Lost amid all the discussion and demagoguery of so-called immigration reform is the foundational proposition that immigration policy should be based on what is good for the nation and not for those seeking, either legal or illegal, entry into a country. Why does the United States, and much of the Western world, instead embrace an open door policy which allows far too many who do not seek to assimilate or contribute to the well-being of the host country to enter?

In this era of political correctness and collective national guilt, this question cannot be asked without the usual accusations of xenophobia and racism geared to shut down all debate and the public discussion of uncomfortable questions. However, as an undocumented, albeit legal immigrant, who has watched the nation that greeted me with open arms pursue a self-defeating immigration policy, I can no longer remain silent regardless of the invective of the American left.

A major failing of far too many Americans is the inability to outgrow the naïve and childish belief that if they could get all the peoples of the world to sit around a campfire and sing songs of peace and love the earth could be a better place. The greatest threat to peace in the world today is radical Islam. Yet the United States willingly allows, in the name of understanding, immigration from nations that either harbor or are dominated by the Jihadist movement.

As the nation experienced, once again, in the massacre on Patriots Day in Boston, far too many of those who immigrate from Islamist nations have no interest in becoming assimilated but instead are intent on spreading their radical ideology by any means possible. In this, the United States is mirroring the mistakes of many Europe countries who have allowed unfettered immigration from these same nations to become a rapidly metastasizing cancer in their societies.

This childish approach to immigration extends to why and what to do with the 12 million+ illegal immigrants presently in the country. Over the past forty years it has become obvious to many around the globe, but primarily in South and Central America, that the United States had no interest in securing its border, and with the blanket amnesty bill passed in 1986 this indifference was confirmed. Thus a mass migration began solely motivated by access to the prosperity in America and not a desire to become a part of the American fabric.

This was further exacerbated by the same plurality of Americans who naively believe in world peace and love who also believe there is a bottomless pit of money in the United States that can be siphoned from an equally bottomless pit of wealth; thus the nation can absorb a near limitless number of immigrants seeking a better life by either accessing the social safety net or competing for jobs with American citizens.

The unvarnished truth is that if this nation is to survive as founded, it cannot afford either economically, politically, or from a national security perspective to have an undefined, loose and emotion-based immigration policy.

Regardless of ethnicity or nationality the key criteria to immigration must be solely based on worth to the nation. The number of applicants from Muslim countries impacted by the Jihadist movement should be severely curtailed and more openings should be available to those, thoroughly screened, from nations such as India, the persecuted Christians in Africa, or those in Asia and Eastern Europe who can bring not only a skill but a potential love of freedom with them.

As for the illegal immigrants already in the United States, the key to any proposed solution must contain one primary factor: they can never be allowed to become citizens or access the financial or political benefits of citizenship. The highest status they can achieve should be as thoroughly documented guest workers -- a status that must be renewed every three years. Further there can be no chain migration or automatic citizenship for the children of these immigrants by the mere factor of birth within the borders of the country. These children can apply for citizenship as would any other legal immigrant.

Concurrent to this would be a border fence and active prosecution of any illegal immigrant entering the country after January 1, 2013. These steps combined with the inability to achieve citizenship would stem the tidal wave coming through a porous border. A tidal wave which contains an overwhelming number whose only interest is to access the economic benefits of being an American or to inflict harm on the American people and way of life.
Unfortunately, at present the current regime in Washington is only motivated by politics and maintaining or increasing their hold on governmental power. They do not appear to give a damn about the well-being of the people or the future of the country. What happened in Boston this past week is the fruit of an incoherent and failed immigration policy. It is time to permanently alter it.