Anti immigrations forces have agreed upon a strategy that works. Make life bad enough for a class of people so that they will leave. The immediate benefit of such a strategy is that you can blame your problems on largely defenseless populations and deflect criticism of those who created and benefited in the first place.

The first principle of the global economy (and all large scale economy) is the exploitation of cheap labor. In Galax, textile and furniture production in China is an obvious example. Migrants are mere commodities in the corporate toolbox.

The second principle is power. If corporations can get nations to go to war, how much easier is it to keep the workforce compliant either by the threat of arrest and deportation or competition from a segment who cannot complain about workplace conditions and will shut up, work hard and never - never complain.

While working on immigration policy, I happened upon an old passport and puzzled over the visa stamps. Most of them were granted upon entrance but two multiple entry visas were obtained - El Salvador and Bangladesh. Curiously, the Bangladesh visa almost cut one trip short as the records in Washington did not agree with those in Dhaka. None of them permitted employment but all of the trips were under contract with the Agency for International Development of the US Department of State.

The system worked well enough for me which makes the current immigration situation even more puzzling. Especially in view of the 50 years of progress towards individual freedom of movement in Europa, the European Union.

Solution

This proposal has undergone several revisions and I anticipate several more. Comments are welcome (but you must have an account to make them or use the contact link in the menu). The solution is quite simple but requires the cooperation of multiple entities and governments.

Country of origin

First, the country of origin issues a hardware encrypted "smart card" to their
citizens who wish to travel to or already reside in foreign countries.
This smart card incorporates one or more of the following features.

1. Passport number.
2. Drivers license number.
3. International drivers license.

Foreign Citizen

The foreign citizen adds to the card.

1. Debit card.
2. Sufficient funds to provide return travel to their home country for themselves and their dependents.

US Government

The US Government adds to the card.

"Here's my position. The people we are talking about were brought here as babies and young children through no fault of their own. They distinguished themselves throughout our K-12 (public school) system. Now, I'm not willing to grind my heel in their faces and slam the door on them. The Community College System has to be open to them in order for them to be productive members of our society and help North Carolina and America compete in the world economy."

- NC Governor Mike Easley

I have thought about this subject over the last couple days and had this drawn out short book to post here about my thoughts on Immigration. But ill spare everyone the pain and just post a short paragraph. For those of you who don't personally know me, I'm 37 years old, single and have only a select few loves in my life, and one of the loves at the top of the list is to travel around this most fascinating planet of ours. I'm not what you would call your average traveler by any common sense of the word, the places that I have had the opportunity to visit are some of the poorest places on this planet not to mention some of the most dangerous.

They say a photograph is worth a thousand words..... So here is two thousand.

The first is of me in front of a stream in the mountains of southern Mindanao Philippines, the fine folks in the background are bathing and doing there laundry on rocks.

I attended most of all three days of the conference. To get me to travel from Independence three days in a row is some sort of tribute in itself. Especially in view of the fact I drove home from the Plenary session in a fit of despair.

Marshall, Martinez among speakers to address immigration issues at Wake Forest

September 25, 2007

Ray Marshall, former U.S. secretary of labor in the Carter administration, and Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida will be featured as the keynote speakers at “Immigration: Recasting the Debate,” a three-day conference hosted by Wake Forest University Oct. 3-5.

The conference, which kicks off the university’s 2007-2008 Voices of Our Time speaker series, is free and open to the public.

A child was held by her mother at a news conference in New Bedford the day after her father was among 327 employees of Michael Bianco Inc. who were detained by immigration officials. (Peter Periera/The New Bedford Standard Times via Associated Press)