Part Six 858 words
The Recipe for Perfect Immigration Policy
Congress scattered the ingredients across several bills
We can register every illegal, secure our borders, reduce USCIS caseloads, and even fix Social Security, all without driving down wages, taking citizens' jobs, straining welfare, rolling up the welcome mat at the Statue of Liberty, or erasing "love thy neighbor as thyself" from the American character 

By Dave Leach (Dave Leach is listed in “Who’s Who in Media and Communications”. Contact: HispanicHope@Saltshaker.US.
Translation into Spanish by Gabriela G. Buenrostro, former newspaper and magazine journalist and writer, and former host Zero Radio Show in Mexico City. (Write to her at Gabriela@Saltshaker.US)

Part 6: Why the Point System will benefit immigrants as well as citizens; why immigrants should still support a Point System even if quotas were repealed.
Michael Said's simple plan does not incorporate details which U.S. Congressmen have considered important enough to incorporate in their bills, but it would do what Congressmen want done, and much more simply.
However, the Point System is important for this reason: we are talking about something radical by today's thinking, reversing a policy in place for decades, and returning to the open borders prior to 1875: we are talking about lifting quotas. That may bring a considerable increase in our population, and not just from Mexico.
Actually, the lifting of quotas may not cause a dramatic increase in our permanent population. Immigration attorney Michael Said, from Des Moines, believes a majority of illegals do not want to settle here, or even bring their families here. Their goal is to save $10,000, go back home, and buy a big ranch. If they leave their families back home while they work here, they could save much faster. But they have to bring their families with them because of the danger of crossing the border. (They might not be able to get back to their jobs; or worse, they might die.) Those who do cross the border to visit their families cannot do it often enough to really nurture their families. If they could freely cross the border to visit their families, many of them would not bring their families here to live.
If we choose the open borders path, we really shouldn't stop with just giving people LPR after 10 years. LPR needs to become a fast track, not the decades-long project it is now, to citizenship. What America does not need is a population whose majority cannot participate in its government, like the Roman empire used to be, with only a tiny fraction being citizens with full legal rights. That is a recipe for discontent and rebellion. We need everybody who is here to stay, and who understands our government and its principles, and who can communicate fluently in the language of our land, to have the full rights of citizenship.
Without the point system, and with citizenship decades if not generations away, what incentive do immigrants have to understand our government and speak our language? Not much. If an immigrant knows he may live here 50 years and never qualify for the right to vote, of what use to him is understanding our form of government? It is important to the security of America that he learns, however; otherwise he may be tempted to reason that if Mexico annexed the Southwest, at least he could vote. What incentive do we offer him to learn, however? Indeed, we even shut him, if he is "illegal", out of our schools, past high school! If he can find an Hispanic community to do his business with and work for, of what use to him is fluency in English?
America doesn't need that. Immigrants don't need that. Immigrants don't want that, and Americans shouldn't. The Point System is an opportunity to jump start fluency in English, (not just among Hispanics but all immigrants), and to nip any "annexation" revolution in the bud. (Which may not be a serious movement anyway, but tell that to the producers of anti-immigrant videos.) The fast track to citizenship, for legal permanent residents, should be our next project, for the security and stability of America through the peace of its residents.
Perhaps there are other solutions just as effective, and just as simple. If you can think of any, now is the time to share them. Persuade your friends, yes, but if you stop there we have lost. Write to your congressmen, to the President, and to this newspaper. When lawmakers write back to you, report what they say to this newspaper so we may know how they think, which will help us know what to say to them next.
If you don't think you can write a good letter, find a friend whose letter you agree with, and add your name to it, stating that you agree with it too. Create organizations, and work with existing ones, to work together in communicating with lawmakers.
Next Issue: Myths: "Illegal Aliens just want to come up here to get on welfare" <> "Illegals compete with citizens for jobs, driving down wages" <> "Immigration reform will undermine the Rule of Law" <> "Bush's Plan is a glorified Amnesty"