Fixing Immigration the Right Way—Fair, Secure, and Actually Functional

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The Problem

• The border is overwhelmed because the legal immigration system is outdated, understaffed, and too slow to function.

• Years-long delays push desperate people to attempt illegal entry, overwhelming border agents and humanitarian resources.

• Policies swing wildly every time a new president takes office, creating instability for families, workers, and law enforcement.

• Employers struggle to fill critical labor shortages in healthcare, trades, agriculture, engineering, and tech.

• Meanwhile, automation and AI are shrinking the job market — meaning population growth must be aligned with real labor demand.

• Immigration and asylum get lumped together, creating confusion, loopholes, and exploitation by cartels and traffickers.

• Small towns and aging rural communities lose the benefits of legal immigration because the system funnels everyone toward overcrowded metro areas.

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What the Act Does

1. Builds a Strong, Modern Border

• Ends “catch-and-release” and replaces it with a fast, consistent return process for those without valid asylum claims.

• Adds more agents, better technology, and targeted physical barriers — not to shut out families, but to stop traffickers, smugglers, and bad actors.

• Creates a system where legal entry is the easiest path, and illegal entry is the least appealing.

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2. Fixes the Legal Immigration System

• Prioritizes skilled workers in critical fields: healthcare, trades, cybersecurity, engineering, agriculture tech, renewable energy, and other areas facing shortages.

• Sets reasonable caps for non-priority applicants so population growth aligns with real economic needs — especially as automation reduces job availability.

• Requires baseline English proficiency with government-funded language education, making participation, safety, and opportunity more accessible.

• Modernizes visa processing to reduce wait times from years to months.

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3. Distinguishes Immigration from Asylum

• Immigration = opportunity.

• Asylum = survival.

• The Act protects the right to seek asylum while strengthening vetting, adding more asylum officers and judges, and closing loopholes that allow fraudulent claims to clog the system.

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4. Helps Communities That Need Population Growth

• Offers incentives for new immigrants to settle in rural towns and aging communities with labor shortages, instead of concentrating everyone in major metro areas.

• Supports industries that are struggling to find workers — stabilizing local economies and strengthening rural America.

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5. Introduces Citizenship Through Service (Separate Track)

(Explained in full in its own section of the Liberty Compact.)

Allows eligible non-citizens to earn citizenship through honorable military service, with provisional status and protections for immediate family members.

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6. Creates Stability Through Structural Reform

• Moves immigration courts out from under the Department of Justice and into an independent Article I court system, reducing political influence.

• Sets rules for presidential immigration orders:

  • Must be referred to Congress within 60 days.

  • Automatically expire at the end of the president’s term.

  • Incoming administration gets a 100-day window to renew or terminate.

This prevents immigration law from being rewritten every four years.

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Why It Matters

• A functional immigration system strengthens national security and reduces chaos at the border.

• Legal immigration fuels economic growth, fills critical workforce gaps, and stabilizes rural communities.

• Immigrants pay taxes, start businesses at high rates, and contribute far more than they receive.

• Clear rules make enforcement easier — and restore fairness for those who follow the legal process.

• Balanced reform protects workers, families, law enforcement, and the American economy.

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The Bottom Line

The American Dream Preservation Act rejects the false choice between “open borders” and “no borders.”

It builds a system that is fair, fast, and enforceable — one that meets the needs of a modern economy while honoring America’s values.

When legal pathways work, fewer people try to break the rules.

When enforcement is clear, communities are safer.

And when immigration policy is stable, everyone — citizens and immigrants alike — can build a future that makes sense.