Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia interviews Helen Krieble, founder and president of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation and author of the Red Card Solution, about her plan to alleviate illegal immigration by granting more work permits to immigrants.

Reason: What is the red card solution and how will it work?

Krieble: The red card divides low-skilled immigrants into two groups and creates a separate program for each. One program is run by the federal government and offers a path towards citizenship. That is similar to the current “green card” system and is very clearly the work of the federal government. Prospective immigrants on this path would have to follow the same rules as anybody else applying for citizenship.

The other program – the “red card” part – involves handing out work permits without any promise of green cards or citizenship. The red card would be a legal permit that allows you to work in America, just as an American worker works here, and go back and forth to your home country. You get paid the same wages, same workman’s compensation. There would be no quotas on the number of these work permits every year. But you’re a guest and there aren’t green cards or citizenship.

The red card program would be implemented by the private sector or employment agencies licensed by the federal government. These agencies would put employers and workers together for a fee and there would be no taxpayer dollars involved…

Read the full interview at Reason Foundation: The Red Card: A Private Sector Solution to America’s Illegal Immigration Problem