American taxpayers are paying tens of billions of dollars per year for a militarized immigration system. The fact is that immigration is a civil legal issue, but we are using the most expensive approach by using enforcement and hugely expensive detention methods. By stopping the building of more detention camps and private for-profit contracts, we can begin to create a new civil system for far less money.

While most people believe we should enforce serious violent crime, our current reach has become far broader. While a civil approach will take some years to phase in, we will end up saving billions over a decade. Below are reform suggestions that many people have contributed as solutions:

• Serious criminal investigations can be transferred to DOJ/FBI.
• Create a civil immigration compliance agency to hire more immigration lawyers, judges and case workers.
• Guarantee legal representation, which will dramatically decrease missed hearings.
• Stop expanding detention site; use them only by judicial order for public safety/flight risk, with strict time limits and required court review.
• Create regional processing centers to cut border surges.
• Use the Department of Labor for labor enforcement and expand legal work visas that serve real labor demand.

Our current system is expensive, redundant and hugely expensive. Employing a commonsense approach is fiscal discipline, not amnesty.

Elaine Shamos, MPH
Falmouth