Open Borders without Full Citizenship

[ccoltmanm]

I am putting this out there to get feedback and more perspectives. I haven't thought this through yet, so don't pin me to what I say. I am just stating a thought.

In the US, illegal immigration is a big deal. There are well over 10 million undocumented aliens here. Some estimates have it as high as 20 million. The simple cost of supplying education (public schools are not allowed to ask if a student is legal) is one thing, let alone health benefits, etc.

One thought I had, was making the border open, allowing anyone to come in, document them, and then grant them selected privileges. They have to then earn citizenship through the normal process. Citizenship will grant them voting rights and additional benefits.

Again, don't comment on me directly, you don't know my stance, I am simply throwing this out there to get a discussion going.

One thing I see right off the bat is a subversive society. I also see documenting being a benefit. I see taxing more people. I see problems arising with voters keeping those that can't vote down. I'll jump in after a few posts are made.

Please keep this clean, or I ask everyone to report a post that is inappropriate.

I'm not looking for you to post your overall opinion on the matter of illegal immigration. I am looking for specific responses to this specific idea.

[ArialBlue]

Giving any privileges to illegal immigrants is slap in the face to any legal immigrants.

Enforce proof of citizenship for any and all services to get rid of the illegal immigrant problem.

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

I'm more of an idealist than a realist. As such, I think it's wrong that we don't allow people into our country simply because they weren't born here. I'm not a fan of "birthrights" per se. Realistically, the reason why we don't allow it is to protect our way of life. I'm not speaking of security (i.e. terrorism, or more like fear mongering), but we have a system which provides us with a higher standard of living that would diminish with open borders.

[Noir Angel]

Although I am from the UK, this would be my answer.

Firstly, just do the hell away with 'citizenship tests'. People should be able to move to other countries and express their culture to the fullest extent the law allows.

Secondly, I don't believe that just opening up the borders to anyone is a good answer at all, it will stretch public services even more.

[ncoday]

One requirement is that they can come here and work, but if they don't pay taxes, then they don't get health care and public education.

Too many are paid cash under the table {e.g. no taxes to pay for the services} and then they whine and complain when we don't want to give them free health care and education.

You gots to pay for the services, they ain't free!

[jnelsoninjax]

The concept is good, however I still think it may cause more issues then it would solve.

[ccoltmanm]

No offense to a lot of you, but you are posting your overall opinion on the matter of illegal immigration. I am looking for specific responses to this specific idea.

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

Realistically speaking, we simply couldn't simply open the borders one day and let everybody flood in. It would cause a population boom, unemployment would skyrocket, and things would go downhill quickly. Rather, the most stable (using the term "stable" loosely) thing to do would be to gradually increase the number of immigrants we allow in the country annually.

I think I saw a TED video about this once, and the simple fact is, the world population is simply growing too quickly for us to accommodate everybody on the planet. In the end, what really matters is how much you're willing to sacrifice to give others a chance at a better life.

Ideally, I'd like to allow anybody to enter this country who wishes to do so. Realistically, a huge population boom would cripple this country and it would no longer be "the land of opportunity".

[Stoffel]

I wish US immigration was a bit easier. My girlfriend is from Brazil and she even needs a stupid Visa if she wants to fly through the US. We don't want to be there, it would just be to catch a connecting flight. $160 for that seems very steep to me.

[Anibal P]

Other than the horrible idea of just opening the borders, the other half of your idea is already implemented, it's called Legal Immigration, many immigrants daily choose to follow our laws and use it, I don't know a person that is against that, what everyone has a problem with is illegal immigration, what the pro illegal immigration and open border types refuse to admit is that those that come here illegally have a reason to, they are criminals, the US like all other countries doesn't want or need more criminals, we need people to come and work and pay their taxes, but that point gets muddled with these false claims of racism or whatever is their new mantra

[Growled Member]

From the looks of things I thought we already had an open border.