IN MY OPINION: Republicans and Democrats can agree on these ways to clean up immigration mess

Even though immigration doesn’t have much of an impact on Wisconsin, the Republican Party here and across the country has decided to make the southern border its number one issue in the 2024 election.

     Due to lower birth rates and very low in-migration, Wisconsin has more than 170,000 job openings. Our unemployment rate has been below 3%, which means we are at full employment.

     Our economic growth is being hampered by worker shortages. Long and short, there is room for a bunch of competent immigrants and families here – 8.8 million open jobs in the country.

     Here are some policies from a group of centrists I interact with that should find common ground with American citizens:

     Finish the wall that Donald Trump never did. Build only where it will be effective.

     Raise legal immigration back to one million per year. Base entry to the United States on needed skills. We have allowed in about 770,000 on average in the last three years. We are turning away 1.4 million per year.

     Toughen up on asylum credentials and hire staff in big numbers to quickly process asylum cases and to reject fake applications.

     Forget massive deportation of illegal workers who have been here for more than five years if they are gainfully employed. Our dairy industry especially needs them. Give them green cards, but never citizenship.

     Give priority to Ukrainian refugees.

     Follow the U.S. Constitution and provide citizenship for children born here. We’ve educated them, and we need their brain power.

     Create a guest worker permit to allow needed employees to enter and then go back home and then return and go back home again.

     Grant citizenship to foreign students who earn degrees here in needed fields, especially in STEM, IT and medical. The program would be a magnet for the brightest foreign students who want to become U.S. citizens.

     Provide federal grants to communities like Whitewater that are working to accommodate a surge of legal immigrants.

     Emphasize placement in the many available jobs. Add resources for teaching English, citizenship classes and low-cost shelters.

     Cynics of all stripes contend that President Biden actually wants open borders to create more liberal voters. I doubt that. The flood of potential immigrants knocking on our doors is damaging him politically.

     Other cynics contend that Republicans really don’t want to solve the border crisis, that they want use it as a winning issue in the 2024 election.

    Republicans could win more votes with a pragmatic immigration program that makes sense to the moderates in both parties.

The author’s blog on business, health care and politics can be found at johntorinus.com.