Red Card Solution

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The "Red Card Solution," also known as the Krieble Plan is a free market-based immigration plan advocated by Helen E. Krieble, President of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation and heir to the Loctite (glue) Corporation fortune. The Red Card plan advocates outsourcing a guest worker program to the private sector.

The Krieble Plan

Krielble's plan is based on the assumption that a significant number of foreign citizens who enter the country illegally simply want to work here and do not want to relocate permanently to the U.S., or become citizens.

The program proposes the issuing of red, data-bearing surveillance cards to non-citizen workers who would apply for permits to work in the U.S. People applying for permits would undergo background checks. Permitted workers would carry the red cards, which, through microchip technology, would bear information about the worker, including his or her photograph, name, address, ID numbers, employer, and employment history, as well as biometric data such as fingerprints. At border crossing points, the card could be swiped like a credit card and would tell border agents whether it is valid and current. The"red cards" would replace all existing temporary work visa categories, but would be completely separate from the system for obtaining green cards, permanent residency, refugee or asylum status, or the process for citizenship.

Privately-run immigrant worker program

Kriebel proposes that private employment agencies (or staffing companies) operate this "red card" be licensed and authorized by the federal government to set up and operate "Non-Citizen Worker” offices in Mexico and other countries. The employment agencies' profits would be derived from application fees for permits and the fees charged for doing instant background checks. Employers would post information on available jobs with the private employment agencies specifying location, duration, wages and other required information.

The red card system would provide no path to citizenship at all.

Sourcewatch resources

• Vernon K. Krieble Foundation