Public+Policy+-+Illegal+Immigration

Illegal Immigration Policy By: Hannah Bard Patterson

A critical issue facing the United States of America is the issue of illegal immigration. The reason illegal immigration is a center of heated debate is because the characteristics America was founded on and so apparently focused upon, at some point, has become intertwined with a variety of public and national problems. Political correctness seems to be more sought after for solutions to the illegal immigration wave than the basis of our nation’s constitution. Historically, the U. S. was a nation built by immigrants. The “melting pot” has represented the diversity involved with America’s citizens. The Statue of Liberty, constructed on Ellis Island in 1886, depicts America’s original quest of being a safe haven for the oppressed, a land of opportunity and hope, and a land of freedom. It states, “Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” Yet, the problem that has seeped through involves immigrants who have come over our borders and who live and work here illegally. At face value, the problems involving illegal immigration are unending. Issues seem to be intertwined tightly, and a successful resolution seems to be hopeless. However, it is imperative that the construed misconceptions be laid out and explained. Also, it is necessary to identify the real problems involved with this issue. Federal officials estimate that around 12 million undocumented workers (illegal immigrants) are living in the United States. It is also estimated that 3,000-8,000 cross illegally every day. The government, on average, turns back around 1,000,000 illegal immigrants each year. This has also been seen as the period in United States history where the flow of illegals is higher than the entrance of immigrants coming through legal methods. These numbers represent the openness of our border. Because these droves of immigrants are coming in and have not been documented, the facts and figures become nothing more than guess-work. Some facts are quite clear, however. About 56% of illegal immigrants originate from Mexico, and another 24% come from other Latin American countries. The rest tend to come from Asia, specifically China, and Europe, specifically the former Soviet States. Thus, it is safe to say that an enormous portion of America’s undocumented workers are Latinos. The usual destinations of illegal immigrants have made a gradual shift in recent years, due to increased enforcement along the United States-Mexico border. Many Southeastern and Midwestern States, along with North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and many other suburban and rural areas, have seen such an increase. In fact, Arizona in now known to be the main crossing location for illegal immigrants entering the United States. Although California has an estimated 2.4 million illegals, more than any other state, Arizona has a higher percentage per capita. It is reported that in Arizona 1 out of every 11 residents is illegal; California trails Arizona with its 1 of every 15 residents being undocumented. Many different issues surround their reasoning for coming to the United States. The primary reasons, however, are to get jobs and to be reunited with family members. Mexicans, in particular, see the advantages of working in America, even at the cost of residing within the States illegally, to be greater than their economic conditions in their Mother country. The economic conditions faced in Mexico and other Latin American countries can be seen through a variety of comparisons, such as: average wages in the United States are 9 times higher than in Mexico for production workers, America has a developed financial market unlike many other countries, America also offers access to the credit markets, insurance, and healthcare, and at least in Mexico, minimum wage is 10 times lower than in the States. Family ties to those in the United States also pull people here illegally. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 initiated this to an extent. Because more than a million undocumented workers were given the opportunity to apply for legal permanent residence, once they become legal, they wanted their families here, too. The problem lies with United States citizens helping pay for loved ones to be smuggled across the borders and, once here, to provide housing for these new illegal immigrants. A large majority of undocumented residents live with legal United States citizens. Economically speaking, illegal immigrants bring many benefits to our economy. Studies show, contrary to arguments of legal U. S. workers, that immigrant labor hardly effects a reduction of American wages or employment. Illegal immigrants have built the reputation of being people who have come to this country to work hard and decently for an honest wage; this is a privilege they might not receive in their own country. Low-waged American citizens are the ones affected by these undocumented workers. Employers often exploit illegals through paying them lower wage for harder work and by providing them little or no benefits. A successful policy involving illegal immigration must be one that evaluates the pros and cons affecting the government’s finances. Immigrants affect every part of our society. However, due to the ineffectiveness of our government with regard to this issue, studies do not separate and identify illegal and legal immigrants as they research areas such as the fiscal effects immigrants have on the United States. It can be factored in that because illegal immigrants place their children in the public schools, they must be taking out a large portion of tax-payer’s dollars. On average, the Federation for Immigration Reform states that tax-payers spend $12 billion on both primary and secondary education for these children. What is often forgotten in this controversial debate is that the majority of these children are American born, sometimes referred to as “anchor babies”, and have the right to be educated in the public school system. The problems often hide the benefits that illegal immigrants offer to this country. Many illegals pay social security taxes, yet they normally do not collect the services and benefits of doing so. Americans complain that their dollars should not be spent on illegal immigrant’s children who attend their schools, but placed in perspective, American families usually use more services than they have exchanged in taxes. The only service undocumented residents use is the emergency healthcare service. Because this service by federal law must provide free emergency care to illegal immigrants, the government gives $1 billion in taxpayer’s money to reimburse the hospitals. Clearly, this amount does not sufficiently reimburse this institution. More controversial issues relate to illegal immigrants who are housed in the federal prisons. This is a financial waste of about $3.3 million a day in tax payers dollars when figured that the American Criminal Justice System must spend abut $63.57 a day per prisoner. The opinions many Americans and legal immigrants have concerning those who are here illegally varies. For some, it is one of disgust and hate. For others, they have the misconstrued notion that illegal workers negatively affect our economy and work force. Tim Kane and Kirk Johnson, in the __Backgrounder__ gave the example of immigrants’ effects on trade. They stated, “An imaginary small town has 10 citizens: some farmers, some ranchers, a fisherman, a tailor, a barber, a cook, and a merchant. A new family headed by a young farmer moves to town. His presence is resented by the other farmers, but he also consumes from the other businesses in town- getting haircuts, eating beef and fish, having his shirts sewn and pressed, and buying supplies at the store, not to mention paying taxes. He undoubtedly boosts the supply side of the economy, but he also boosts the demand side. If he were run out of town for ‘stealing jobs,’ his demand for everyone’s work would leave with him.” For many, immigration is viewed as a positive step for our country. As a leading country, we see the ability and influence that those from other countries bring with education, medicine, technology, and even on their personal ethics, culture, and passion for patriotism. Yet, it must be noted, that the public draws a very distinct line between legal and illegal immigrants. Public polls prove that the majority of Americans believe that it is too easy for people to illegally be in America, and that the borders are too open. September 11th also reminded the public of the lack of security at the borders. Many believe that if the illegal immigration issue were successfully and thoughtfully handled, our national security would be in a better condition than it is. Thus, the illegal immigration policy that must be put into place is one in which the United States government has complete knowledge of all foreign persons present in the United States of America, at all times. As many people risk their safety and willingly do everything necessary to ensure their residence in the States, they break laws. With this idea, the problems of illegal immigration and the countless failed illegal immigration policies are able to come to the surface. The key issue is that breaking the law has become normal; it is expected by Americans and the government that illegal immigrants break laws from their initial entrance into the country and will continue breaking the laws and slipping through the system. What must be put into place is a policy that does not slack on enforcing the laws. The laws must be made completely clear and aware to entering immigrants, and they must know that the laws WILL be enforced. The common phrase “Actions speak louder than words,” is what is needed so that those tempted to break laws will know that they will be punished. Thus, the United States needs to make it clear that immigrants are welcome if, and only if, they comply with the processes put in place to legally reside in this country. But, if immigrants are here illegally, they have no right to be here, because they are not abiding by the laws placed upon them. Due to the steady increase of illegal immigrants who come through the United States borders, it is evident that the previous immigration policies were failures. Many of these policies focused on the borer enforcement aspect. With fences, proposed walls, vigilante groups who unofficially patrol the borders, and an increase amount of agents patrolling the borders, the goals were to deter people from crossing the country’s border. These policies proved to be ineffective, because although it deterred illegals from crossing in certain locations, the economic and family pulls continued to be more beneficial than the possible dangers of crossing. Also, border enforcement policies have come back to haunt the United States, because more illegal immigrants are staying here longer and those with tourist visas simply stay with expired tourist visas, because with such obstacles as going from country to country, they do not know if they will be able to successfully cross the next time. Congress has also received many proposals encouraging the use of a guest worker program. People are in a quandary whether or not, if the guest worker program is used, the workers would be given the ability to legally qualify for residency or if after an allotted number of years they would be required to leave. Because an immigration policy will only be successful when it focuses on the root cause of immigration, it may take years to successfully formulate a way in which the root cause is addressed while still calculating the economic and humanitarian aspects of how to handle, be it identify or deport, the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country. With each of these options, the United States government must take into account the spouses and children, who are United States citizens, to the illegal immigrants. In every manner, the illegal immigration policy deals with many complicated situations. In order to focus on the issue while still staying aware of the countless intertwined problems associated with illegal immigration, this proposed policy focuses on the enforcement of laws, and rather than an allotted number of years given to work, a consistent self-checking requirement that would be put into place. With such a policy, each guest worker would be required to register upon entrance into the country. The particular type of registration derived from the US-VISIT program, would enable guest workers to be identified electronically either through fingerprint or an eye scan. Rather than set an expiration date for guest workers to abide by, this proposed policy would require short term work permits that would be required to be renewed. If they were not renewable, workers would, just like our problem being faced now, continue in the country after the expiration. A key issue of concern is our national security. Renewable work permits would allow registered guest workers to more willingly comply with the enforced laws. To make this policy work, the U. S. border patrols would allow illegal immigrants to leave, and during reentry, be required to go through various check points in the registration process for proper documentation, identification, and understanding of the laws. Through this policy it would be understood that guest workers would not receive social benefits, amnesty, or the hope of this being their path toward citizenship. Such a policy would give everyone the ability to come into this country, registered and identified, able to work, and finally able to come and go at will. It would be required that guest workers find jobs by a set time of entry within the country. Employers would follow protocol and register the worker into the system, thus allowing for the routine renewal to occur. The Cornyn-Kyl bill, stating a 10-year ban on guest workers who do not follow and comply with the new program, “fits perfectly into such a policy whose focus is enforcement of the law.” This policy makes immigrants aware that there are free borders but with that comes utter compliance with the system. Immigration policies have been created and may have failed. However, through each, progress has been made and lessons have been learned on how to improve for the next policy. America must realize that an effective immigration policy will greatly affect America in the future. It is hoped that such a policy will focus on the key problems associated with enforcing United States laws and keeping track of those who are within our borders. Until then, illegal immigration will remain a growing problem.

Sources: [] [|http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/atissue/AI_406HJAI.pdf] [|http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/immigration] http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/uploads/position_immigration.pdf