Rob Jesmer: Florida plays large role in fixing broken immigration system

In this tense period in both national and international relations, we’re confronted with a number of important security issues, all in need of their own respective solutions.

One of the issues that seem to be most prevalent is the need for immigration reform.

Countless political leaders have laid out ideas for solving this problem, yet in the midst of a tumultuous election cycle, it’s easy to replace a sense of resolve to fix these issues with heated rhetoric.

I had the pleasure to recently serve on a panel of speakers at the Kemp Forum on “The Future of Immigrants and America.” This panel was a public discussion on U.S. immigration reform, featuring leading conservatives from diverse professional fields who were focused on examining the impact of immigration on security, the workforce, our economy, and culture.

The key takeaway: immigration is an acute national security issue, and Congress should act immediately to both secure the border and create a way for those living here illegally to get right with the law.

Through a tightly regulated process consisting of background checks, the payment of back taxes, and an extended waiting period, a pathway to citizenship would allow those who are undocumented to come out of the shadows and become productive members of society.

To be clear, this would not be blanket amnesty, and necessary steps would have to be taken before citizenship was granted, but this is the consensus type of legislation we must be focused on as 80 percent of Americans support this reform.

Today, whether you’re an immigrant or a native-born American, our immigration system is failing you. Yes, we need a strong border, and we need to continue the steps the Department of Homeland Security has taken to secure our southern border.

In the last 10 years, the Border Patrol has almost doubled the number of agents, and the border now holds more fencing, video surveillance, and aerial vehicles than ever before. These actions are working, as demonstrated by the rapid decrease in illegal crossings, now at an all-time low.

To that end, mass deportation is simply not feasible. Ripping apart families and forcibly removing people from their homes has a real human and economic cost.

In fact, the conservative American Action Forum has shown a deportation-only strategy would cost $620 billion in new government spending while shrinking the labor force by 11 million workers. This would result in a $1.7 trillion reduction in real gross domestic product (GDP) — with huge ramifications for our entire nation.

With mass deportation off the table, we need real solutions like immigration reform.

In fact, this rational immigration reform is not only overwhelmingly popular among the general population — but it’s also supported by a growing percentage of the Republican Party. According to a poll by 10 prominent GOP pollsters, a proposal that increases border patrol, requires verification of legal status of employees, creates a guest-worker program, and establishes a pathway to citizenship received 81 percent support from self-identified Republicans.

The Republican Party is undergoing an identity crisis, but by taking on immigration reform in 2017, Republicans will have an opportunity to change the narrative.

By providing the country a conservative solution to immigration reform, we can show the nation once again that we can solve real problems and get things done. With Florida being a key state in this election, we hope voters will play a significant role in these efforts to encourage elected officials to fix our broken system so it works in the best interests of the American people.

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Rob Jesmer is the campaign manager for FWD.us, an organization started by key leaders in the tech community to promote policies to keep the United States and its citizens competitive in a global economy — including comprehensive immigration reform and education reform.