The Congress is, once again, debating comprehensive immigration reform. The issue tends to be explosive and often devolves into little more than xenophobia and racism while real solutions remain evasive. I believe comprehensive immigration reform must result in a secure border and a positive relationship with immigrants (both those here already and those who desire to come). To attain those goals, I believe any law passed by Congress must contain at least the following three components:
- The US border must be secured. Completely. While border security is often associated with Republicanism, and hostility towards immigrants, it needn't be. There are, practically speaking, only two sensible approaches to take with the border: secure it completely, or don't secure it at all. Anything in between is a waste of time and resources. Think of immigration as a stream of water. At the border, you can either build a dam, which controls the flow of the water, or you can simply let the water flow as it has in the past. Building half a dam, however, is the approach the US has adopted. We expend billions in half-measures while leaving gaping holes in border protection.
Actually, it's worse than that. Money tends to be spent to fortify areas which are easily accessible to illegal immigrants and drug runners, leaving harsh and rugged areas largely unprotected. Sensing a weakness in US border security, illegal immigrants often attempt dangerous border crossings through that harsh and rugged terrain, with many dying or seriously suffering in the process. Given legitimate security and other concerns, opening the border completely is impractical, and securing it only partly doesn't work. That leaves us with just one option.
Securing the border is an expensive and difficult proposition. The US northern border is the longest unsecured border in the world. The southern border is a patchwork of security and half-measures. While several advances in technology have made border surveillance more effective, more money and manpower is needed to finish the job.
With a secure border, the millions of entries and departures across US borders would be monitored and controlled. Implementing such a system would be disruptive and difficult, but not impossible. The US would need thousands of entry and departure points to permit commerce and travel to continue across US borders. It would also be a strain politically with respect to the Canadian and Mexican governments and the leaders of Native American tribes whose land borders either Canada or Mexico. Of course, there are also environmental issues connected with securing the border (particularly if a fence is built). None of these problems lend themselves to easy solutions, and collectively they are part of the reason we now have a patchwork of protection instead of a fully-secured border. However, the US can't fix immigration without a secure border, so it is time to deal with these very real problems.
- The number of immigrants permitted to enter the US legally must be increased significantly. Going back to the analogy of immigration as a river and border security as a dam, the dam must permit water to pass through it in a controlled fashion to succeed. Otherwise, too much pressure would build up on the upstream side of the dam causing catastrophic dam failure. Most Americans do not realize that the number of immigrants who are permitted to enter the US legally each year is capped at 700,000 (not including refugees). While that number can be breached (to accommodate immediate family members of US citizens immigrating to the US), it typically isn't- in fact, the US often admits fewer than the cap would permit. 700,000 isn't the cap for Central and South American immigrants either- it is the cap for immigrants from all foreign countries combined.
The Pew Hispanic Center has estimatedas many as 700,000 illegal immigrants enter the US each year, a number exceeding the number of legal immigrants permitted to enter the US in most years. The Department of Homeland Security estimates (pdf) as many as 10.8 million illegal immigrants resided in the US in 2009.
While demand to enter the US illegally is down right now, likely due to the economic downturn, it is certain to rise in the future as the economy improves. If the border is secured, maintaining a cap of 700,000 legal immigrants with a demand of well over 1.5 million immigrants will burst the dam.
Increasing the cap sends an important message to immigrants worldwide, and particularly in Central and South American nations: legal admission to the US is possible. Once again returning to the analogy of immigrants as a river, the water will seek the path of least resistance. Right now, that path is through illegal channels- even when those illegal channels involve life-threatening terrain and risks. If the probability of successfully entering illegally diminishes while the probability of entering legally increases, attempts at illegal crossings should plummet (easing the border monitoring process).
With most immigrants choosing the legal path, the US can photograph and fingerprint the overwhelming majority of immigrants entering the US with limited disruptions to the total number of people who actually cross the border each year.
Once identified, immigrants can then enjoy legal status within the US, thereby ending abusive workplace practices, such as low pay and excessively long hours, which illegal immigrants have confronted for decades. While illegal immigrants would then enjoy US legal protections, they would also be expected to comply with other US laws, such as payment of taxes and the requirement to purchase health insurance. According to Ezra Klein, about a third of the estimated 22 million uninsured in 2019 (when the health insurance reforms have been implemented for a few years) will be illegal aliens. Not so if those entering the US are overwhelmingly entering legally.
- We must provide a path to legal status for those already here illegally. It isn't practical, or even desirable, to deport 10.8 million individuals. Yes, illegal immigrants have broken the law by entering the United States. That said, most all Americans (including the US government) have been complicit in their lawbreaking. Economics have driven employers to hire illegal aliens and consumers to purchase goods produced by illegal aliens. The government has done little to change the economic calculation, either.
Illegal immigrants play a vital role in American society, both economically and culturally. We ought to be looking for ways to integrate them more, not exclude them. Keeping in mind economics, for a moment, converting 10.8 million illegal immigrants into legal immigrants overnight would be implausible and damaging. Simply by obtaining legal status, wages for most would increase (particularly for those who are not currently earning minimum wage). Consequently, prices of certain goods and products will increase. Tax revenue will also increase (at least for income and withholding taxes). To allow the system to phase into the changes, a sufficiently lengthy period for application to legal status should be instituted- say three years.
The application process should require more than mere paperwork. English proficiency is a component of improved integration. Those desiring to obtain legal status should be required to first demonstrate proficiency in English. Many can't afford English classes, so classes should be provided to all applicants. A reasonable fine could also be imposed on all applicants.
Conclusion:
The proposals above are necessary, but they are necessary as a group. Adopting one or two, but not all three steps above would be a big mistake. Granting a path to legal admission for those in the US illegally, for example, without securing the border would result in a rush on the border. Securing the border without granting a path to legal admission for those already within the border would result in discriminatory treatment of illegal aliens and an unworkable system for over 3% of the US population.
The proposals above are good not only for the US, but for immigrants. Dangerous border crossings, which kill thousands of illegal immigrants, would be stopped. Unfair workplace treatment of immigrants would be significantly curtailed as immigrants would have access to the courts and protection of the laws. Drug trafficking would be far more expensive and difficult. The likelihood that terrorists could smuggle nuclear materials through US borders would also decrease.
The Statue of Liberty has inscribed upon it a sonnet by Emma Lazarus that reads, in part:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
All too often, the tired and poor are left to sneak across the border, hiding their head in fear, while the wealthier and well-connected are granted admission. It's time we give meaning to Miss Lazarus' words. Border security does not need to mean fewer immigrants. In fact, it won't work without opening the door to more immigrants. But they should enter through a door, one that we have created and then opened.
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