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The illegal alien conundrum |
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Written by Reyne
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Apr 03, 2006 at 12:42 PM |
With growing fears that illegal immigration is spinning out of control, it has become the latest hot topic in the upcoming elections. 500,000 protested in LA, and the debate has just started.
The illegal immigration circus has officially hit the Senate, making immigration the hot topic for the upcoming elections. The commotion was jumpstarted by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and conservative supporters when they backed immigration reform bill HR4437, which recently passed through the House. HR4437 labels all illegal immigrants as felons and makes it a felony for anyone, including family, to offer services to illegal immigrants. A somewhat less severe senate version of HR4437 is being debated in the Senate.1 Without surprise, such a bill caused massive public outcry. In Los Angeles, 500,000 protestors filled the streets to protest the immigration reform bill. 3,000 people rallied in Columbus, and demonstrations also occurred in Dallas, Phoenix, and Milwaukee.2 Politicians from both parties quickly scrambled to capitalize on the public attention, trying to win over voters with their solutions to the immigration problem. From President Bush to Senator Kennedy, every heavyweight in Washington is drafting their own policies and laws to bring to the Senate. Regardless of what the politicians want you to believe, immigration reform is not going to happen by writing more laws and policies. If the government were really serious about stopping illegal immigration, it would have done it already.
There are two main facets to illegal immigration. First, something must be done about the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in this country.2 Second, the huge flood of illegal immigrants through the borders must be stopped. Among the numerous ideas that the Senate is considering, a few have emerged as supposedly promising solutions to these two main issues. There is the conservative Republican plan of instantly making all illegal immigrants criminals and making it a federal crime to help an illegal immigrant.3 Many conservatives also want to erect walls or fences to go along the southern border. The liberal Democrats would like to provide amnesty to the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country, by giving them permanent residency status.4 In general, liberals are against tougher border controls like walls and fences, but they offer no real concrete solution to slowing down the influx. President Bush, making a surprise departure from conservatives, supports the guest-worker program, which will give illegal immigrants work permits for three to six years before deportation.5 The Senate Judiciary Committee came up with a plan this week that will allow illegal immigrants already in the country to earn their way to citizenship and open up 400,000 guest worker positions for new illegal immigrants.6 None of these brilliant new plans address the real problem. The real problem is enforcement of existing laws.
Illegal immigration is really about supply and demand. Companies in the United States like to hire illegal immigrants because it is cheap to do so. Illegal immigrants will work without benefits, in hazardous situations, and for low pay. Even under such adverse conditions, people still want to work in the United States because conditions in their mother countries are much worse. For example, the unemployment rate in Mexico is nearly 40%. 53% of Mexicans (104 million people) live in poverty, which means they live on less than $2 per day. It is no wonder that about 50% of illegal immigrants are from Mexico.7 You can't blame people from seeking out alternatives to improve the conditions of their lives. They aren't the real culprits. The real culprit is the greed of companies that want to make more profit by taking advantage of desperate people. If you cut off the demand, people will stop coming because there will be no work for them. There are already laws that make it illegal to hire undocumented workers. In 1994, the Clinton administration collected $3.69 million in fines from companies that hired undocumented workers. In 2004, the Bush administration collected no fines for hiring undocumented workers. The problem lies in a lack of enforcement, not in a lack of laws.7
Not only do all the new plans lack enforcement guarantees, they also are flawed. The conservative Republican plan is unrealistic. It would be extremely costly to erect enough walls or fences to cover the entire southern border. Besides, there are numerous ways to get through walls and fences. People can climb over them, or dig tunnels. In short, it would be nearly impossible to keep an eye on the entire border to prevent breakages in the wall. Also, turning 12 million people in this country instantly into criminals would be dangerous. The new criminals would live in constant fear of being caught and be reluctant to report crimes to the police, call the fire department in cases of fire, or go to hospitals. It would force the illegal immigrants further underground. Capturing 12 million of them would not be an easy task. The police force would be stretched to the limit, and it would cost the country millions to ship all 12 million people back to their mother countries.
The liberal plan isn't better by any means. Giving amnesty to the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country would be a slap in the face for everyone who is waiting on long lists to come to this country legally. It would be rewarding people for breaking the law, and punishing those who do respect American laws. More importantly, the Democrats lack any comprehensive plan that will enforce border security. What will prevent businesses from hiring new illegal immigrants for cheap over the new legal immigrants? The Democrats are too scared, as usual, to point out the real problem. They are afraid to say that this government blatantly allows companies to hire illegal immigrants.
In typical Bush administration fashion, President Bush's guest-worker plan is only a short-term fix-up with no plans for the future. What will happen after the guest-work permit expires? Similarly, the Senate Judiciary committee shows a lack of thinking. 400,000 guest worker positions are far less than sufficient to address the number of illegal immigrants that move into the country every year. In just 1994, 686,000 immigrants crossed the border illegally.8
One part of the Senate Judiciary committee's plan is salvageable. Allowing illegal immigrants already in the country to work their way up to citizenship is acceptable, since it doesn't automatically grant amnesty. It is also more realistic to enforce and doesn't create a new class of desperate criminals. However, that will only work when coupled with real commitment from the government to stop companies from hiring illegal immigrants. Regardless of what happens, if companies are not fined for breaking the law, they will continue to do so because it will save them money. With demand for cheap labor, people will cross the border illegally to supply that demand. It's really rather simple. Instead of criminalizing the poor, companies must be held accountable for breaking immigration laws. None of the proposed policies has a prayer of working if the government is not willing to punish businesses for hiring undocumented workers.
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