Fixing America’s Immigration System

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To the Editor:

“A Big Idea to Solve America’s Immigration Mess” (editorial, Jan. 12) was a thoughtful and comprehensive discussion of most of the difficult issues that arise when trying to deal with our broken immigration system.

Both supporters and opponents of immigration believe that the government has the responsibility to keep track of who is in the United States and to prevent those we do not want from staying here.

There is only one way to ensure that the government can keep track of everyone within our borders: a national identification card that cannot be counterfeited and without which no one can work, travel, open bank and credit card accounts, obtain a driver’s license or interact lawfully with the government.

Every person within or entering the U.S. should be given an ID card that is very specific about what the holder can do and how long they can stay. Those without a card should be immediately deported.

Strict enforcement would prevent many of the evils that opponents of immigration want to stop. Not least of these evils are employers who hire those without proper work authorizations and abuse their workers, thus taking for themselves an economic advantage over those employers who obey the law.

Russell A. Simpson
Laredo, Texas
The writer is a retired attorney and a former assistant dean at Harvard Law School.