How to make sure that immigrants aren't a drain on the economy.

Think of that first loan you took out to buy a car. It's likely that Mom or Dad had to cosign in the event that you lost your job, got lazy or ended up in the slammer. Auto insurance is similar. To renew my license plates, I need a guarantee from the insurance company that if I cause an accident, someone will be able to pay for the damage.

This kind of risk management could also be part of our immigration policy, to address the risk that immigrants won't pay their fair share. If you're an immigrant who wants to come and work in America, you should be able to get someone to write an insurance contract that would make payments to the government in the event that you lose your job, or for any other reason you can't or won't pull your weight.

If an immigrant wants a three-year work visa, the insurance policy should cover the taxes that he or she would pay over that three-year stay in the country, plus the cost of deportation, if it ever comes to that. After those three years are up, the policy should allow for a three-year extension. Once an immigrant has been living here for six years and paying taxes, the Department of Homeland Security should send that person a green card.

As for the premium, it could be compared to a bail bond, which costs 10% of bail. Given that the average federal income tax bill totals $30,000 over three years, the price of an immigration bond might be, we could reasonably hope, no more than 10% of that, or $3,000. That's affordable. It's not far from the amount some illegals now pay smugglers to get them in.

This plan is aimed mainly at those seeking legal immigration. It would substitute for the current family-ties system and would be more flexible than the failed congressional proposal to implement a points system based on job skills. Though it would not address the problem of border security, it could serve as a tool to handle illegals already in the U.S., who could apply for an immigration bond from inside the country. Once insured, the U.S. could decide whether to grant them a work permit and/or a green card.

Here are a few examples of how this might work:

Bill has been working illegally in the U.S. for the past three years, employed by a landscaper. Bill never gets into trouble with the law and shows up for work every day, rain or shine. He used up his life savings of $3,000 to pay someone to smuggle him to the U.S. Because Bill's employer is happy to help a good worker, he calls his insurance agent. The insurance company checks Bill's name and fingerprints to make sure he isn't on a terrorist watch list or wanted for any crimes. The landscaper pays the insurance premium, and Bill gets an immigration bond that would let him work in the U.S. for the next three years.

Next, let's take José and Javier, who live in Mexico and want to come to the U.S. legally to work in the construction business. Both men would apply at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey for a three-year work permit, and someone there would provide them with a list of approved insurance companies in Mexico.

Both José and Javier have a lot of experience working construction jobs, but Javier was involved in a gang two years ago and has been arrested a few times. Consequently, Javier's quoted premium is twice as high as José's. José comes to the U.S. to work, and Javier waits a few years for those arrests to fall off his record.

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