Immigration Laws - Assignment Example

Immigration Laws and Issues Numerous polls indicate that a majority of Americans, including Mexican-Americans, want the government to prevent the tidal wave of illegal aliens cascading over the border. A nation without borders is not a nation and this country has been losing control of the borders for many decades, losing prosperity, security and autonomy along with them. The massive numbers of illegal aliens pouring across mainly the southern border has and continues to cause substantial economic, social and physical harms to legal citizens. These harms occur predominantly to those who are among the most vulnerable segments of the population: minorities, children and the poor. This discussion will examine the cause, effects and solutions to the immigration of Latin Americans to the U.S. The fundamental reason for the flood of immigration from Latin America, specifically Mexico, is the disintegration of the Mexican economy predominantly resulting from free-trade strategies employed by the North American Free Trade Agreement and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The rampant corruption within the Mexican government has also contributed significantly to the collapse of the Mexican economy. Due to IMF policies regarding Mexico, its economic output dropped 33 percent in the past two decades. During this period, its foreign debt rose 359 percent because of widespread looting of the national coffers. These factors caused the “collapse of all areas of productive economic activity and employment, is the primary driver of the flood of emigrants desperate to leave Mexico, to find some livelihood for themselves and their families in the United States” (Small, 2005). Throughout the history of America, people of differing ideologies have generally agreed on immigration controls. Public opinion polls have continually shown an overwhelming opposition to illegal immigration as well as for the concept of amnesty. The most persuasive rationale to be in opposition to this latest bill again does not respect the rule of law. Amnesty for illegal aliens is merely a reward for law-breaking and by whatever name, causes ever escalating future illegal immigration. “No system depending on a strict regard for the rule of law can treat law-breaking so casually” (Erler, 2004). Those who favor amnesty for illegal aliens, specifically those crossing the southern border do not seem to realize that a crime has been committed and not, as they might have you believe, one without a victim. The massive numbers of illegal aliens pouring across mainly the southern border has and continues to cause substantial economic, social and physical harms to legal citizens. These harms occur predominantly to those who are among the most vulnerable segments of the population, minorities, children and the poor. Simply enforcing the laws presently on the books and deporting illegal aliens is an economic necessity that would also result in decreased crime rates. Illegal immigrants receive more from public monies than they contribute which lowers the standard of living for legal citizens. Illegal immigrants contribute greatly to the overall population growth and health care, education and employment are the most impacted. Salaries are driven down by illegal immigrants willing to work for much less while their children, illegal and legal, overcrowd the schools. It’s the U.S. taxpayer who is sent the bill for their health care services as well. In addition, the large influx of illegal aliens burdens the already inadequate number of units classified as affordable housing and other welfare resources such as energy, water and land usage (“Illegal Immigration”, 2003). Illegal immigrants have already broken the law upon arrival into the country and a considerable number break more including selling drugs, theft, murder, rape, etc. while in the country. The cost to the federal court and prison system alone in 2002 attributed to illegal aliens was $1.6 billion. This does not include the costs to state judicial and penal institutions. It costs Arizona, for example, $80 million to jail illegal aliens yearly. According to a 2002 report by Heather MacDonald of the City Journal, “In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens” (McDonald, 2004). Illegal aliens drain social services paid for by legal citizens, $2.5 billion from Medicaid, $2 billion from food aid programs and $2 billion in hospital care from the federal coffers in 2002 alone. States along the southern border pay out hundreds of millions of dollars every year providing social services for illegal aliens. The children of illegal aliens do not have to prove citizenship to attend public schools which has resulted in overcrowding – a tremendous sapping of resources. It takes more time to teach children that only speak Spanish which thus costs more money. California spends a staggering $8 billion every year just in educating the children of illegal aliens (“Illegal Immigrants”, 2007). It has been estimated that the added cost to the federal government will be more than $15 billion per year when the present illegal aliens become citizens and begin collecting welfare benefits. The proposed bill will add greatly to this number because it will encourage a new surge of low skilled workers through its guest worker program. Traditionally, immigrants to the U.S. were less likely than those born in America to collect welfare. This historic arrangement has radically changed over the past three decades. Today, immigrant families are at least 50 percent more likely to receive federal benefits than those born in this country. Additionally, immigrants are more likely to adapt their lives to rely on the welfare system and studies have shown the longer immi­grants stay in the U.S., the more likely they are to be on welfare. To further aggravate the situation, when an illegal immigrant becomes a citizen, he can legally bring his parents who also have the right to become citi­zens. The estimated long-term cost of overall federal benefits could exceed $50 billion per year for the parents of the 10 million beneficiaries of amnesty. “In the long run, the bill, if enacted, would be the largest expansion of the welfare state in 35 years” (Rector, 2006). Approximately half of current illegal immigrants do not possess a high-school level education. Welfare use among this group and for low-skill immigrants granted amnesty is three times the rate for the U.S. born citizens. Over the past two decades, about 10 million people who do not possess a high-school diploma have entered the country and predictably end up on welfare. News reports have documented many examples of illegal immigrants who were detained by local police but instead of being deported, were allowed to go free to then commit heinous crimes. One such instance is the 2002 New York gang rape by five illegal aliens of a mother of two. These men had been arrested on several occasions but were never turned over to the immigration agency and deported. The most infamous example was the Washington, D.C. area sniper Lee Malvo. The Jamaican-born man was apprehended by local law enforcement near Washington and was identified as an illegal alien prior to these tragic incidents. He should have been deported at that time but was instead released by federal authorities, let free to kill innocent Americans at random. “Three of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, including ringleader Mohammed Atta, had been stopped and ticketed for significant traffic violations, such as driving without a license and speeding at 90 mph” (Schlafly, 2004). Why are illegal aliens allowed and now seemingly encouraged to take advantage of U.S. generosity? There are hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who are currently under deportation orders of whom tens of thousands have been involved in criminal activity while in the country. Congress is under tremendous public pressure and is attempting to undertake the most extensive renovation of the country’s immigration laws in four generations. (Espo, 2006). The proposed Senate legislation that was recently defeated allocated additional funds to better enhance border security, provides for a ‘guest worker’ program and gives an estimated 10 million immigrants amnesty by putting those who are currently in the country illegally on the fast track to citizenship. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. is skeptical about the legislation saying, “This bill will not secure our borders” (Kiely, 2006). If Congress were to put the country’s interests ahead of its own, it would pass an illegal immigration bill which grants no amnesty. Congress should also pass legislation amending the Immigration and Nationality Act eradicating the idea that children born of illegal aliens are automatically citizens. That privilege should be reserved for children of legal immigrants. Congress should also criminalize illegal entry into the United States which would force government administrators and health workers to report these people to the authorities. Laws should be enacted that bring criminal charges against all those who aid illegal aliens to gain entry into the country and against those employers who hire them. All social benefits, including medical care, education and welfare for illegal immigrants should be eliminated with the only exception being medical treatment given when first contacted before deporting the criminal. If the U.S. can’t secure its own borders, what confidence does this instill in the world’s view when it tries to police other areas of the globe? The U.S. can hardly be seen as credible when helping to solve other countries’ problems when it can’t solve its own immigration dilemma, a problem many other countries don’t seem to struggle with. Those that support amnesty of illegal aliens currently in the U.S. argue that deportations would result in the splitting of families. Children born in this country could stay but their illegal parents would have to leave. They also express that it would be unfair for a child that has lived in the U.S. all their life to be suddenly thrust into the conditions of a third world country. While that is a compelling and reasonable argument, the cost is too great. By allowing the continued and unabated free-flow of illegal immigrants, this country too before long will assume third world status. Methods to stem this flow such as building a border fence, deporting all illegal aliens, cracking down on employers and implementing a federal identification system might appear severe to some but are necessary steps in safeguarding America for Americans. The U.S. could consider adopting similar immigration regulations as in the U.K. where a person cannot immigrate without first securing employment. The British employer must obtain permission from the government upon submitting evidence that the position cannot be filled by a resident. Non-residents cannot apply for state benefits of any type. Legislators should consider the net effect on society and encourage the immigration of high-skilled and well educated people who will contribute to the economic health of the nation rather than low or no-skilled workers who are a heavy economic burden. The federal government already manages the redistribution of a substantial proportion of its citizen’s income. In 2004, for example, more than $500 billion was transferred to the low income segment of the population from taxes levied from the top 25 percent. Legalized mass immigration will cause an imbalance in the proportion of uneducated people as an increasingly higher percentage of the population will earn lower wages and pay little, if any, federal taxes. “The overall costs such individuals will add to government programs throughout their lifetime (including welfare, social security, Medicare, education for children, transportation, and law enforcement) will greatly exceed taxes paid” (Rector, 2006).  Immigration to this country should provide a benefit, not be a burden to society. The federal government doesn’t seem to understand the problem much less have a credible solution to the illegal immigration problem. The same Republican-controlled House of Representatives that offered American drivers $100 to offset high gas prices presented what they described as a ‘tough’ immigration bill that would provide 700 miles of fence along the southern border. The Republican-controlled Senate presented its own version, a ‘comprehensive’ bill that would erect 350 miles of protective fencing on the border – the 2000 mile border. Last year, the Senate passed two related amendments that had illegal immigration overtones. Both addressed the concerns of an overwhelming majority of Americans who believe English should be declared the country’s official language. One declared English the ‘National Language of the United States,’ the other declaring English our ‘common and unifying language’ (Ponte, 2006). Neither law mandated nor did a lawmaker propose the designation of English as the ‘official’ language which would thereby prohibit the increasing use of Spanish by government entities. Americans were assured that a 1986 reform law would add tougher penalties for the employers of illegal immigrants and that this step would forever resolve the issue of illegal aliens. Around 16 million illegal immigrants have arrived since then. The promised employer penalties, which would have gone a long way to solve the problem, have been, at best, loosely enforced. The Congress has not only failed, again, to solve the immigration dilemma, the latest bill passed by the Senate has served only to give blanket and effortless amnesty. These attempts, feeble as they may be, to stop the avalanche of new illegal aliens will be forgotten immediately following this November’s election, as they were in 1986 (Ponte, 2006). White House Press Secretary Tony Snow explained illegal aliens allowed to stay under the president’s plan will pay fines and back-taxes, avoid criminal activities and maintain continuous employment (The White House, 2007). They must remain current with payments of current and future taxes and carry a tamper-proof identification. “And when all of that is done, you get to go to the back of the line, and you wait, what, 11 years or more for a chance to become a citizen, at the end of which you have to have a command of English, as well, to be able to become a citizen,” Snow said. “Now, with all those benchmarks, it is hard to square that with the idea of amnesty” (Hayworth, 2006). Snow is correct; it is hard to ‘square’ with the idea of amnesty because those items have little in common with amnesty. Illegal aliens will have to pay taxes, just like everyone else under the president’s plan, but would have the option to pay back taxes for just three of the last five years. Not only are they offered amnesty but are given preferential treatment. American citizens paid all five years. Illegal immigrants will have to obey the law. This ‘benchmark’ applies to us all. They must also obtain a federal ID card; again, anyone with a Social Security card has also passed this ‘benchmark.’ They must maintain continued employment. This requirement to full citizenship status forces them to do what they came here to do in the first place, work. Having to learn English ultimately is of greater benefit to the immigrant. How these ‘benchmarks’ explained how a plan allowing those that are presently breaking the law open access to the country is somehow not considered amnesty was a poor attempt to veil the truth in a chronic display of twisted logic. One of the ‘benchmarks’ is punitive in nature. Immigrants must pay a monetary penalty for their crime, $2,000 payable in two installments. Pretty good deal for American citizenship, a person could make that back from the government in a year drawing welfare payments. The President is practically giving away citizenship when compared to the going rate of $100,000 for a green card on the world market (Hayworth, 2006). The President’s motivations are not based on what’s best for the citizens of the country but rather in pandering to the businesses that profit from cheap Mexican labor and make substantial donations to Republican lawmakers. Furthermore, Republican legislators are afraid of disaffecting a growing political constituency of Hispanic voters. Evidently, the Republican leadership has determined that the Hispanic voting demographic is the most important one to court. They seem confident that their conservative base will vote for them no matter what they do as the only alternative is the distasteful idea of liberals winning a majority in Congress. The country is divided regarding the harms and benefits of a guest worker program. Those opposed, among other arguments, cite historic examples of such a program. In a 2006 Washington Monthly article, Kevin Drum writes “I’ve always been uncomfortable with guest worker programs. Germany’s famous Gastarbeiter program of the 60s and 70s, for example, has produced a large population of Turks who do plenty of scut work but have little incentive to assimilate since they have no chance of becoming citizens. The result, as the Germans themselves have discovered, is alienation, distrust, and bitterness on all sides” (Drum, 2006). Others, such as Amy Traub have concluded that one need look no further than right here in the U.S. for a history lesson. Immigration built the abundant middle class in the U.S., a societal condition fostered in this country and exported to the rest of the industrialized world. “Immigrants, including those currently living and working in the U.S. without the proper paperwork, are vital to the nation’s economy. As workers, taxpayers, consumers and entrepreneurs, they contribute to the prosperity of the middle class” (Traub, 2007) One of the most important issues of the White House and Congress should be securing the borders, but homeland security is all but non-existent. This is a complex problem that is not being solved by the congressmen, who continuously fail to act in the country’s best interests. By allowing the continued and unabated free-flow of illegal immigrants, this country too before long will assume third world status. Methods to stem this flow such as building a border fence, deporting all illegal aliens, cracking down on employers and implementing a federal identification system might appear severe to some but are necessary steps in safeguarding America for Americans. The U.S. could consider adopting similar immigration regulations as in the U.K. where a person cannot immigrate without first securing employment. Non-residents cannot apply for state benefits of any type. Legislators should consider the net effect on society and encourage the immigration of high-skilled and well educated people who will contribute to the economic health of the nation rather than low or no-skilled workers who are a heavy economic and social burden. The debate seems to go the way of the American example. It only makes sense that if immigrants, much as their forbearers, which include most of current Americans ancestors, work hard and assimilate into American society, they should be not only allowed but encouraged to stay. It’s an American tradition that made this country what is today, the greatest economic power the world has ever known. Works Cited Drum, Kevin. “Guest Workers” The Washington Monthly. (March 26, 2006) April 9, 2008 Erler, Edward J. “Amnesty for Illegal Aliens.” The Washington Times. (January 22, 2004). April 9, 2008 Espo, David. “Senate Passes Landmark Immigration Bill.” Excite News. (May 26, 2006). April 9, 2008 Hayworth, J.D. “Call it What it is: The President’s Plan is an Illegal Immigrant Amnesty.” National Review Online. (May 25, 2006). April 9, 2008 “Illegal Immigrants Helpful or Harmful to America?” About Conservative Politics U.S. (2007). April 9, 2008 “Illegal Immigration is a Crime.” Federation for American Immigration Reform. (March 2003). April 9, 2008 Kiely, Kathy. “Senate Passes Immigration Bill; GOP Advocate of Crackdown Pledges ‘Battle.’” USA Today. (May 25, 2006). April 9, 2008 McDonald, Heather. “The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave.” City Journal. (Winter 2004). New York: The Manhattan Institute. April 9, 2008 Ponte, Lowell. “No Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants.” News Max. (May 23, 2006). April 9, 2008 Rector, Robert. “The Wrong Course: The Senate’s Proposed Amnesty Will Cost a Fortune.” National Review Online. (May 25, 2006). April 9, 2008 Schlafly, Phyllis. “No Argument Justifies Amnesty for Illegal Aliens.” Copley News Service. (May 3, 2004). April 9, 2008 Small, Dennis. “What’s Behind the ‘Hispanic Immigration Crisis?” EIR Economics. (July 2005). April 9, 2008 (The) White House. “President Bush’s Plan For Comprehensive Immigration Reform.” (2007). April 9, 2008 Traub, Amy. “Guest Worker Caste System” TomPaine.common sense. (March 16, 2007) April 9, 2008 Read More