America takes pride in its status as a nation of immigrants. A poem, penned by Emma Lazarus and engraved in bronze at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, ends with "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore … " (lines 10-14). The first immigrants to this amazing country were fleeing oppression and religious persecution. Later immigrants came to this country to escape a lack of opportunity and freedom in the countries of their birth. America offered those immigrants that freedom from persecution and seemingly unlimited opportunity and she continues to provide that same promise to millions of people around the world. In fact, According to a report released from the US Department of Homeland Security, there are approximately 10.8 million unauthorized persons in the country as of January 2009 (1). This amounts to approximately 4% of the US Population. With the poor economic production of some bordering nations, America is the place immigrants want to come in an effort to improve their lives and that of their families.
The policies that America follows regarding immigration have far reaching effects. As Michele Wucker writes in her article Fixing the Borders (Without a Wall), “The immigration policies that America pursues resonate around the world. As a superpower whose identity is rooted in the notion of itself as an immigrant nation, the United States stands as an example … to countries that only recently have begun to wrestle with the question of how to integrate large foreign born populations” (55). As the leaders of any nation will tell you, security, in this age of increased terrorist actions and threats is of paramount importance.
While disagreement on other aspects of immigration reform exists, border security is one aspect that everyone agrees needs improvement. Building a fence, a “Great Wall” of America so to speak, is cost prohibitive and geographically impractical. Additionally, a fence presents a negative psychological barrier, because, unlike the Great Wall of China, this fence, in this country, directly contradicts the immigrant foundation of which we as Americans are so proud. To provide for better border security, we need to begin by beefing up our enforcement efforts with more Border Patrol agents who are better equipped, and have better mobility.
Our best and first lines of defense against unauthorized immigration are the US Border Patrol agents who monitor our thousands of miles of border and hundreds of access points. Their goal is not to harm those trying to enter the country illegally, but to be a presence in an attempt to prevent them from crossing. Additionally, they watch and attempt to rescue those who endanger their own lives by trying to cross into the deserts, which surround much of our southern borders. The 2010 federal budget allows funding for 20,000 border patrol agents, a significant increase in manpower, and this is a step in the right direction. An additional 10,000 agents would allow better coverage of the borders would provide a significant decrease in the flow of unauthorized immigrants. However, we cannot stop the flow with just additional agents but there is more that can be done to enhance the ability of these brave men and women to perform an often maligned and thankless job.
Border Patrol agents are in need of better and more effective equipment. There exists proven technology used by our troops in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, which could greatly benefit and increase their efficiency. UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) could provide real time surveillance of a larger portion of our borders than agents alone are able to. Ground scanning radar and infrared motion detection systems could provide agents with near instantaneous and location specific data for border incursions. Military style vehicles such as the HUMVEE would provide better mobility over the more rugged portions of our borders. A larger and more robust Border Patrol with state of the art technology is but one cog in the wheel of Immigration reform. It is imperative that we enhance US security by enforcing current laws affecting employers.
A major part of the immigration debate is the enforcement of employer violations of immigration laws. Most unlawful immigrant workers in the U.S. perform jobs that are low skilled and low wage. Employers hire these individuals for a multitude of reasons. According to Peter Cappelli, “Many employers seek illegal workers for the simple reason that it keeps costs down and means the companies do not have to invest in equipment and other capital improvements” (Para 11). Undocumented workers can be paid “under the table”, eliminating the tax burden employers bear for legal citizens. In many cases, a robust counterfeit document market provides undocumented workers with identification good enough to fool the average human resources manager. This creates a situation wherein employers may not ever know that an employee is working illegally.
It is abundantly clear that any immigration reform policy has to provide for better enforcement and larger penalties for employers who chose to violate the law. Enhanced and upgraded employee verification, perhaps with biometric technologies or counterfeit resistant identification requirements would greatly improve enforcement success. These steps combined with an increase in enforcement penalties against employers who violate the law would ensure that both employer and unauthorized worker understand that their illegal actions carry consequences. However, these two aspects only begin to address the problem that both lawful and unlawful immigrants face. We should also look closely at a major reform of our legal immigration policies.
Suppose we implement these first two ideas effectively. A complete overhaul of our legal immigration policies and agencies must occur. Horror stories of immigrants waiting months and sometimes years for an immigrant Visa are frustrating at best. As Michele Wucker writes, “If … you were an adult sibling from the Philippines and wanted a green card, as of December 2006, the government would not process your application unless you had filed it before June 1, 1984, a wait of nearly 22 years” (58). With all of the modern technology available to us today, this is inexcusable. We should be able to reduce the amount of time an individual waits for a US Visa. Just as problematic is the number restrictions placed on the work visas the State Department issues annually. Once new Visa holders are in the country, agents should follow up regularly with these individuals in an attempt to ensure compliance and to provide assistance with the naturalization process.
What do we do about unauthorized persons already living and working in the US? A massive deportation of them is not a workable option. How would we address the sudden hole in the workforce caused by the deportation of unauthorized immigrants? There has to be a common sense policy that addresses unauthorized immigrants as well. Blanket Amnesty, a policy that allows almost instantaneous citizenship to unauthorized immigrants, and has been enacted twice since 1980, has done nothing to slow down the flood of unauthorized persons entering the country. In fact, one could argue that these policies are responsible for an increase in the tide of immigrants entering the country illegally. However, you cannot just rip 12 million people from their homes, jobs and families without causing a great deal of harm both economically and familial. In addition, as many immigrant workers send a portion of their earnings to relatives, massive deportation could simply worsen the economic reasons in their home countries, a primary reason why they want to come to the US in the first place. Rhetoric aside, these individuals are already in this country, and the resources to arrest and deport them all just do not exist.
A policy that outlines a clear and concrete path to US Citizenship could go a long way towards reducing the number of unauthorized immigrants. Requiring immigrants to pay a fine (a flat fee) and learn both English and basic US History, would ease their transition into the legitimate workforce and into American society as a whole. This simple policy would go a long way towards ensuring that these individuals would be paying their share of taxes. Additionally, they would have a voice in the workplace that many of them do not have because of their illegal status.
It is clear that politicians on both sides use these immigrants as political currency. Many elected democrats figure that by preaching a policy of instant naturalization or amnesty, many of these immigrants will vote for their candidates in future elections. This has prohibited them from even considering many of the solutions mentioned above. Republicans on the other hand, seem hard wired to a policy that only provides for building fences and massive deportation. While these policies may appeal to extreme elements of the Republican base, it is a nonsensical approach to an increasingly difficult problem. Neither side seems to be willing to meet in the middle on the kinds of policies that would create an environment commensurate with our belief that we are a Nation of Immigrants.
It is time that we put away the partisanship that has crippled true reform on the issue of immigration. We need to explore and pass a policy that encompasses the ideas of enhanced border security, increased employer enforcement, reform to our legal immigration policies, a well defined naturalization process, and a process that provides a path to citizenship for those already in the country. It seems to me that we as a nation of immigrants need to make our voices heard to our elected representatives in the hope that we can fix a policy that is broken and unworkable.
Works Cited
Batalova, Jeanne. "Immigration Reform in the United States: Raising Key Questions." Generations 32.4 Print (2008): 73-79.
Lazarus, Emma. The New Colossus. Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York.
The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. "The Immigration Debate: Its Impact on Workers, Wages, and Employers." 17 May 2006. Web Knowledge@ Wharton. 2010
US Department of Homeland Security. Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009. Web. Statistical Analasis. Washington: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, 2009.
Wucker, Michele. "Fixing the Borders (Without a Wall)." World Policy Journal 23.4 Print 2006: 55-59.
