Fixing our immigration system

Here are two well known facts: 11 million people are living in our country illegally and 40 percent of unauthorized immigrants currently living in the U.S.A. (4.4 million) have overstayed their legally-issued visas.

However, legal immigration is essential for America's prosperity. Immigration is good for job creation as immigrants are more than twice as likely to start a business than nonimmigrants. Twenty-five percent of all technology-based start-ups have an immigrant founder. About 4.7 million Americans are employed by immigrant-owned small businesses.

Neighborhoods with greater concentration of immigrants have lower rates of crime and violence than comparable nonimmigrant neighborhoods. Foreign-born men age 18-39 are jailed at one-quarter the rate of native-born American men of the same age and Social Security's trustees report that regulated immigration would increase funding for Social Security by $4.6 trillion over the next 75 years.

We are a nation of immigrants. Since only 14,742 of Iowa's 3.107 million residents are indigenous Native American Indians, the rest of us are, technically, immigrants. Still, many people question the benefits of immigration for the country. (On a personal note, I'm eternally grateful that Nicholas Corbin immigrated from England to America in 1671 and established Corbin's Mill in Baltimore, Maryland.)

When 1,000 Republicans, 1,000 Democrats and 1,000 No Party independents were asked last spring what immigration actions they would support, the following four solutions were offered:

First, offer a path to earned legal status for the 11 million immigrants already here illegally if they learn English, pay back taxes and pass rigorous background checks.

Second, establish a mandatory federal tracking program to monitor expired visas.

Third, expand seasonal or annual guest worker visa programs for foreign agriculture workers.

U.S. farms have been experiencing labor shortages as the number of incoming immigrants have been decreasing. Overall, about a third of employers are having difficulty filling job vacancies, particularly in STEM occupations (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Therefore, our fellow citizens approve of the government expanding the H1-B visa system for high-skilled foreign workers in the U.S. and allow these workers to become naturalized citizens.

Regardless of who becomes our 45th president, sensible immigration reform must be initiated in the first 100 days of office.

What will it take for our elected officials to take action regarding our economy? We need to become politically active, write to our representatives or visit their regional office or call their office and let our suggested solutions be known. And then let's hold them accountable in future elections for their actions or non-actions.

' Steve Corbin is one of 12 District Leaders in Iowa for the non-partisan and not-for-profit group No Labels. More information: www.NoLabels.org. Comments: Steven.B.Corbin@gmail.com