This is a subsequent post one to this one.
Building a Consensus
Since 2000, about 1 million legal immigrants receive permanent residency status, and at least 700,000 immigrants settle illegally here annually. The number seems daunting. However, compared to the early 20th century, where the ratio of immigrants to native-born citizens peaked at around 20%, today only about 1 out of 10 people are foreign born . The problems that envelop these issues are numerous: why are foreign criminals, of which almost 100,000 were apprehended in 2007, simply deported? Why are immigrants sent through the Department of Justice for their appeals? The DOJ system offers fewer rights and protections to immigrants than the criminal courts would. How are companies able to meet rising demand for highly skilled professionals when America does not produce enough, and fewer H-1Bs are granted to willing, industrious foreigners? No one disagrees that the immigration system is in tatters, and not surprisingly, but there is little consensus on how to change it.
The Immigration Policy Center would probably kindly disagree, and refer to a blueprint signed to President Obama's transition team by groups that represent millions of constituent populations: Latinos’ rights, religious workers, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, to name a few.
The plan calls for greater oversight over the Due Process of foreign individuals, which includes finding alternatives to detention for families and other non-risk illegal aliens, and revamping 'electronic verification' (link to e-verify), a Bush administration creation; increasing civil rights for aliens seeking asylum; undoing the cumbersome and lengthy FBI name checks on aliens seeking to adjust their status (the final stage in the immigration process); and calls for reversing the H-2A regulations promulgated by a Bush executive order that would dampen migrant worker rights and decrease their wages if implemented.
These ideas do not come without their counterparts. While immigrant and labor rights groups may speak for the majority, these groups are also the least likely to be able to use lobbying power to have their ideas heard.
Myths and Mistakes
While a plethora of policies are being touted as inherently "pro-immigrant", there are several groups critical of immigrants that espouse policies of their own. Among them, the Center for Immigration Studies rarely reports any positive news on immigrants. Testifying before congress last year, the Center pointed out holes in the Visa Waiver Program (which give certain countries' nationals easier non-immigrant access to visit the U.S.), criticized enforcement and demanded higher deportation numbers, and equated State drivers licensing programs as enabling terrorism. Notwithstanding ideological differences and disagreement on facts, the group nonetheless extols the same mantra that “the system is not working” coming from their counterparts. Immigration agencies need to do better.
With public criticism comes agency defensiveness. The Customs and Immigrations Service lists many successes in its 2007 report including apprehending nearly 1 million people. One of the interesting successes was the "Don Hutto Family Residential Facility” – no, not a vacation home for immigrants, but a center for family detainees. The facility boasts of having open environments and allowing family members and other detainees to "live in a family setting". While the department is making a positive step in recognizing that families should stay together, one has to wonder: can one really be in a family setting while crammed into a detention facility?
Other DHS practices are much more beguiling. A Washington Post article describes FBI and DHS agents using minor immigration issues for detaining Arabs and Muslims whom they suspected may have some connection to a terrorist organization. While several of these charges have not remained in place, the agency defends this practice. Civil Liberties groups contend that only certain aliens are being targeted, alleging racial profiling.
For people hoping for their piece of the “American Dream,” these are the risks they are willing to take. For illegal aliens, this also includes accepting lower wages. As quoted from an article in American Prospect : "There are no jobs that U.S. citizens do not want. There would be huge numbers of U.S. citizens willing to work as farm workers, custodians, restaurant kitchen staff, or other jobs frequently held by immigrants, if these jobs paid $60,000 a year and provided benefits. The reason that U.S. citizens do not want these jobs is because the pay is low. Instead of paying higher wages, employers find it much easier to bring in foreign workers from developing countries." So while the myth persists that illegal immigrants are here precisely to take American jobs, the reality is that American employers do not respect labor rights and prevailing wages that they could offer other Americans.
Of the documented legal aliens working in the US, most of them not only receive higher than the prevailing wage, their knowledge and specialization fill gaps that U.S. workers create. Microsoft Corporation, which gains the largest number of the limited H-1B visas per year, is testament to this. While they would probably gladly pay American engineers fresh out of college lower than the prevailing wage, Microsoft is unable to find the type of qualified and experienced engineers that India and China are producing. This speaks more about American education than it does about immigrants seeking to take American jobs. Contrary to the belief that Americans subsidize immigrant prosperity, it is likely the reverse. Specifically, most immigrants – including illegal immigrants – pay their taxes. Indeed, the IRS estimates that undocumented immigrants contribute and estimated $7 billion per year in federal taxes. One only needs an address and passport to document their earnings with the service. As immigrants start almost 20% of new businesses in the United States, the record must be straight: a rising tide lifts all boats, with immigrants as the invaluable current.
Unfortunately, the Stimulus bill will limit H-1B visas for the future. The legislation's final text also removed E-verify provisions that would have mandated companies receiving federal assistance to vet all of their employees. The provision stayed on until conference committee, indicating that it had bipartisan backing. If the Stimulus legislation now in effect is any indication of the direction policymakers are heading, then it is business as usual in Washington.
Bring 'em Out of The Shadows
Hope may be on the way, though. The new director of DHS, Janet Napolitano, admitted that the system was in shambles, but provided little information on her plans to turn this around. As the IPC report on her nomination hearing so accurately put it, “Napolitano must chart a new direction for DHS, as well as provide the wisdom and leadership needed to devise common sense solutions to our immigration system which move the country forward and are consistent with the American values of fairness, opportunity, and the rule of law.”
President Barack Obama in his weekly YouTube address on February 21 said "… We cannot successfully address any of our problems without addressing them all. And that is exactly what the strategy we are pursuing is designed to do." On the White House website, the immigration agenda promotes 5 key policies: adding funding to border security, increasing legal immigrant residencies, cracking down on illegal-hiring employers, integrating undocumented aliens into America and promoting economic growth with Mexico.
If President Obama is serious about tackling all issues at once, his budget to be released this week must show attempts to address the 5-point plan. In order to gain a sense of the direction that the President will take, key provisions would be apparent. These would include: significant funding allocation changes from more bureaucratic and wasteful spending (such as intensified background checks) to more direct border funding for ICE; increasing the civil rights sub-division at the Department of Justice; a sizable USAID increase for Mexico; and appropriations for English teaching centers (and other visible steps) to integrating our populations and bringing many of them out of the shadows.
Building a Consensus
Since 2000, about 1 million legal immigrants receive permanent residency status, and at least 700,000 immigrants settle illegally here annually. The number seems daunting. However, compared to the early 20th century, where the ratio of immigrants to native-born citizens peaked at around 20%, today only about 1 out of 10 people are foreign born . The problems that envelop these issues are numerous: why are foreign criminals, of which almost 100,000 were apprehended in 2007, simply deported? Why are immigrants sent through the Department of Justice for their appeals? The DOJ system offers fewer rights and protections to immigrants than the criminal courts would. How are companies able to meet rising demand for highly skilled professionals when America does not produce enough, and fewer H-1Bs are granted to willing, industrious foreigners? No one disagrees that the immigration system is in tatters, and not surprisingly, but there is little consensus on how to change it.
The Immigration Policy Center would probably kindly disagree, and refer to a blueprint signed to President Obama's transition team by groups that represent millions of constituent populations: Latinos’ rights, religious workers, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, to name a few.
The plan calls for greater oversight over the Due Process of foreign individuals, which includes finding alternatives to detention for families and other non-risk illegal aliens, and revamping 'electronic verification' (link to e-verify), a Bush administration creation; increasing civil rights for aliens seeking asylum; undoing the cumbersome and lengthy FBI name checks on aliens seeking to adjust their status (the final stage in the immigration process); and calls for reversing the H-2A regulations promulgated by a Bush executive order that would dampen migrant worker rights and decrease their wages if implemented.
These ideas do not come without their counterparts. While immigrant and labor rights groups may speak for the majority, these groups are also the least likely to be able to use lobbying power to have their ideas heard.
Myths and Mistakes
While a plethora of policies are being touted as inherently "pro-immigrant", there are several groups critical of immigrants that espouse policies of their own. Among them, the Center for Immigration Studies rarely reports any positive news on immigrants. Testifying before congress last year, the Center pointed out holes in the Visa Waiver Program (which give certain countries' nationals easier non-immigrant access to visit the U.S.), criticized enforcement and demanded higher deportation numbers, and equated State drivers licensing programs as enabling terrorism. Notwithstanding ideological differences and disagreement on facts, the group nonetheless extols the same mantra that “the system is not working” coming from their counterparts. Immigration agencies need to do better.
With public criticism comes agency defensiveness. The Customs and Immigrations Service lists many successes in its 2007 report including apprehending nearly 1 million people. One of the interesting successes was the "Don Hutto Family Residential Facility” – no, not a vacation home for immigrants, but a center for family detainees. The facility boasts of having open environments and allowing family members and other detainees to "live in a family setting". While the department is making a positive step in recognizing that families should stay together, one has to wonder: can one really be in a family setting while crammed into a detention facility?
Other DHS practices are much more beguiling. A Washington Post article describes FBI and DHS agents using minor immigration issues for detaining Arabs and Muslims whom they suspected may have some connection to a terrorist organization. While several of these charges have not remained in place, the agency defends this practice. Civil Liberties groups contend that only certain aliens are being targeted, alleging racial profiling.
For people hoping for their piece of the “American Dream,” these are the risks they are willing to take. For illegal aliens, this also includes accepting lower wages. As quoted from an article in American Prospect : "There are no jobs that U.S. citizens do not want. There would be huge numbers of U.S. citizens willing to work as farm workers, custodians, restaurant kitchen staff, or other jobs frequently held by immigrants, if these jobs paid $60,000 a year and provided benefits. The reason that U.S. citizens do not want these jobs is because the pay is low. Instead of paying higher wages, employers find it much easier to bring in foreign workers from developing countries." So while the myth persists that illegal immigrants are here precisely to take American jobs, the reality is that American employers do not respect labor rights and prevailing wages that they could offer other Americans.
Of the documented legal aliens working in the US, most of them not only receive higher than the prevailing wage, their knowledge and specialization fill gaps that U.S. workers create. Microsoft Corporation, which gains the largest number of the limited H-1B visas per year, is testament to this. While they would probably gladly pay American engineers fresh out of college lower than the prevailing wage, Microsoft is unable to find the type of qualified and experienced engineers that India and China are producing. This speaks more about American education than it does about immigrants seeking to take American jobs. Contrary to the belief that Americans subsidize immigrant prosperity, it is likely the reverse. Specifically, most immigrants – including illegal immigrants – pay their taxes. Indeed, the IRS estimates that undocumented immigrants contribute and estimated $7 billion per year in federal taxes. One only needs an address and passport to document their earnings with the service. As immigrants start almost 20% of new businesses in the United States, the record must be straight: a rising tide lifts all boats, with immigrants as the invaluable current.
Unfortunately, the Stimulus bill will limit H-1B visas for the future. The legislation's final text also removed E-verify provisions that would have mandated companies receiving federal assistance to vet all of their employees. The provision stayed on until conference committee, indicating that it had bipartisan backing. If the Stimulus legislation now in effect is any indication of the direction policymakers are heading, then it is business as usual in Washington.
Bring 'em Out of The Shadows
Hope may be on the way, though. The new director of DHS, Janet Napolitano, admitted that the system was in shambles, but provided little information on her plans to turn this around. As the IPC report on her nomination hearing so accurately put it, “Napolitano must chart a new direction for DHS, as well as provide the wisdom and leadership needed to devise common sense solutions to our immigration system which move the country forward and are consistent with the American values of fairness, opportunity, and the rule of law.”
President Barack Obama in his weekly YouTube address on February 21 said "… We cannot successfully address any of our problems without addressing them all. And that is exactly what the strategy we are pursuing is designed to do." On the White House website, the immigration agenda promotes 5 key policies: adding funding to border security, increasing legal immigrant residencies, cracking down on illegal-hiring employers, integrating undocumented aliens into America and promoting economic growth with Mexico.
If President Obama is serious about tackling all issues at once, his budget to be released this week must show attempts to address the 5-point plan. In order to gain a sense of the direction that the President will take, key provisions would be apparent. These would include: significant funding allocation changes from more bureaucratic and wasteful spending (such as intensified background checks) to more direct border funding for ICE; increasing the civil rights sub-division at the Department of Justice; a sizable USAID increase for Mexico; and appropriations for English teaching centers (and other visible steps) to integrating our populations and bringing many of them out of the shadows.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment