Here’s how we fix illegal immigration.

Sending all of these illegals home, especially after they have come here and had children who automatically get birthright citizenship, is not going to happen.

How do we hold ourselves up as a nation of laws if the first thing our “immigrants” do is break the law and we reward them for it?

Two things need to happen. First, we need to end birthright citizenship. We are one of the only countries in the world who do it, and it encourages people to enter our country illegally knowing that having their children here helps them bypass our laws and ensures their ability to stay here despite breaking our laws. No longer will you find hoards of pregnant women coming to this country to have their children in order to gain birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship had its place in early America when we were a new nation, but now as an established nation, it no longer does.

This won’t stop all illegal immigration, but it will slow it. But what to do about those already here? The answer is to deny citizenship to those who came here illegally. We’re not talking the kids. We’re talking the parents here. If those who are here have no children, then they can be deported. Those who have started families here should be allowed to stay, but they should be given a new status: unauthorized resident. These unauthorized residents will never be allowed to vote. They will never be allowed to enjoy any of the benefits that citizens of this country enjoy. While that may sound mean and unfair, it should be the punishment for entering our country illegally. They no longer would fear deportation, but they will never enjoy full citizenship.

There will be some who call these residents “second-class citizens”. That will be incorrect as they will have never been granted citizenship. They will be residents. There needs to be a difference between the two definitions again.

For those unauthorized residents who wish to gain citizenship, they should be forced to leave the country for a period of 5 years, which if I recall correctly, is the amount of time that a person is barred from entering the United States if they try to enter it illegally, and at that point, they can apply for citizenship like anyone else. If they want to become citizens, they need to earn it and gain it like everyone else.

There will be those who call this unfair, but let’s face it – these illegal immigrants who will be allowed to stay will be living in a safe country with high standards of living. They will continue to raise their children here. They will be able to earn a living here. They will be treated no differently than felons, but without the felonious record. How is that unfair? They broke the law!

I don’t blame anyone for wanting to come to this country. I am a descendant of immigrants. However, through my genealogical research, which is found online at Ancestry.com, I have found no one in my family tree that came here illegally. Like Moses, these illegal immigrants will see others enjoy the benefits of the “promised land”, but they themselves will never experience its fullness unless they leave and come back legally.