISTRY
An IA Card holder who loses his or her job may immediately place an employment application to a National IA Card holder registry website maintained by the Department of Labor. This database will describe the IA Card holder’s skills and be broken down by zip code. An employer seeking to hire, for example, a carpenter has two options. One is to make direct contact with an IA Card holder; second is to review the Department of Labor national data base of unemployed IA Card holders.
FBI REGISTRY OF KNOWN NON-CITIZEN CRIMINALS
This will be accessed by the state application center for the initial IA Card and during each card renewal process.
PRIVILEGES FOR IA CARD HOLDERS
One, they may apply for a state vehicle operator’s license and will be tested in English. A provision of the law will be that every State must prominently display the individual’s IA Card number on the State Driver’s License. Additionally, every applicant must show proof of auto insurance.
Two, a current IA Card will authorize the holder to legally cross U.S. borders.
Three, legal holders may apply for an IA Card Dependent Card (using the sponsor’s IA Card number with a suffix) for their spouse and children (no extended family members). If granted, the sponsor will be authorized to escort the dependents across the U.S. border.
Four, children born to IA Card holders in the U.S. will not automatically be granted U.S. citizenship. If, however, the parents eventually gain citizenship, dependent children under the age of 18 will also be granted citizenship. This law will undoubtedly be challenged in the courts. The current law is based on post-Civil War intent to protect children born to freed slaves who had no documentation to substantiate their citizenship. That law should be updated as part of the Immigration Reform Plan
Five, after legally holding an IA Card for five consecutive years, that person is eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship for themselves and their immediate family (spouse and children).
Remember, these people are here illegally. Therefore, they will NOT be eligible for social security, welfare payments of any kind, food assistance programs, Medicaid, Medicare, or social services. This will save billions of dollars per year in federal and state assistance payments.
CONCLUSIONS
Is this plan doable? Yes.
This plan provides the sorting process to answer the key questions, who may stay and who should be deported.
If employers want foreign workers, they must become involved and accountable. Their only requirements are to hire IA Card holders and to report employee earnings on a 1099.
Enforcement: Let’s say a person is stopped for a traffic violation. If the driver’s license contains an IA Card number the law enforcement officer can immediately access the FBI data base to determine if the person has a felony conviction, if the card is overdue for annual renewal or if the person is on the FBI’s deportation list. If any violations are found, the alien will be arrested, detained and deported.
For this to work two things have to happen. First, the Congress has to pass a pure, non-watered down, straight-talk law with only a few pages of specificity that is not subject to interpretation by bureaucrats at the Federal, State or Local levels. Secondly, the FBI, IRS and Department of Labor, will need to develop high-speed, simple, secure, data bases that are immediately accessible by State and Local officials. We cannot afford to create a bungling bureaucratic morass like the current Immigration and Naturalization Service.
This will save the tens of billions of dollars state and the federal governments are currently spending on illegal immigrants.
This will get the Border Patrol agents out of the business of processing, on average, over 7,000 illegals per day and back to intercepting criminals, gang members, terrorists, cartel operatives, human traffickers and drug dealers. This criminal element is currently referred to as “gotaways” by the border patrol and have been arriving in the U.S at an average rate of over 36,000 per month under the Biden/Harris administration. That’s about 1,200 per day. And we wonder why our streets are no longer safe.
BOTTOM LINE
We should assume that most immigrants come here with the expectation that they can eventually get a job. Under this plan, 14 months from now on 1 january 2026 there will never be another IA Card issue and therefore everyone crossing the border illegally will be a potential deportee. This will voluntarily stop the flow of the thousands per day we have experienced under Biden/Harris policy.
Immigration reform is not about amnesty or open borders; it is about accountability and changing behavior.
Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA as well as the author of a blog WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.