Reform America
We the People demanding a voice.
About Us | Mission Statement |Statement of Purpose
subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link | subglobal1 link
subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link | subglobal2 link
subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link | subglobal3 link
subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link | subglobal4 link
subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link | subglobal5 link
subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link | subglobal6 link
subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link | subglobal7 link
subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link | subglobal8 link

American Borders Forum

What should American immigration and border policies be? Submit your ideas to The American Borders Forum today.
Site updates each Wednesday


What Would Perfect Immigration Policy Look Like?: Left of Center View

In a world where people find new ways to divide themselves on almost a daily basis, perfect immigration policy is basically impossible. In a perfect world where people are not killed for what church they go to or with whom they have consensual sex there would be no need for borders and perfect immigration policy would be that everyone could go where they pleased when they pleased. Since we don’t live in that world I guess perfect immigration policy for America should be in line with our own Statue of Liberty.

There is a poem by Emma Lazarus written about the Statue of Liberty called “The New Colossus” which is now engraved on a tablet within the pedestal on which the statue stands:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


That should be the guiding principle of our immigration policy. This nation was founded by people looking for something more than the limits their homelands had to offer them. But for their courage and their spirit we would not have America to call our home.

Too often we forget that there but for the grace of God would go we. As we watch our economy struggle and our people fight to survive we need to remember that we are not so different from those who would come to live among us. We need to welcome them to our shores and invite them to share in our never-ending struggle for freedom. We might not be able to have a perfect world but we can certainly base our immigration policy on hope rather than hatred.

To me perfect immigration policy for our imperfect world might sound something like this: “If you have committed no crimes and are willing to work an honest day for honest pay, we welcome you. If you want to come to do harm or take that for which you did not work, we don’t want you among us.” Pretty simple, but then doing the right thing usually is.


LJ Finstermore - World Citizen | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article

Got a liberal viewpoint? We want to know what you think.

Next week's subject: Would Nationalized Healthcare Bring Even More Undocumented Immigrants To America?

Send in your view from the Left to be our featured Left of Center View for the week.

Click here to submit your article.

Last Week's View from the Left:
How Would Legalizing Drugs In America Impact The Mexican Drug Cartels?

Reform America Articles Archive



What Would Perfect Immigration Policy Look Like?: Right of Center View

A perfect immigration policy would be one that rewards following the rules and punishes breaking them. We are a society of laws. That is what makes our nation great. We don’t have a king, we have The Constitution. Our nation was founded on the idea that laws were a better basis for governing than whims.

To the illegal immigrant, our laws are an inconvenience. They are not sacred trusts between those who made them and those governed by them, they are merely things to be overcome in order to get a desired outcome. They go to extreme lengths to circumvent the laws that were passed by properly elected representatives of the people. They decide to come here and give not one care to the fact that they are breaking the law by coming.

Perfect immigration policy would make sure that those who come here illegally are sent back and never allowed to return. When they broke the law to come here they demonstrated that they are willing to break the rules when it suits them and therefore cannot be trusted to obey the law. What other laws might not suit them? Will they disobey any law they don’t like? You never get a second chance to make a first impression and the one they made by sneaking into our country is not a good one.

On the other side of that coin is rewarding good behavior. We should make it so that good, honest, responsible people who want to immigrate to America can come here if they do it the right way. This nation was founded by immigrants and that is a proud tradition we should continue. Fresh minds bring fresh ideas and if we want to remain a leader in the world we need to keep the good ideas flowing. We need to encourage the best and the brightest from around the world to make America their home.

What we don’t need though is a bunch of unskilled people coming here to be a drain on our economy. We have plenty of lazy bums right here at home. We have no need to import any more. That’s not to say that all the people who come here illegally are lazy. Some of them work very hard but many of them are taking food out of the mouths of American children by working under the table so we really don’t need them here either. There needs to be some benefit to them being here. Just like any partnership there needs to be something in it for us if we let them into the country.

I guess my idea of perfect immigration policy would be a basic test for potential immigrants. We check out their backgrounds to make sure they aren’t Jack the Ripper, find out what they know and match their skills with the needs of our communities. If there is a match we say; “Welcome to the United States”, if not “Try again after you work on your skill set a bit.” They have needs, we have needs, all needs are met, everybody wins.

The Realist - Patriot at Large | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article

Got a conservative viewpoint? We want to know what you think.

Next week's subject: Would Nationalized Healthcare Bring Even More Undocumented Immigrants To America?

Send in your view from the Right to be our featured Right of Center View for the week.

Click here to submit your article.

Last Week's View from the Right:
How Would Legalizing Drugs In America Impact The Mexican Drug Cartels?

Reform America Articles Archive

A Legal Immigrant’s Perspective

If you are not a Native American, you are an immigrant, so am I. I came legally to this country at the age of five with my parents who worked hard, paid taxes (even Jesus paid taxes), lived by the rules of this great nation and never took or accepted a penny from the government. We came seeking FREEDOM from a communist country. It was months before we were able to enter the US legally. I remember us getting medical exams, shots (small pox), background check, references, and going through numerous interviews once we arrived. I also remembered people coming to the US from all over the world who waited years since it was based on "Quotas". Read more...

Solving Our Immigration Problem

The major problem our country is facing with illegal immigrants today is because of the exploitation of these immigrants. We believe the solution to this problem is two-fold. First, we should allow more immigrants in this country to cut down on the number of illegal ones. Second, all immigrants should be educated about their rights at the expense of the government. Below, you will find an in-depth look at our suggested reforms.

Reforms for immigration limitations:

-New immigrants can't equal more than 1% of the US population in a given year (the population being from the last recorded census). That 1% will be further divided up to allow only a certain number of immigrants each month.
-Each country of origin for immigrants will be allowed a certain percentage of that 1%. No country could receive more than 10% of the total amount and no country can receive less than .1% of it. The left over percentage will be divided up between all countries as follows: Read more...

Do Elements Within the La Raza Movement Pose a Threat to America?

La Raza means literally “The Race” in Spanish. The movement was formed in 1968 to promote the interests of the Mexican-American community. Like the NAACP and other affirmative-action minded organizations, La Raza has many members that are interested in being part of America and promoting equality for all Americans. The fundamental goals as stated by the movement are benign and represent the ideals of American diversity and cultural pride.

There is another movement affiliated with La Raza that has historically been more militant and still maintains documents within their organization that point to isolationistic views Read More

A Plan

The one major thing that seems to be lacking in the immigration debate is a real plan that addresses the legitimate concerns with illegal immigration. There are strong opinions on both sides and a lot of rhetoric but there isn’t really any solid plan being promoted to address the illegal immigration issue in a way that is both fair and logical.

So, that being said here is my idea:Read More

Trucking Cross Borders

This is mainly a concern for the trucking business. If we allow these people to come into our country, bringing cargo that we in America have, and can supply, then we are saying that the American working people are not needed, and have lost all say to legally enforced DOT (Department of Transportation) laws.Read More



Contact Us | E-mail us your ideas for future stories! This is your site! | ©2008 Reform America
All written items received by Reform America become the sole property of Reform America. Reform America reserves the right to publish or otherwise disseminate (with author acknowledgment noted) the contents of any written materials received by us at our discretion. By sending written materials to Reform America, the author agrees to these terms and holds Reform America harmless for any use of the items they submit. | Views expressed in articles submitted to Reform America by our readers do not necessarily reflect the views of Reform America or its staff.