If Congress passes a temporary worker program, I will implement all necessary procedures to ensure that the temporary workers return home on schedule. Employers who hire workers past their legal return date will be barred from future participation in the program. Workers who overstay their visas will be barred from ever taking the first step on any path to citizenship.
Speaking of the path to citizenship, whatever Congress ultimately decides it will be: under my administration, there will be no processing of applications from illegal aliens until the backlog of applications of legal immigrants has been completely cleared. We will shorten the processing time for everyone already on the legal path to citizenship. There are far too many people who have waited patiently in line to have their applications for entry and citizenship processed. Line-jumping will not be rewarded on my watch.
I will increase the funding, staffing and computerization of the Citizenship and Immigration Services. If Congress won’t appropriate sufficient funds for this, I will use executive orders to halt to all Federal construction projects. I will use those monies already appropriated for pork barrel projects in every state in the Union to modernize and streamline the immigration process.
In short, I will do everything possible to restore the Rule of Law to every aspect of the immigration process. I want Congress to know that whatever bill they pass, I will attempt to enforce it. If they cook up something that they never intend to have enforced, I will call their bluff, right now, a full 18 months before I am inaugurated. The mess will be on the hands of the Congress, not mine.
This is my pledge to the citizens of this great nation, the native-born, and the legal immigrant alike. One way or another, I will create an immigration system that we can be proud of, that represents the best of America, both our generosity and our sense of fair play.
Sincerely,
The Winning Candidate for President, 2008.