August 13, 2010 

Mr. Barack H. Obama

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President Obama:

 I have immigrated into the United States in 1963 and I have been living here ever since. I was never that much interested in politics; however, I have witnessed the decline of America over time and quite honestly I am not fond of what I see today. Partisan politics aside, there seem to be no desire to do what is good for America and for "we the people".

To be sure, I did not vote for you, but have accepted the fact that you are my president too with the power to do right for the country and the people.

There are many problems facing the nation today but I want to concentrate on just one issue; illegal immigration.

There are some rumblings that some want to amend the 14^th amendment and deny citizenship to the kids born in this country whose parents are here illegally. That sound good for headlines but it does not resolve the issue at hand.

I am not a Constitutional scholar, but it is my understanding that to pass a Constitutional amendment, a bill must be introduced in Congress. It would require two thirds majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass; not an easy task given the venom that flows in the halls of Congress. The bill then requires thirty eight states to ratify such a bill and the congressional mandate is that the bill must be ratified within seven years.

Given all of that, how is trying to change the14th amendment going to help solve today's problem? It will not; therefore a comprehensive immigration bill must be introduced in Congress on a bi-partisan basis or by either party as to accomplish the following which I characterize as an ideal immigration reform bill. I believe that people of good will on both sides of the isle will take a hard look and will act responsibly.

 Here are a few areas that must be tackled and they all must be dealt with at the same time. 

Illegal immigrants come here from different parts of the world, but mostly south of the border and some even from Canada. Others just fly in and overstay their legal obtained visas.  What they want is a way to improve their lives, take care of their needs and their families. Something we all want, and being an immigrant myself, I can relate to that and feel some empathy for all that are here and some now may even fear of being deported.

We now have some laws on the books that supposedly deal with employers providing jobs and paying off the records and even underpaying and even exploiting and abusing these immigrants.

Following are the main points of the proposed bill:

• Make it a criminal offense for employers to hire illegal immigrants and make it with a mandatory five year jail sentence if convicted.

• Fine employers who are convicted of hiring illegal immigrants $ 5,000 per employee hired in breach of the law.

• Disallow any expenses relating to hiring illegal immigrants from their company's tax returns.

This would make it dangerous for employers and expensive if they get caught.

• Secure the border on the south by deploying twenty thousand national guards and troops if necessary. This would send a clear message to all.

• Continue to build a secure fence or wall all along the approximately eighteen hundred miles of border with Mexico.

• Announce a path to become a legal resident and eventually a citizen to people that have been here illegally and unaccounted. The plan would be as follow:

• Provide a window of six to nine months for all to come forward and get processed.

• People would go through a screening process and would be on probation until they prove that they can be productive and law abiding and deserve the U.S. citizenship.

• Those that have a felonious past and criminal records of any kind must be deported immediately. No hearings, no legal representation, no nonsense.

• Those that are clean and good hard working people would be classified into two groups.

• The first Group would be those that have been living here for five years or more. These people would be given a temporary legal residency and would wait five years before they can get a permanent residency. Once they get the permanent residence, they will qualify to become citizens five years later.

• The second group would consist of those who have been here less than five years. These people would have a probation period of eight years after which they can get the permanent residency and eventually become US Citizens too.

During the probationary time, all would be investigated and screened with no exception for any particular reason.

• All would pay a fee of $ 3,000 for single people and $ 6,000 for families. This money could be paid over time so as to make it easy for them to pay.

• Everyone that comes forward and given the temporary residence would be issued a social security number, perhaps a special series, and work papers so that they can be employed legally and start contributing to this country by paying social security taxes, income taxes etc.

• Empower the states and their Attorney General to enforce federal laws and state laws.

• Make it illegal for any Mayors to declare a city as "sanctuary "where criminals can roam free with impunity.

• Make it mandatory that all who apply to become U.S. citizen learn the basic English language so that they can be integrated in our society.

• And finally make it legal for the any state police or any other law enforcement units to check the immigration status of anyone stopped for other reason with the provision that any illegal immigrants caught and who did not come forward to begin with, would be deported immediately.

This would restore some harmony between the Federal Government and the States. The country does not need to witness the rift between the Federal Government and the states such as what we have today with the State of Arizona.

I believe this covers most of the important points, but I am sure that it can be fine tuned so that it will become a great bill.

I sincerely hope you take this seriously and act, as the problems we face will not go away any time soon.

Sincerely Yours 

Domenic Sgambellone

DS: