Santorum Lays Out ‘Immigration Policy for Hard-Working Americans’

Former Senator and possible presidential candidate Rick Santorum laid out an immigration policy that he says “prioritizes American’s needs, workers, and families.” It calls for: securing the border and ending the border surge; tracking all entries and exits; making E-Verify mandatory; ending birthright citizenship for aliens; pursuing interior enforcement; reducing legal immigration; and denying further work permits to illegal aliens.

Sen. Santorum described his policy in a Breitbart News column, excerpts from which are included below.

“A common refrain I hear is that immigrants, like my father and grandfather, have a great work ethic or that it would be cruel to separate families. And as a Catholic, I am taught the virtues of love, charity, and compassion. But America’s immigration policy must first be about compassion for hard-working Americans…To me, the solution is clear.

“First, we must secure the border and end the acute border surge. The southwestern border is out of control. The way to bring it under control is more and better fencing and more smartly-deployed manpower. To be effective, a fence needs to be similar to the border fencing that Israel uses – high with barbed wire, a screening fence, and a patrol road along it….The way to end crossings is to never let unaccompanied minors or asylum-seekers move from the border, to increase the resources needed to judge their cases, and to deport most of them.

“Second, all entries and exits should be tracked…Very roughly 40 percent of illegal immigrants first enter legally but then overstay their visas…The government’s existing entry-exit tracking system, US-VISIT, does not track 100 percent of entries and tracks few exits. I believe the E-Verify system must be made mandatory, apply to existing employees as well as new hires, inform employers if there is no match between the Social Security Number and other information submitted, and inform employees if there is possible identity fraud from excessive multiple use. Other enticements to illegal immigration, such as birthright citizenship, should be ended…(a)nd existing laws should simply be enforced.

“Third, we should reduce legal immigration from its current level of 1,050,000 immigrants a year to about 750,000 annually…To accomplish this, we must first start with eliminating chain migration…and the diversity visa lottery…In the one area of our economy where we have a need for immigrants, agricultural, we must establish a workable agricultural guest worker program. This program should be managed by the Department of Agriculture to meet the needs of our farmers.

“Fourth, we should not grant worker permits to illegal immigrants, i.e. amnesty, except to agricultural workers as described above. And we should allow the Obama amnesties (3-year temporary work permits) to lapse naturally by not renewing them.

“It’s our job to… America safe, preserving her values and creating a strong economy for everyone. An immigration policy that prioritizes American’s needs, workers, and families is where that starts.”