So Obama has released his highly controversial immigration "backup" plan today, and it's met with wide derision from both Republicans and Democrats.

Really with good reason, because well it essentially makes both parties unhappy in the worst ways.

Basically there is token money thrown at border security and Illegal Aliens can be put on the path of citizenship if they can prove residency for 8 years.

At which point they are put at the back of the line for citzenship.

For an example, a current Mexican greencard applicant can be expected to wait 16 years before getting their greencard.... after being approved.

So we're talking 24+ years of being in the country before being made a citizen. 

If it were me I would suggest a slightly different compromise.

A) Spend real money to secure the borders enough to impress most Republicans.

B) Make illegal aliens legal citizens no more then 4 years after the boarders have been secured.

I mean I get why people are upset, these people got here illegally, I understand why people wouldn't want them to "jump the line" but at this point they're already here, there isn't much you can do about it.

Furthermore Illegal aliens are counted in the US census like everybody else, so our legal immigration numbers are ALREADY factoring in these illegal aliens.  If they weren't here we would be accepting tens of thousands of more people if not hundreds of thousands of more people.

To count these people when talking about letting people in, but not making them citizens is just counter productive.

Really the US should just admit these people more or less "got over" on them, secure the borders. (North and South) and get everybody into the system.

It could be just incompetence on Obama's part, though i'm thinking he's just trying to throw out a secondary solution so half-assed that it'll inspire congressional leaders to get their version done.

Sheesh, Obama's plan could kill people before they were ever able to get a GreenCard!

Anyhow, we really should tighten up our Border Control. Too many Illegal Immigrants come over still. So, I guess that means I agree with your plan, Kasz. Tighten up the patrol and lessen the wait for people who have already "Crossed-over" since we really can't do much about it.

Shout out to my dad. Poor him, he isn't allowed to leave the country AND come back.

Which is another stupid part of the law... it almost feels hunger games like or some other kind of joke of a game.   "Wait 8 years... and don't get caught! and you win Citizenship!"

Since I don't recall there being any Immigration changes...

and it's worth noting... Obama has deported more Illegal Aliens then Bush.  Which is actually surprising considering illegal immigration has been down, and even negative in some years... with illegal aliens going back becuase of the GFC.

Here's my plan:

1. Secure the border.
What ever it takes, no matter the cost. No more drug, weapon, or human trafficking.

2. Repeal baby anchor laws.
To be a natural born US citizen you must have at least one full US citizen parent. It doesn't matter where you're born.

3. Issue work visas where needed and bust illegal alien employers.
No more illegal employment, period.

4. Send all illegal aliens back to their country of origin.
That includes whole families if need be. They broke the law and have no right to be here. They can apply for visas like everyone else and the path to citizenship will still be available to them. No more walking across the boarder and getting default citizenship.

5. Speed up legal immigration.
Fix the damn immigration process so it doesn't take half a lifetime. Make it faster, but make it thorough.

I get why you'd feel that way, but actually finding and sending back all the illegal aliens at this point would be prohibitivly expesnive for relative gain to the country as a whole at a time in which we have a huge budget deficit.

Outside the illegal aliens that specifically came here on order of the drug cartels illegal immigrants really don't get into much trouble criminally and are just like other immigrants outside not having some federal benefits, not paying taxes etc.

So essentially we'd be paying lots of money to track down, find and send millions of people back.  While simaltaniously spending a lot more money quickly approving and arrangeing travel/infrasturcture to bring in legal immigrants so we don't suffer from a lack of the workforce in low end argiculture type jobs.

 It's just too big and expensive a problem, hence why I think it makes sense to admit they "got over" on us.  Follow my plan above, then deport people after that.  Add in getting rid of the whole Anchor Baby thing and it still works pretty well.

Anchor Baby would require a constitutional amendment, though. Isn't that part of #14?

The 14th Amendment is one of the reconstruction amendments and it's almost entirely out of date. Most of it was ratified to ensure former slaves could not be denied citizenship. At the time there where no immigration laws so the issue of anchor babies was an unforeseen consequence. The 14th Amendment would be easy to remove because we no longer have a need for any of it. Some people would throw a fit over the anchor baby thing, but anyone with a rational perspective can see that the 14th Amendment isn't needed, is out of date, and does more harm than good. I can't think of any other nation that hands out full citizenship to babies of foreign nationals who just happen to be within their border during birth. It's just plain stupid and it was never the intent of the 14th Amendment in the first place.

wait til old people turn 75 so they will rely on medical or ss before we give them greencard....
the immigration is so flawed.... so many talented people want to move in the US but they have to WAIT years... and before you know it... they are too old to work