Immigration Reform/ Citizenship Plan

Marvin L. Covault, Lt.Gen (Ret)

by Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army retired: Biden/Harris will campaign on a promise of amnesty/citizenship to 11 million illegal aliens currently in the US. Experts tell us the actual number is most likely over 20 million. WHILE PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL CAMPAIGN ON CONTINUED IMMIGRATION REFORM, HE DOES NOT CURRENTLY HAVE A CITIZENSHIP PLAN TO RUN ON.

Amnesty-for-all will be a complete disaster for the country. “Amnesty for all” means ALL; forward deployed drug cartel members, MS-13 gang members, sex slave entrepreneurs, those out of work, those who don’t want to work, those sucking on welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, government housing and the many hard-working honest folks who love this country. As long as they are old enough to vote, the democrats want them and will get them if Biden is elected.

The republicans must counter this with a plan that makes sense for citizenship and will actually benefit the nation.

The purpose of this memorandum is to not only present a citizenship plan for President Trump to campaign on, but also solve a huge piece of the overall illegal immigration problem.

All persons residing in the U.S. are supposed to fall into one of three categories; that is, a U.S. citizen or those with a Green Card permanent resident status or temporary inhabitants with Visitor or Student Visas. However, an estimated twenty million inhabitants exist outside those categories; WE DO NOT KNOW WHO THEY ARE, WHAT THEY DO OR WHERE THEY RESIDE. This plan is simple, self-regulating, and does not require supplemental regulations or a federal bureaucracy to execute.

Phase One, 1 January, 2021 thru 30 June, 2021: The President prepares an approximately 10-page law based on the procedures explained herein followed by Congressional passage of the Immigration/Citizenship Reform Plan. The language in the law must be very specific and not subject to interpretation or change by States or local authorities. The reason for specificity in the law is to preclude the requirement for federal bureaucrats to interpret the law and re-write it into policy with unintended consequences.

Also, in Phase One each state will set up illegal alien card registration sites (hereafter IACard. The logical solution is to add one or two positions to each DMV office. Additionally, in Phase One, every law enforcement agency in the United States will forward information to the Homeland Security on every felony committed by an undocumented inhabitant (who, what, when and where). The Department of Homeland Security will establish and maintain a national database of these cases which allows for an immediate check against an application for an IACard.

Phase Two, 1 July thru 31 December, 2021: Every undocumented inhabitant in the U.S. will be invited to report to an IACard registration site in the state where they reside in accordance with a published alphabetical schedule (last name beginning in A, B, C, or D report during July, 2021, etc.). the DMV will check into the Homeland Security felony data base and if the applicant has a felony conviction, that person will be taken into custody, deported and will NEVER be eligible for an IACard. This is an example of the specificity of the language that must be in the Immigration/Citizenship Reform Law; one strike and out.

Prior to appearing at the IACard registration site, each applicant must download a Federal Form, Employer’s Statement of Employment, fill it out and have it signed by their employer. No employer signature, no IACard. The form must contain a statement of strong penalties for any employer signing a false statement. Registration fee for the IACard is $50 per year.

WHEN PHASE TWO ENDS IT WILL NEVER BE REPEATED. EVERY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN THE UNITED STATES ON 31 December, 2021 will be either A LEGAL HOLDER of an IACard or THEY ARE DEPORTABLE. That is, on 1 January, 2022 we will know how many employed illegal aliens there are, where they live, where they work, what they do and how many direct family (spouse and children) members they have. The remaining non-IACard holders need to be located and deported.

Phase Three, 1 January, 2022: This is the phase that begins to change behavior and thereby solve the dual problems of undocumented inhabitants and unsecured borders.

On 1 January, 2022, the day following the initial 6-month registration period any employer who employs an undocumented worker (no IACard) will be subject to a fine of $25,000 for each worker, first offense; $50,000 each worker, second offense. No exceptions, no excuses. No employer is going to risk his livelihood over the employment of an illegal alien. Laws change behavior and add accountability of employers into the immigration solution.

This simple act of requiring illegal aliens to carry an IACard will have four positive and immediate results:• First, employers will protect themselves from potentially heavy fines by only hiring inhabitants who have a valid IACard.
• Second, undocumented inhabitants who choose not to apply for an IACard or were denied an IACard will not be able to find an employer who will take them on. They will therefore be unemployable, will be constantly liable for deportation if detained for any reason and will likely return to their country of citizenship.
• Third, foreigners contemplating illegal entry into the United States in order to work will soon learn that no employer is going to hire them and illegal entry will be futile. This inevitable behavior change will, by default, reduce illegal immigration to a trickle.
• This will provide Border Patrol officers the opportunity to concentrate their efforts on the illegal entry of drugs, terrorists, gang members, those operating in the slave/sex trade as well as those seeking asylum.Phase Four, 1 July 2022 thru 30 June 2023: This phase begins the twelve-month reissue of IA Cards; $50 fee. The card color will change each year. ONLY (again, specificity in the law) those inhabitants holding an IACard can receive a renewal card. Additionally, they will be denied renewal if they have been unemployed and made less than $5000 or if they have been convicted of a felony. Once denied, they will be detained, deported and NEVER receive another card. Any IACard that is not renewed by the annual renewal date will automatically be moved to the government’s deportation list.

In order to fund the Immigration/Citizenship Reform Law, a provision in the law will require IACard holders to pay 10% Federal income taxes on gross income. Employers must issue a 1099 using the individual’s IACard number to identify them to the IRS. The IRS will establish a National Registry of Card numbers and the data base will list earned income and taxes paid for the previous year.

During the IACard renewal process, the DMV registration center will access the IRS data base to determine if the applicant has in fact been employed, made at least $5000 and paid taxes. No tax records, no renewal and the applicant will be detained and deported. The Federal Government will retain 2% of the tax revenue to fund four national data bases for The Immigration/Citizenship Reform Plan. The remaining 8% will be returned to the States in proportion to the number of IACard holders.

Any IACard holder convicted of a felony will have his card pulled, be detained and deported. That person’s file and IACard number will be annotated at the national registry to ensure that any future attempts to reapply will be denied.

An IACard holder who loses his or her job may immediately place an employment application to a National IACard holder registry website maintained by the Department of Labor. This database will describe the IACard holder’s skills and be broken down by zip code. An employer seeking to hire a carpenter, for example, has two options. One is to make direct contact with an IACard holder; second is to review the Department of Labor national data base of unemployed IACard holders.

There will be four related national data bases associated with this plan. First is the basic national data base with the personal data and card number of each IACard holder, maintained by Immigration and Naturalization Services. Second is the data base of taxpaying IACard holders maintained by the IRS. Third, is the data base of undocumented known felons in the US; maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. Finally, there is the jobs-available register at the Department of Labor.

An IACard holder will have the following four privileges:• One, they may apply for a State vehicle operator’s license and will be tested in English. A provision of the law will be that every state must prominently display the individual’s IACard number on the State Driver’s License. Additionally, every applicant must show proof of auto insurance.
• Two, a current IACard will authorize the holder to legally cross US borders.
• Three, legal holders may apply for an IACard Dependent Card (using the sponsor’s IACard number with a suffix) for their spouse and children (no extended family members). If granted, the sponsor will be authorized to escort the dependents across the U.S. border.
• FOUR, AFTER LEGALLY HOLDING AN IACARD FOR FIVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS, THAT PERSON IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR U.S. CITIZENSHIP FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR IMMEDIATE FAMILY (SPOUSE AND CHILDREN).President Trump’s campaign pledge will be that long-term, hardworking, honest illegal inhabitants deserve amnesty and chance at citizenship.

Remember, these people are here illegally. Therefore, they will NOT be eligible for social security, welfare payments, food assistance programs, Medicare, Medicaid, or social services. This will save hundreds of billions of dollars per year in federal and state assistance payments.

Conclusions:• Is this plan doable? Yes. Is it 100% fool proof? No, but no system can be.
• This plan is an efficient, simple, inexpensive way to document nearly every US inhabitant.
• This plan will readily identify illegal inhabitants who are currently a drain on Federal and State support systems and provide for their deportation.
• If employers want foreign workers, they must become involved and accountable. Their only requirements are to hire IACard holders and to report employee earnings on a 1099.
• This program will drastically reduce the practice of unscrupulous and frequently deadly human trafficking.
• Enforcement: Let’s say a person is stopped for a traffic violation. If the driver’s license contains an IA Card number the law enforcement officer can immediately access the Homeland Security data base to determine if the person has a felony conviction, if the card is overdue for annual renewal or if the person is on a deportation list. If any violations are found, the alien will be arrested, detained and deported.
• For this to work two things have to happen. First, the Congress has to pass a pure, non-watered down, straight-talk law with specificity that is not subject to interpretation by bureaucrats at the Federal, State or Local levels. Secondly, INS, Homeland Security, IRS and Department of Labor, will need to develop high-speed, simple, secure, data bases that are immediately accessible by State and Local officials. We cannot afford to create a bungling bureaucratic morass that is incapable of supporting down to state and local officials on a minute’s notice.
• Immigration reform is not about amnesty or open borders; it is about accountability and changing behavior. This Immigration/Citizenship Reform Plan will get illegal alien citizenship into the presidential campaign and highlight the insanity of the democrats’ amnesty-for-all program.PS: I have been trying for eight years to get someone in the White House to read this. Additionally, my do-nothing republican congressman will not even read it, let alone work it towards a solution. If anyone out there can get this plan some high-level visibility, I would appreciate it. If you need a digital copy, reach out to me at MandDcovault@yahoo.com.
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Marvin Covault, Lt.Gen (Ret) shared this article. H/T McIntosh Enterprises.

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