Photo Credit: Irish centralTim Donnelly is the California Assemblyman representing the 33rd district, which includes the town of Hesperia. The 33rd District is close to the border with Mexico and is in the cross hairs of illegal immigration. Tim is nationally known and has announced his intent to seek the GOP nomination for Governor of California, America’s most populous state.

Tim was recently featured on the popular John Stossel program that airs on Fox News. Tim was interviewed as he guided Stossels investigative reporter Kennedy, along the porous border between Mexico and the US.

Some of the sections they toured showed gaping holes in a flimsy border fence, while other sections had no fence at all, leaving uninterrupted human highways entering the US.

I had the pleasure to talk to Tim about his thoughts on the pending immigration bill in Washington and what he would do if he had the opportunity to “fix” our immigration system.

On the Senate Immigration bill:

The issue is too complex and immense, this bill is too huge to try to tackle it….it’s like the 2,700 page Obamacare law. But we’ve missed an opportunity to fix key areas of borders and immigration because of this.

Border security:

First we have to understand that Mexico is a failed state. Due to corruption and the breakdown of the rule of law, the great country of Mexico is being destroyed.

Estimates of deaths in Mexico due to drug wars are 70-100 thousand, but no one really knows. Compare this death toll to the Syrian civil war that has gotten the worlds attention.

Mexican drug cartels launder money in our country through legitimate business fronts then use it to pay off politicians on both sides of the border to look the other way….We need to discuss a way to take the profit out of this by the possible decriminalization of recreational use of some drugs.

But drugs and people seeking a better life in the USA are not the only ones crossing our borders, human traffickers bring over young girls to be immersed in drug addiction and to be exploited in the sex trades.

I also disagree with the US governments estimate that only 11 million illegals are in the US. I think we have 11 million in California alone. The Mexican government as well as the Catholic diocese, both know more about this issue than anyone else… They estimate there are between 30 and 40 million illegals in the US.

We need to take the incentive away from entering our country illegally: No benefits! No jobs, no free money- education- food or medical care for those that come here illegally.

Erect physical barriers wherever they make sense along our border and make sure illegals don’t build it. Let border agents determine where these barriers should be built…Not bureaucrats in Washington.

If we don’t control our borders and our immigration, pretty soon folks coming here will come to a country just as failed and corrupt as the one they left.

Start a guest worker program

We need some sort of guest worker program. If you want to seasonally come here and work, no problem, but we’re not supporting your family. We should allow in workers only and not their families, to fill in the gaps of labor that Americans cannot fill

Of course this goes hand in hand with reforming our culture. Our social safety net has been turned into a hammock in many cases, with long term unemployment and benefits actually incentivizing Americans not to work. The situation needs to be turned around to where it pays more to have a job than it does to stay home collecting benefits from the government.

We are not creating a new pathway to citizenship

We already have a pathway to citizenship, it has a few glitches, but we can work it out. Changes in the system could include not kicking out foreign students after they earn their PHD’s in science, etc. Let them stay here and contribute to our society, let us get a return on our educational investment by letting them create jobs and wealth.

Transfer our immigration policy into a win/win situation for us and new immigrants. Let us base our decisions on who is allowed in by what is in our national interests. Do not allow in anyone from countries that hate us and want to kill us…No more from areas like the Boston bombers came from.

Target the needs of vital industries when we consider new immigrants. Focus on industries that make our country strong and competitive.

E Pluribus Unum

America has been great because it assimilates cultures from all over the world. I want everyone that wants to become an American citizen to cherish that citizenship. It is a privilege to be an American and it comes with a lot of responsibilities.

Be an active citizen, learn our language and culture. America doesn’t need to replace its culture, this one has worked well.

We still like to think President Kennedy had it right when he said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” That also means no public charge for anyone that immigrates here. Work and support yourself, America needs contributors, not more on the dole.

We can do this

We’re Americans; we’re like no one on the face of the earth. We’re the ones everyone wants to be…Even the ones that hate us.

You can listen to Tim’s speech on immigration here.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.