Marco Rubio’s Common Sense Immigration Reform Ideas

Any overhaul, he says, needs to "modernize" legal immigration. America caps the number of visas for skilled workers and favors the relatives of people already here. "I'm a big believer in family-based immigration," he says. "But I don't think that in the 21st century we can continue to have an immigration system where only 6.5% of people who come here, come here based on labor and skill. We have to move toward merit and skill-based immigration."

He says the U.S. can either change the ratio of preferences for family-based immigration or raise the hard cap on people who bring investment or skills into the country. He prefers the latter, noting that the U.S. doesn't produce enough science, math and engineering graduates to fill the open posts in high-tech. He says this number can be adjusted to demand: "I don't think there's a lot of concern in this country that we'll somehow get overrun by Ph.D.s and entrepreneurs."

At the other end of the skill and wage scale, most of the 1.6 million agricultural laborers in America are Hispanics, the bulk of them illegal immigrants. American produce couldn't be picked without them. The number and type of visas provided through a guest-worker program would have to be sufficient to address this pressing need. From Georgia to Washington state in recent seasons, unpicked fruits and vegetables have rotted in the fields. He'd look to increase the number of visas for permanent or seasonal farm workers.

"The goal is to give American agriculture a reliable work force and to give protection to these workers as well," Mr. Rubio says. "When someone is [undocumented] they're vulnerable to being exploited."

Initially, the illegal migrants now in the U.S. would mostly "avail themselves" of the guest-worker system, says Mr. Rubio. "Just the process to come here to legally work in agriculture is very difficult and very expensive. It doesn't work well. So that alone encourages illegal immigration."

Lest anyone take Mr. Rubio for an immigration softy, he has co-sponsored Senate enforcement legislation championed by restrictionists. The E-Verify law, which has been adopted in several states, would if passed oblige employers to check the legal status of prospective workers against a federal database. Detractors say the database is faulty and error-prone, and the law turns workplace bosses into immigration agents and merely pushes illegal workers further into the shadows, making them more vulnerable to abuse.

Mr. Rubio stands by workplace enforcement as an essential component of any immigration reform. If the guest-worker and expanded high-tech visa programs are adopted, he says, "you want to protect those folks that are coming here . . . and the value of their visa and the decision they've made. You're not protecting them if you allow their wages and their status to be undermined by further illegal immigration in the future."

He says that modern technology—whether E-Verify or something else—ought to let employers easily check whether their hires are in the country legally. Enforcement is meant not to "punish" but to provide employers "safe haven," he says.

As for the border, "we know what we need to do to gain more operational control," which he says is to invest in people and infrastructure. Unlike many Republicans, Mr. Rubio doesn't say that improved enforcement is a precondition for immigration reform. Such reform would, by his argument, ensure that fewer people will need or want to risk an arduous border crossing.

The Weekend Interview with Marco Rubio: Riding to the Immigration Rescue - WSJ.com

How is anything he proposes "common sense"? He's calling on raising caps on the visas we hand out, bascially importing more workers.

How is anything he proposes "common sense"? He's calling on raising caps on the visas we hand out, bascially importing more workers.

Rubio has a very sensible plan to deal with current illegal immigrants and future immigration in general. It's a proposal that both parties should be able to come together on and support. The question is whether or not the Republicans will continue to be their own worst enemy.

You're right.

It makes much more sense to allow millions of ILLEGAL immigrants to flow across our borders like locusts, suck up as much free social services as possible, and then be granted amnesty by the Obama adminstration.

Why bother having a LEGAL means of immigration?

For that matter, why bother having BORDERS at all?

And why is that a problem? He's calling for more workers in fields where we aren't producing enough of our own citizens to fill the demand, like math and science.

And why is that a problem? He's calling for more workers in fields where we aren't producing enough of our own citizens to fill the demand, like math and science.

But we are producing enough to fill the demand, the companies do not want to pay American wages. A foreign engineer will work for considerably less than an American engineer. The GOP wants to lower the wage for skilled workers just as they have for the unskilled.

Rubia is anti-America and anti-American. We have a more than generous legal immigration system that allows over a million is each year, including asylum seeker and refugees. we have more than 31 million foreign born people living in this country and we cannot afford open immigration system that allow anyone who want to come here come in.

We can't fill the science field because Americans know the jobs won't be there. Either places are not hiring or they are being filled by foreigners who were imported.

Except under an H1B Visa, the sponsoring employer cannot undercut the average wage in the field. I'm sure there are ways around it, as there are ways around everything, but by current law you cannot import cheaper skilled labor, you have to give the prevailing rate.