The Middle Path On Immigration: A Guest Worker Program
Legalize the people who are already here, with a permanent guest worker program, but make them ineligible for citizenship. Â
This gives the immigrants something substantial: they get the right to work, and their children will be citizens. Â But it doesn't generate 11 million new Democratic voters in the next ten years. Â If you're worried about things like public assistance, phase in a right to various entitlements over a period of years: so many for Social Security, so many for food stamps.
But while it helps immigrants by normalizing their status, it also has something for people who want tighter border enforcement: a penalty. Â The price of coming here illegally is that you don't get to be a citizen. Â You can live here and work here, and retire here and collect the social security benefits you've accrued. Â But you can't vote, and you can't have an American passport, because you broke the laws about who can live here. Â
via Republicans Should Support Guest Worker Programs - The Daily Beast.