For me, real immigration reform does put the needs of the American people first.  It does seem we are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own. I agree with Donald Trump that this must change.

Here are my three core principles for real immigration reform:

1. A sovereign nation must control its borders.

We must stop both the flow of illegal immigrants across our borders and stop those entering with student Visas, etc. from staying beyond the period allowed under their visa.  We must control our southern border.  This may include a wall for many sections of the border and perhaps electronic monitoring or other sensors for other sections of the border.  We must increase the number of border patrol agents and allow them to do their job correctly while working in concert with local law enforcement agencies.  Illegal aliens with criminal records should be immediately deported and not allowed back into the country.  Illegal aliens with clean records (other than breaking our immigration laws) who are working and contributing members of their communities should be given a path to citizenship that includes making restitution for breaking our immigration laws (perhaps a fine, community service, or military service) and then be allowed to apply for legal status.  They should not be placed in front of those who are currently going through the legal immigration process.  Sanctuary cites should lose all funding from federal and state governments.

2. We are a nation of laws.

All laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced by the executive branch.  The president and other law enforcement agencies do not get to pick and choose which laws they will enforce.  Reform the current immigration system to allow for more efficient legal immigration.

3. The federal government exists to protect the rights of its citizens.

Any immigration reform plan must protect and improve the jobs, wages and security of all American citizens and legal immigrants.

FAQS:  The cost of not building a wall

• Leaders in Mexico and other Latin American countries have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country. The cost to the American taxpayer has been burdensome.  U.S. taxpayers have been forced to pick up billions in healthcare costs, housing costs, education costs, welfare costs, etc. The effects on jobseekers have also been disastrous, and black and Hispanic Americans have been especially harmed.
• The impact in terms of crime has indeed been tragic. Recent headlines have covered cases of criminals who crossed our border illegally only to go on to commit horrific crimes against Americans. Most recently, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, with a long arrest record, is charged with breaking into a 64 year-old women’s home, crushing her skull and eye sockets with a hammer, raping her, and murdering her. The “blood trail” does indeed lead straight back to Washington, DC and Barack Obama.

• In 2011, the Government Accountability Office determined that there were 3 million arrests attached to the incarcerated alien population, including tens of thousands of violent beatings, rapes and murders (This figure is from the Obama administration’s own GAO).
• Mexico makes billions on our bad trade deals and from the billions of dollars in remittances sent from illegal immigrants in the United States back to Mexico ($22 billion in 2013 alone).