Border & Immigration

Secured Borders and Streamlined Legal Pathways

A country without borders is no country at all. We secure the border while simultaneously making the legal pathway realistic and accessible — simpler applications, automated processing to eliminate the decade-long backlogs, and a system that removes politics from the process entirely.

The Military Pathway to Citizenship

Citizenship through military service already exists in a generous form for lawful permanent residents — under INA § 329 (the wartime/hostilities provision, continuously active since September 11, 2001), even one day of honorable service can qualify an LPR for naturalization, waiving the standard residency requirement entirely. That existing law is not what this policy changes. What changes is enlistment eligibility itself: current Department of Defense policy generally requires LPR status before someone can enlist at all, which means the existing citizenship pathway is only available to people who already have legal status. This policy reopens military enlistment to undocumented immigrants directly — closer in spirit to the pre-2016 MAVNI program, but broader, since MAVNI required two years of prior legal presence and this does not. Standard disqualifying factors still apply: dishonorable discharge, serious criminal conviction, or conduct unbecoming.

Enlistment requires a full security vetting process built for people with no prior status history: biometric identity verification, social media and digital footprint review, and home-country law enforcement cooperation where available, in addition to the standard background investigation every recruit undergoes. The reasoning is direct: these are people we are prepared to arm and trust with weapons in service of the country. Someone willing to risk their life for the United States has earned the process to verify they can be trusted with that responsibility — the vetting is real and thorough precisely because the stakes are real, not a reason to close the door.

[PENDING: Home-country cooperation isn't available for everyone. Applicants from adversarial nations, active conflict zones, or states with no functioning law enforcement create a verification gap this policy doesn't fully resolve — likely requiring a tiered process. Worth being upfront that this pathway is realistically stronger for some countries of origin than others.]

Work Visas Tied to Labor Shortages

Remove politics from workforce needs. Work visas tied to actual, verified labor shortages ensure a stable supply of skilled workers and keep the economy moving based on reality — not political posturing.

Mandatory Minimums for Illegal Crossings

Clear, consistent consequences: 1st offense — 1 year minimum sentence. 2nd offense — 2.5 years. Subsequent offenses — 5 years in federal immigration custody, followed by immediate deportation. Those who profit from illegal crossings face a mandatory minimum of 2.5 years per crossing they are responsible for — targeting the traffickers and exploiters, not just the desperate.