Ideas from Argus C. Zall

CHAPTER 4 OF BOOK “HOW I WOULD RUN THE COUNTRY IF I WERE DICTATOR” by Argus C. Zall

Chapter 4: Immigration”

In this chapter I detail how I would close the borders with 5 million troops of a military expanded by a reinstitution of the draft. I institute a national machine-readable biometrically-identified ID card to facilitate identification of illegal immigrants; these would be offered an avenue for becoming legal immigrants and citizens

CHAPTER 4
Of Book

IMMIGRATION
(Copyright July 31 2006)

There are millions of illegal immigrants in the country (I emphasize “Illegal Immigrants” instead of the politically correct “Undocumented Workers” to make it clear that their presence here is in violation of our laws), and perhaps a million new ones entering every year. I don’t give exact figures with citations for these numbers, because the values I have seen are all over the map, depending on what point the purveyor of the information is trying to make. And in truth, nobody knows!!! The number of how many enter every year is based on how many are caught trying, together with estimates of how many get in for every one that is caught. The number of how many are already here is loosely based on those estimates times the number of years since the last “amnesty”. There are millions more would-be immigrants trying to get in legally, with waiting lists from some countries more than five years long.

The companies and organizations that hire the illegal immigrants proclaim that they all have “papers” which appear to be valid and, as employers, they are not capable of detecting counterfeit documents. Moreover, they say, these immigrants are needed to “fill jobs Americans don’t want.” They protest that the economy would founder without these workers.

Let me translate this double-talk into plain English for you. What they mean is that they can’t hire American workers to do these jobs at the wages they can get away with paying illegal immigrants. Undocumented workers are in no position to complain about wages, working conditions, or living conditions; they know their “documents” are phony, and that if they complain to anybody, the INS is going to learn about them and lock them up to ship back to wherever they came from. They also know that if they quit their jobs to try to find something better, their erstwhile employer will suddenly realize that their documents were fake, and turn them in to the INS.

There is a word for this type of “employment” at subsistence wages with no rights whatever for the worker. It is known as “SLAVERY”!!! Southern plantation owners before the civil war piously proclaimed that without slave labor they could not grow the crops the nation needed (all the while getting rich off the fruits of that labor). It was immoral then, and it is immoral now. It is a shocking indictment of the countries that they came from that the modern slave laborers not only accept these conditions, but consider them an improvement over what they left behind.

We as a people have no right to get chicken for a few cents less per pound because Tyson can chop it up on the cheap using illegal immigrant (slave) workers.

Moreover, these immigrants cannot do what earlier immigrants did, and integrate into the population at large. They have to live in ethnic ghettos hopefully unnoticed by the legal citizenry. Consequently they have to import their culture with them, and create foreign enclaves, in vast contradiction to the traditional “melting pot”.

This situation cannot continue without us becoming a divided nation of English-speaking haves, and foreign-language-speaking have-not slaves. It must be terminated.

I have already described how I would close the border to illegal immigration. The next question is what to do about the illegal immigrants who are already here. The first question to be determined is who they are, and how many of them are there? One answer to this question is to establish a national system of identity cards for everyone, biometrically-identified with a fingerprint, an iris scan, and a representation of a DNA scan. Probably the best agency to manage this ID system is the Social Security Administration, since the present Social Security number is already a de-facto national ID. All my new system will be is a biometrically-coded version of the Social Security Card.

When positive identification of a citizen is needed, the card will be fed into a reader linked to the SSA’s computerized data base, which will verify that the fingerprint, iris scan, and DNA code embossed thereon match those on file in the database for the person named. The person to be identified will then look into an aperture on the machine for a matching iris scan, and put his hands into a second aperture to provide a fingerprint of the appropriate finger. The reader will verify that fingerprint and iris scan of the person to be identified match those on the card. It will be impossible to counterfeit such an ID card. While the fingerprint and iris scan on a counterfeit card will no doubt match those of the bearer, there will be no matching data in the SSA data base, and the card will be rejected. The reader and its SSA connection will not be activated until the hands are inserted; if the card is rejected for no match with the data base, a pair of handcuffs will automatically close on the wrists, and the police will be summoned.

If the iris scan and fingerprint of the person to be identified do not match those of the card, again the handcuffs will activate and the police will be summoned.

The network used to operate this system will a secure dedicated system, totally independent of the Internet. The only access to it from outside will be the ID card readers, each of which will have an internal ID number, pass word and GPS reader. All three have to match in the central computer database before card reading is permitted. No readers will be located in any foreign country. No wireless transmission links will be used. The central processing computers will be located in fenced compounds under military security. Thus the shocking ease with which hackers (foreign and domestic!!!) can penetrate computer systems connected to the Internet will be avoided.

The concept of a “National ID Card” is anathema to all civil rights activists. I do not understand these vehement objections. We all have “National ID’s” now, in the form of social security numbers and drivers’ licenses. The system is deeply flawed, however, since these identifications are presently stolen with impunity. “Identity theft” is rampant, and is rapidly becoming one of the most common crimes. It is, moreover, incredibly easy and profitable. The ID card I propose cannot be used if stolen without the pretender being handcuffed and turned over to the police. Identity theft will effectively become impossible with the new identity cards. Voting, opening a new credit or deposit account, boarding aircraft, etc., are all situations where biometrically-positive ID would greatly increase our security, and will be required once the system is in full operation. In Chapter 9, I will describe an additional use for this card and these readers in a cashless, electronic-transfer society.

In addition, the bleeding hearts among us will piously protest that I am violating “immigrant rights” by instituting an ID system that can track them down. My answer is the philosophical basis for my attack on the whole problem: There is no such thing as a “right” of immigration into the United States. We grant to suitable persons the “privilege” of immigration, a privilege based on the expectation that they will be useful to us.

All persons in the United States will be required to present themselves with their current identifications to the nearest Social Security Office to receive the new cards. For native-born citizens, birth certificate or passport will be required. Driver’s licenses will not suffice, since there is no verification of ID when these are issued. In the absence of birth certificate or passport, an affidavit from a next-of-kin with a valid birth certificate or passport will be required. For naturalized citizens, the naturalization certificate will be required. A verification of the applicant’s residence address from the city or town clerk will also be required. The applicant will then provide a blood sample for DNA analysis, an iris scan, and a print of one of eight (non-thumb) fingers, selected at the applicant’s choice, without knowledge of the processing officer. Needless to say, when the person submits a card to a reader to verify identity, he or she must select the same finger for fingerprinting. All of these biometric identifiers will be permanently imprinted on the card in a machine-readable format for subsequent verifications of identity. The card will also be imprinted with the applicant’s social security number, machine-readable only.

Minors will get a provisional ID card, identifying them as “apprentice citizens”, having a “AC” number. Upon entry into the military for universal service at age eighteen, they will receive in its place a military ID card with a military ID number (“MID”) Upon completion of military service at age 21, they will graduate to full-fledged citizen status, and receive the adult identification card.

Legally-resident aliens will submit proof of their legal status, including passport endorsed with the dated passport-control stamp at the port-of-entry, visa if they have one, and proof of residence from the city or town clerk. They will receive a biometrically-identified ID card identical to the visa card described in the previous chapter. Their numbers for social-security-tax purposes will be coded “LI” for “Legal Immigrant”. Documented minor legally-resident aliens will receive an LIM (“Legal Immigrant Minor”) card in their own names. Undocumented minors claiming legal status by virtue of the status of their parents, will receive a card dependent on the claimed parental card, provided DNA analyses confirm parenthood.

Proof of ID at a reader will be required for registration at elementary and secondary schools as well as universities, for employment, for opening any deposit or credit account, for transferring funds from one account to another, for obtaining a driver’s license, and for receiving any government services.

Illegal immigrants will have none of the necessary documents to receive ID cards. If they present themselves for processing during a grace period, they will be offered two options: either to return to the country of origin to join the queue waiting for legal immigration status; or to be committed to detention centers (completely independent of the prison system) for a period of five years. In detention centers, all families will be kept together. They will be provided jobs similar to those held by illegal immigrants today. They will receive instruction in speaking, understanding, reading, and writing American English. They will have opportunities to learn useful trades so that they will be able to support themselves at more than subsistence wages when they complete their five-year detention. At the conclusion of their detention they will be granted legal-resident status, and be given the opportunity to apply for citizenship. Minors will attend school. Minors reaching the age of eighteen during detention will be inducted into the military, terminating their detention. At the conclusion of their military service, they will receive legal-resident status, and may apply for full citizenship. The cost of operating the detention centers will be assessed on every company found to have been employing illegal immigrants in the past, in proportion to the number of such workers they employed. Once the last illegal immigrant has completed the five-year detention, the centers will be closed, or converted to other uses.

Living conditions in the detention centers will be substantially better than those under which most illegal immigrants live now, and the jobs will not be significantly worse. Therefore it will be to the advantage of present illegal immigrants to elect this option rather than return to native countries and take chances on the legal-immigration queue.

Children born in the United States to legal-immigrant parents will themselves be legal immigrants, eligible to become citizens upon reaching their majority. Children born in the United States to illegal-immigrant parents will be illegal immigrants, and must follow their parents in whichever option those parents choose. Similarly children born abroad to illegal-immigrant parents, but residing with them in the United States are also illegal immigrants, and must follow their parents in whichever option is chosen.

Illegal immigrants who do not present themselves during the grace period will be automatically returned to their country of origin if they are subsequently caught. Any persons providing “sanctuary” to illegal immigrants, aiding them or abetting them in evading discovery, will be prosecuted as criminals. If such persons have legal immigrant status, they will be stripped of this privilege, and will be required to return to their country of origin. Citizens convicted of this crime will be imprisoned for five years. Public officials who provide “sanctuary’ or encourage others to do so, or who fail to enforce the law, will be deemed to have violated their oath of office. They will be stripped of office, barred from ever holding any public office in the future, and imprisoned for five years.

The name of this country is The United States of America, and its motto is “e pluribus unum” (“out of many, one”). The most important unifying bond that people from many different cultures and backgrounds can share is a common language. Therefore, the official language of the country will be English. All public business will be transacted only in English, and all persons seeking to become citizens must demonstrate proficiency in speaking, understanding, reading, and writing American English. All commercial and business transactions will be conducted in English. Private conversations, of course, may be held in any language the parties wish: pig latin, Esperanto, street slang, whatever. Adult-education courses will be provided free of charge to legal immigrants needing to learn English.

Having secured the borders against further invasions, having identified who is here legally and who is not, and having provided an avenue for illegal immigrants to legitimize their status, I will then turn my attention to the question of who, and how many, legal immigrants we should admit. This will be based on the principle that we admit only those who can benefit us. The United States is not the safety valve for the population pressures created by the fertile bellies of Latin America, Africa, the Near East, or Asia. Immigration to the US is not a right, but a privilege we grant to persons we believe can become useful citizens.

The basic question will be, what useful skills does the immigrant offer? We really do not need any more unskilled laborers. We would seek first to admit those whose skills and knowledge and education will be valuable to us. Next in priority order will be reuniting of separated families, regardless of the immigrant’s skills. The legal immigrant kin in this country must sponsor the applicant, and guarantee his support. Parents and offspring of legal immigrants will go to the head of this queue, subject to verification of kinship by DNA test. Siblings and their offspring will be next in line. For all practical purposes more distant kin will probably not qualify, since the quota of unskilled applicants will most likely be filled by the closer kin.

Persons seeking legal permanent-residency status must swear under oath to observe all of our laws, especially anti-discrimination statutes, and especially vow to observe and support the principle of “Separation of Church and State”. If they are of the Moslem faith, they must publicly disavow the intolerant tenets of Wahabbism and similar anti-Christian or anti-Jewish Moslem sects. If they subsequently violate in public speech or deed this disavowal, they will be stripped of legal immigrant status and expelled from the country. Subscription to the principle of separation of church and state will be a stringent point of issue for Moslems and immigrants from Latin America, since it is completely contrary to their culture. For many Moslems, the state exists only to enforce with its police power the “sharia” and other dogmas of the mosque. The Moslem Moors implanted this philosophy in an all-too-willing Spain, which in turn transplanted it to Latin America. Immigrants from these parts of the world will have to demonstrate conclusively that they reject in toto the philosophies of their cultures in this regard.

In Chapter 5 “Crime and Punishment”, I outline how all imprisonment will be at hard labor. Convict labor will be used for the menial tasks that illegal immigrants do now. If there should be a shortage of agricultural labor even after this replacement supply, a “guest worker” system, operated by the government will be instituted. Guest workers will be admitted, ID’d, housed in secure government-operated camps, transported to their labor sites by government transport, paid by the government, and returned to their country of origin after the planting and harvest season is over. The government will then charge the employer for the cost (including shelter, subsistence, and transportation) of the workers provided. The use of private contractors in place of government agencies and workers will not be permitted.