Interesting recent Cato Institute white paper on immigrants' impact on the US budget

We admit tourists for six months at a time, and issue visas based on passport info. We don't verify if they "can support themselves." That would be kind of difficult to prove.

The visa that migrants get could be a work visa/permit, but we should admit people who have valid ID and/or a passport without requiring them to prove that they will be working. Again, we don't require that of other "categories" of visitors.

We also don't fingerprint other types of visitors, so I don't see why we should require that of migrant workers.

Perhaps the best way to do things would be to require ID and a passport. We could also make it possible to obtain a work visa if an entrant lacked a passport. The only trouble with that is that often, a migrant worker doesn't know where or for whom he's working until he gets there, so the permit would have to be general, not specific.

I don't recall mentioning temporary guest workers. My post was about immigration with a general intent to stay permanently. So was the post I quoted. 

But I don't see anything wrong with having guest workers fingerprinted and issued a tax ID number. 

As far as being able to support themselves I never said they had to prove it to enter. Since there are not much government benefits given to immigrants they can prove the ability to support themselves by just being here. 

I think you're missing my point. You're recommending much closer scrutiny of and greater entry requirements for "guest workers" than for anyone else seeking admittance to the US. 

I think a person's intentions and reasons for entering the US are their own business. And we don't fingerprint people at the border, the airport, or other points of entry. I don't see why we should start. And I repeat that the issue of their resources and whether they can support themselves are their own business as well.

If I remember correctly, I've been fingerprinted twice:  1. When I applied for a nursing job at the VA, 1980, and 2. When I applied for TSA Pre-check, six years ago.  Can't swear to #2, but I think so.

I do see on TV ??? those showing travelers going through customs, they ask every conceivable question:  Where are you going, how long, why, where will you stay, etc.  Those are usually for one who was deemed problematic at the first checkpoint.  Just sayin...

Candy

I was also fingerprinted when I applied for TSA Pre-check, so you remember correctly.  

I get the impression that they don't care about the answers to those questions per se so much as how you answer them. You shouldn't have to pause and think, you should have a plausible reason to visit, etc.

Fingerprinting people at the border would take for-bloody-ever. We should only do that if visitors pose an imminent threat, which exists only in the mind of MAGA.