Immigration reform is in the air. Tantalizingly close during the Bush administration, the planets have aligned yet again, and it’s about time. Let’s finally fix our long-broken immigration system.
“Comprehensive” reform raises various questions, but the heart of the debate centers on two: First, what do we do with the 11-12 million people here illegally? Second, if we legalize them, how can we establish the rule of law and prevent another wave of illegal immigration, as happened after the last reform in 1986?
No matter how or why the undocumented population got here, most are here to stay. As a practical matter, this nation is not going to deport a group of people bigger than the entire state of Ohio; nor should it. The undocumented are our neighbors, our friends and our families – indeed, over 4.5 million U.S.-born children have undocumented parents. Most are hard-working, law-abiding people, and it would make no sense to kick them out.
So, what do we do? Some say the undocumented are law-breakers who should never be allowed a path to U.S. citizenship. Instead, they should be left in a legal netherworld – tolerated, but not welcomed as Americans. This view was expressed by some Republicans during a recent hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.
While this position is understandable, it is the wrong approach. The last thing we want is a huge population of permanent second-class “guest workers” – like the Turks in Germany or the Pakistanis in Dubai – feeling alienated without any chance of integrating into our society. On the contrary, we want people who live, work and raise families here to be patriotic Americans, enriching our melting pot and revitalizing our economy, as every generation of immigrants has done throughout our history. And we should have confidence that our institutions can absorb them, as they have time and again.
So, a path to citizenship is essential. Of course, we must kick out criminal aliens and other threats. And undocumented migrants must pay any taxes before they “get to the end of the line” for permanent residency status. This should not be a blanket “amnesty.”
But the promise of citizenship must not be empty. Given current caps on legal immigration, the “line” for migrants from certain countries, such as Mexico, can be decades long. So, for a “path to citizenship” to have any meaning, we must also fix the legal immigration system, so that any such “path” is not illusory.
Which leads to the second question – how do we avoid the mistakes of the 1986 reform, which gave amnesty to 3 million, but in the process, encouraged a new wave of illegal immigration?
First, we must fix the legal immigration system so it reflects our country’s economic need for more immigrants, and the desire of people to better their lives in the land of opportunity. As a result of our broken system, people who should be coming here legally are blocked from doing so, so many cross deserts to come illegally.
One obvious way to reduce illegal immigration, then, is to allow more to come legally – through fixing the country caps, reforming how we lure skilled migrants, and broadening the ability of businesses to hire workers temporarily.
Second, we must end the illegal hiring that fuels illegal immigration – a key failure of the 1986 law.
A secure system exists (E-Verify) to solve this, providing immediate verification of work authorization for employers. This system must be improved and made mandatory. In addition, we must impose severe penalties on employers who still break the law, and devote sufficient enforcement resources to carry this out.
Finally, we must continue our efforts to secure the border. Since 9/11, we have more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol, deployed new technology like UAVs and sensors along the borders, and built hundreds of miles of fences.
In addition, we have fostered unprecedented cooperation with Mexico to combat violent drug trafficking and secure the North American perimeter from terrorism. But more must be done.
At a minimum, we must not undermine ourselves though mindless budget cuts – such as those threatened by the “sequester,” which may result in approximately $1.5 billion axed from border security and workplace enforcement.
Through these efforts – fixing legal immigration, ending illegal hiring and securing the border – we will be in a much better position than after 1986 to prevent a new wave of illegal immigration. We must focus on all three.
But this should not slow the legalization of the undocumented population, for it is unhealthy, inhumane and a security risk to have 11-12 million people living and raising families in the shadows of our society, working in an underground economy. It is time to welcome them out of the shadows, and begin the process of making them Americans.
Seth M.M. Stodder served in the Bush administration as Director of Policy and Planning for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
