Immigration Thoughts

The issue of illegal immigration continues to boil, with more political than logical response.    Let’s face it, the 11 million undocumented workers are here because employers want them.  Not just that they will do things that our citizens won’t do, but because they are harder workers.  In the 19^th century when we had the great influx of immigration, parents strongly instilled in their children a work ethic and a sense of self sufficiency.  As things became more comfortable, these attitudes declined.

Another factor affecting American workers is the array of social programs brought on by the free market economy’s inability to provide adequate employment to all of the country’s citizens.  While unemployment insurance and various welfare programs give people the opportunity to stand on their feet and advance, they also dull that fierce independence of “me against the world.”

But given that immigrant workers work harder, can we morally justify exploiting them as we did with the Chinese during the building of the railroads?  Yes, we exploit them.  We let them walk on the tightrope of potential deportation, we collect payments on their counterfeit Social Security cards, to fund benefits which they will never receive.  Because they live in conditions of uncertainty, they tend to live among themselves and not integrate into our society.

Immigrant workers are urgently needed at various times; a moderate flow of immigrants is desirable (in the minds of most thinking people) to maintain a healthy cultural diversity.  We, as many other developed nations need to enhance our working age population.  The US has an immigration system to accomplish all this.  So, why do politicians say that it’s broken?  Consider that processing an immigrant is said to take a minimum of five years and usually much longer.  The H2A agricultural worker program reportedly accommodates 30,000 workers a year, although against a much higher demand. The number of employers taking advantage of this program is surprisingly high given that they are obligated to meet existing labor rates, comply with various other controls and provide worker housing.  In reality, the delays and inconveniences of immigration and guest worker processing are readily avoided by those who possess something that looks like a Green Card or a Social Security card, but is not.

We must be able to select those who come into our country.  It is our right and our duty. To me, a necessary first step in facilitating the orderly immigration of workers and would-be citizens would be to implement e-Verify, the readily-available program for verification of government-issued documents.  To avoid the appearance of profiling it would be implemented for all employment applicants—not a serious imposition. It could also be applied to business licenses and drivers’ licenses.  E-verify probably would not stop the flow of undocumented persons into the country, but likely to slow it.  More importantly, it would likely trigger more serious efforts in Congress work out a meaningful compromise on immigration reform.