Let me begin by saying that the response to my article of Sunday, November 2, 2025 entitled “Immigration: Doing the Right Thing Isn’t Really That Hard” was gratifying. The whole idea is to promote a full and honest discussion about this hugely important issue, and I believe we are off to a good start. My thanks to all of you who responded or even just considered what we should do now.
For those who didn’t get a chance to read it, my proposal, in brief, is that everyone in the country illegally come forward and present evidence of their good character, employment and criminal history (or lack thereof). Those of good character and who are contributing members of society should be granted a legal path to citizenship, while others would be invited to neutral hearings to determine if they should be deported. Those who are a threat to our safety or welfare should be taken into custody and handled fairly but appropriately.
The responses to my proposal basically fit into four categories, which are set forth, highlighted and discussed below. So this critically important discussion continues.
Good try, but people who are here illegally will almost certainly not provide any information to the government about their misdeeds or present whereabouts.
You are right that most people with something to hide will simply not come forward. However, those people who have been law-abiding and responsible will almost certainly respond when they realize the benefits being offered, and that will have at least two favorable consequences.
First, it will reduce the numbers of people who will receive a hearing because the government would be able to verify the information that was provided and provide a reasonable path to citizenship for those who have been of benefit to our country. And, second, presently there are some predators who are causing harm to many productive people who are here illegally, but those victims will not turn the predators in to the authorities because that almost certainly would put their own status in jeopardy. But if the productive people were already known to the government and on a path to citizenship they would be much more likely to turn the predators in. And that would be a benefit to us all.
Finally, the word should be spread far and wide that there would be a presumption to deport those people who did not come forward because they probably had something to hide.
How could we possibly manage neutral hearings for the tens of millions of people who are here illegally?
If we set up a system under our laws for people here illegally to have a hearing at which they were represented by counsel that would necessitate some guidelines to be established. Those who have been productive and on a likely path to citizenship would almost certainly give up their right to a hearing because it would be counterproductive — for everyone. And, if guidelines were established that people would almost certainly be deported if they had committed crimes of violence, theft or fraud, etc., previously been deported, or simply non-productive or failed to come forward, if they were offered a free plane ticket to another country that would accept them once they are located, they would probably also waive having a hearing.
This would be particularly true for those who had been convicted of crimes or were deemed to be flight risks and were being held in custody pending the hearing. So all of this would/should seriously reduce the numbers of hearings that would have to be held. Yes, it would still certainly be a lot, but not nearly as many as people now expect.
People who violated our laws by entering and/or staying in our country should not be allowed to benefit from those misdeeds; so they should all be deported.
I think we all (should) agree that no one should benefit from violating our immigration laws. But to a sizeable degree our governments have condoned if not participated in those violations, so the legal concepts of detrimental reliance and/or laches should apply. How is that? As I previously wrote, our governments have been “looking the other way” while those millions of people illegally came into and/or stayed in our country, and have been providing welfare benefits to many of them once they were here. So, under these circumstances, it would be counter-productive and in some cases simply inhumane automatically to deport them now after having been here productively – for years if not for decades. Bottom line, massive deportations would take away many people who are beneficial for our country, in many cases be inhumane, and in almost all cases be extremely expensive for our taxpayers.
It’s an excellent idea, but how will we put this into action? Many politicians on both sides of the aisle simply don’t want to change the present status because they profit politically from the chaos. How will you deal with that reality?
Accurate observations and good questions. But, as I have often said, it is our government, and if it is not working we have no one to blame but ourselves. In other words, it is up to “We the People,” which is to say that it is up to you and me. So let’s legitimize these honest discussions, and press our government officials into action, and thus show the politicians that the voters are in favor of an approach like this one.
For my part I am going to send these suggestions to President Trump and all of California’s members of Congress. Please do your part and let’s get this done!
Judge James P. Gray (Ret.) served on the Superior Court of Orange County, California. He is the author of “ALL RISE! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” (2020).
