Addressing a safe border, military recruiting and our need for workers in one plan

One of my persistent critics is demanding to know how I would solve the border crisis. Why me? What do I know? I’m just a simple working-class lad from New Castle, Delaware, who went on to become something of an overachiever. But I’ll give it a shot.

First off, I would not waste time and money trying to wall-in our southern border. There is no wall that cannot be penetrated, tunneled under, or climbed over. And any wall is only as effective as the surveillance we could place on it. Consider how many people it would require to secure a wall along all 1,933 mile of the border. And consider this: Israel had a wall between it and Gaza. How did that work out for them on October 7, 2023?

So what, then, would I do?

It is no secret that we have a serious labor shortage in this country. Why not form an American Guest Worker and Service Legion (AGWSL)? This program would offer migrants (including refugees) three options — federal employment, monitored civilian employment, or military service. The incentive would be a Green Card and permanent residence in the United States contingent on five years of productive lawful employment or four years of honorable military service.

It is likewise no secret that our infrastructure is crumbling. My plan would be a throwback to both the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. Migrants could be put to work helping to rebuild our roads and bridges, and they could undertake environmental and conservation projects.

Non-federal employment could also be an option. Employers could register their needs with the guest-worker administration, and applicants could be given a limited choice of jobs and locations based upon their qualifications. Once assigned, they would be required to check in periodically with the agency, and their employers would be required to report unsatisfactory job performance or termination.

Exceptions to involuntary regional assignments could be made for migrants sponsored by citizens or permanent residents of America as well as religious or charitable institutions. But the same monitoring requirements would apply.

I would also impose severe penalties on companies that hire undocumented migrants outside of the AGWSL. No work outside of legal channels means no incentive to sneak in and try to blend in. We need to incentivize migrants to report in and openly work their way into America.

Unlike our current situation, asylum seekers would not be turned loose pending a hearing. They would be held in regional service centers and thoroughly screened before being given a mandatory work assignment — one of which could be helping to run service centers. Readers of a certain age may recall that after the fall of Saigon in 1975 Vietnamese refugees were temporarily housed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. Active-duty military and National Guard training bases could be put to this purpose again.

What I’m proposing, I realize, would be a form of indentured servitude. That may seem un-American, but it would certainly be more humane than dumping migrants in American cities unprepared to house and feed them. And there is indeed a danger in turning people loose whom we know nothing about. Consider the recent assault on police officers outside a migrant shelter in New York.

As for the military service option under my plan, our Armed Forces are facing serious recruiting shortfalls. Migrants who qualify could be encouraged to enlist, and the ability to speak English need not be a requirement — just as fluency in French is not a requirement to join the French Foreign Legion. Total immersion, peer pressure, and a modicum of formal instruction can work wonders. Many of our NCOs, moreover, are fluent in Spanish. And let’s face it: A young man or woman who has walked from Central America or Mexico to our southern border is likely to be much better suited to the rigors of military service than the average video-game addicted, self-indulgent overweight American teenager.

Finally, I realize what I’m proposing here is a tall order. It would take some time to pass the legislation and provide the necessary infrastructure and staffing. In the interim, the sort of compromise bill Senate Democrats and Republicans recently hammered out would be in order. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have mitigated the chaos at the border. It called for hiring more Border Patrol Agents and appointing more asylum judges. It also called for shutting down the border whenever daily arrests reached 5,000. That’s the one part of the bill I question. Why must it be that high?

As for those who believe Trump will come up with a better plan once he is back in office, I would remind them of this: Early in his presidency, Trump vowed to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better. We still have Obamacare. Enough said!

Contact Ed Palm at majorpalm@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: A proposal to address the border crisis, without building a wall