Illegal Immigration Reform in the United States - Essay Example

PROPOSAL: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM IN THE UNITED S Illegal immigration is one of the most discussed public issues in American politics and press, which is not surprising given the increasing numbers of immigrants in the United States. Researchers from the Pew Hispanic Center estimate there are now 11.5 to 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. (Doherty, et al, 1). The study conducted in May 2010 by Quinnipiac University and CBS News asked respondents, “How serious a problem do you think the issue of illegal immigration is for the country right now: very serious, somewhat serious, not too serious, or not at all serious?” (Pollingreport, 2010). Almost sixty percent of respondents felt illegal immigration was a very serious issue. Therefore, this issue should be addressed in a corresponding reform. Traditionally, illegal immigration reform was limited to two basic methodologies deterring illegal immigrants, namely US borders control and elimination of job prospects available for illegal immigrants. Because both approaches are broadly considered ineffective methods of combatting illegal immigration, new more advanced and radical reform is necessary. This paper proposes a reform to be undertaken by the US legislative and executive powers that will effectively limit the number of illegal immigrants arriving and staying in our country. Illegal immigration constitutes a direct economic and social threat for the United States. Illegal immigration increases population growth in the United States, compromises welfare and healthcare, leads to increased unemployment and wage depression, results in economic inefficiency and negative trends in labor market, and finally leads to increase in crime rates (Fairus.org, 7-8). Being either employed or incarcerated, illegal aliens present danger to US internal security. Illegal aliens must fraudulently obtain identity documents, taxpayer identification numbers, social security numbers, or engage in identity theft in order to obtain a job from employment entities. Hypothetically, in privately owned critical infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants or refineries, illegal alien terrorists working with false identities create a different threat level to the United States. This threat has the potential to harm large numbers of people should an attack materialize. Kathy Gambrell provides an analysis of illegal aliens voting in U.S. elections, specifically focusing on California (Gambrell, 2003). Again, to receive a voter registration card, the illegal alien must obtain a fraudulent identification to register. If a foreign leader could persuade their citizens, located in the US illegally, to obtain voter registrations and vote for a particular candidate, the threat to the United States could be significant. There are several potential options available for the US legislative and executive powers to eliminate illegal immigration. The United States can grant amnesty, process the illegal aliens for legal immigrant status; therefore, set them up for citizenship, but it is not a realistic alternative. The United States can utilize enforcement agencies and arrest as many as possible for removal. Based on prior experience regarding illegal alien arrests, arresting 10 to 12 million estimated illegal aliens is an impossible mission. Our country does not have enough jail space to process and incarcerate 10 to 12 million illegal aliens for deportation. The proposal of a reform to eliminate illegal immigration to the United States consists of national jurisdictional and operational measures that have to be conducted. According to Carafano and collegues, any reform of national security should be national, and not just federal (Carafano, Rosenzweig, and Kochems, 2005). The first jurisdictional step to decrease the number of illegal immigrants is a passage of law by the US Congress that removes citizenship right to “anchor” children, born in the U.S. to illegal aliens (Cosman, 1-2). Anchor children gain their citizenship status through the law of Jus Soli, the historical right of birth on the soil (Cosman, 2). Additional jurisdictional steps deterring illegal aliens in the United States can be undertaken. Specific reforms should be made to decrease or eliminate job prospects so that illegal immigrants do not stay in the United States. Government should increase workplace compliance, imposing stricter penalties for employers violating immigration laws. In addition, amendments in current tax code removing the tax deductibility of wages paid to unauthorized aliens would effectively remove incentive to employ illegal immigrants (Carafano, 3). Proposal for illegal immigration reform also includes operational measures, and improvement of US inter-jurisdictional information system is the most important operational part of it. Practically, the alien enters the United States illegally by whatever means. At that point, only two things can happen. One, the alien is caught, entered into a law enforcement network and processed. Two, the alien penetrates one or several networks, not necessarily connected, such as buying a fraudulent identification package in order to enter the employment network or obtain a driver’s license or benefits. The argument is that connecting all of our systems in an instantaneous network would prevent the illegal alien from obtaining benefits, and the alien would leave the country. Illegal aliens know how to penetrate our country through the experience with USDHS, through education by smugglers or through pro immigrant special interest groups. Therefore, they count on the systems not to communicate with each other and thus penetration into U.S. society becomes successful (Garcia, A8). Illegal alien detection remains piecemeal, that is, when detected by one system it does not automatically communicate that encounter to other systems. For instance, the U.S. Department of State (USDOS) uses foreign contractors in the visa interview process at their embassies and consular offices. These contractors receive extensive training on how to access various U.S. information systems, including law enforcement systems such as the USDHS Alien Central Index System (CIS) and USDOS visa system. The foreign contractors know that U.S. systems do not communicate with each other, are not connected, and do not share information instantaneously. The improvement of our inter-jurisdictional system and its proper connectivity would deny employment, benefits and identity documents while flagging the illegal alien for agency action. Nationwide this reform allows agencies to address the issue at their capacity for doing so by reducing the illegal alien population to a manageable problem without mass arrests or disruptions. The appeal for employment and benefits currently driving the influx of illegal aliens would cease. Moreover, those illegal aliens in the US now working and receiving benefits would leave on their own rather than by government action, such as an arrest and deportation. WORKS CITED Carafano, J., P.Rosenzweig, and K. Kochems. An agenda for increasing state and Local government efforts to combat terrorism (Report No. 1826). Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2005. Retrieved June 23, 2010 from < http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2005/02/An-Agenda-for-Increasing-State-and-Local-Government-Efforts-to-Combat-Terrorism> Carafano, J. Immigration Enforcement and Workplace Verification: Sensible Proposals for Congress, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum No. 999, April 4, 2006 Cosman, M. Illegal Aliens and American Medicine. Journal of American Physicians & Surgeons, Vol. 10 No.2 : 1-5, 2006 Doherty, C., Escobar, G., Keeter, S., Kohut, A., & Suro, R. No census of immigration problem or proposed fixes: America’s immigration quandary. Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, and the Pew Hispanic Center, p 1-84. Retrieved on June 23, 2010 from: Gambrell, K. Analysis: Few controls on illegal voting. United Press International, November 21, 2003. Retrieved on June 23, 2010 from < http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-87571443.html > Garcia, M. 60 held in immigrant sweep: Workers in Texas, 5 other states considered to be threats to U.S. Security. Dallas Morning News, 21 May, A8, 2005. Pollingreport. Immigration, 2010. Retrieved from June 23, 2010 from < http://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm> Fairus.org. Immigration 101. A Primer on Immigration and the Need for Reform. The Federation for American Immigration Reforms, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2010 from < http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/immigration101.pdf?docID=422> Read More