Immigration
Reform
Current
United States immigration policy must address two primary areas of concern; one
area of long-term structural importance to United States immigration policy and
the other area of a stand-alone, one off incident that achieves most attention
and news coverage. The first immigration
policy area of concern that is of long-term structural importance to the United
States deals with the kind of immigrants our system attracts and allows to
immigrate. Our current immigration policy
does not place enough emphasis on attracting and retaining educated and highly
skilled immigrants and foreign students studying in the United States. The current policy’s lack of ability to
attract and retain educated and skilled immigrants places the United States at
a competitive disadvantage in comparison to other developed countries with more
progressive immigration systems such as Canada and Australia. Even if the United States is able to educate
its own citizens to meet the requirements of a more technology based economy, which
it is not currently doing, the results from education will take ten years or
more to manifest. The United States
needs educated and skilled immigrants for the economy to thrive in the short
and intermediate terms until gains in our education system can take effect. The second immigration
policy area of concern is dealing with the approximately 12 million people who
have entered and now reside in the United States illegally. While these 12 million people are a side
issue to long-term structural immigration policy reform, their situation has
captivated and occupied the lion share of media coverage on any immigration
debate and become the all-encompassing center of any proposed immigration
debate in the United States federal government.
Without addressing the issues of the 12 million people illegally
residing in the United States, enacting long-term structural reform that will
allow the United States to compete internationally for the workers its economy
needs will not be possible. The United
States must provide a solution that brings these 12 million illegal residents
out of the shadows, allows them to contribute to the mainstream economy, and
address the cause of the massive 12 million illegal resident problems.
With
all of the considerations discussed in the previous paragraph, I advocate a two
pronged immigration reform policy. The
first prong is aimed at long-term structural change to the United States
immigration system in order to attract more educated and highly skilled immigrants
from around the world. The second prong
is to bring the current 12 million illegal residents out of the shadows,
contributing to the United States economy, and to provide a solution to the
cause of the phenomena that allowed them to enter and reside illegally in the
United States. In order to attract
educated and highly skilled immigrants to the United States I advocate that the
United States place a clear emphasis on these immigrants in our immigration
system and make our policies more like those of Canada and Australia who are
attracting more educated and highly skilled immigrants per capita than the
United States. The American economy has
changed greatly from the late 1800s to our present time, the type of jobs our
economy requires have changed along with our economy. The United States economy in decades past had
a much greater capacity to absorb and provide jobs for uneducated and unskilled
immigrants, currently the United States economy has a relatively lower ability
to absorb and provide jobs for uneducated and unskilled immigrants, our
immigration system and policy should reflect these changes in economic
conditions. And finally, I advocate a
policy that legalizes all of the 12 million illegal residents without a criminal
record currently in the United States as legal guest workers and provides those
who wish with the option of a path to citizenship, those who choose not to
become citizens may remain as legal guest workers. A path to citizenship for the 12 million
illegal residents in the United States will not be a broader policy initiative;
it will be a one off policy that applies specifically to the 12 million
illegals currently residing in the United States and will not be extended to
future individuals who illegally gain entry and reside in the United States.
The
United States was founded by immigrants from Europe and enriched throughout the
ensuing years by immigrants from every corner of the world.[1] The United States for much of its history had
a largely agrarian economy which was bolstered and enabled by large areas of
cheap or free land for internal migrants and immigrants to cultivate.[2]
Americans expanded westward at an incredible rate. Farming and farm work at that time were types
of work that did not require a formal education or highly trained skills. Many immigrants had been farmers or farm
laborers in their countries of origin, continuing their profession in North
American with perhaps more and higher quality land. Farming also is a profession in which
language skills were not of paramount importance given that farms tend to be
more isolated and the work requires minimal collaboration compared to other
professions at the time. A lawyer or
salesperson for example must effectively communicate their ideas and what they
are selling to the native speaking population, compared to a farmer who mostly
toils alone with their family on an isolated plot of land. Given the availability of land, low education
and skill requirements for entry, and lack of language requirements,
agriculture was a very attractive profession for many immigrants to the United
States. Given that from the creation of
the United States up to the industrial revolution in the late 1800s the
majority of the American economy was employed in agriculture, the United States
had a very large capacity to absorb large numbers of uneducated and/or
unskilled immigrants, being able to provide suitable jobs on which to live on
for immigrants.
The
industrial revolution transformed the American economy, adding new kinds of
jobs for uneducated and/or unskilled immigrants. Millions were able to find work in factories
within the metropolitan areas of cities.
Factory jobs provided similar opportunities that farming occupations had
previously in American history. The vast
majority of factory jobs required no education and very little if any specific
skills. Performing a specific repetitive
task over and over again also comes with few language barriers to entry. Factory jobs were jobs that not only
uneducated, unskilled internal migrants from farms could perform but also
uneducated, unskilled immigrants without significant command of the English
language could perform as well. The
industrial revolution provided millions of immigrants with occupations in the
United States; from Italians to Germans to Eastern Europeans to Chinese to many
other types of immigrants. While urban
conditions in immigrant areas would be considered by today’s standards beyond
deplorable, the American economy was able to provide suitable jobs for
uneducated and unskilled immigrants in sufficient quantities for the United
States to absorb large numbers of uneducated and/or unskilled immigrants.
In
1950, the economic sector break down of employment in the United States
incorporated both agriculture and manufacturing in large proportions, the
United States still had the economic capacity to absorb large numbers of
uneducated and/or unskilled immigrants.
In 1950 approximately 25% of workers were employed in agriculture and
45% were employed in manufacturing, make a 70% share of Americans employed in
either agriculture or manufacturing.
While land had been mostly claimed and utilized, the agricultural
industry could still offer large numbers of labor jobs that required very
little if any formal education, skills, or English language skills. The overwhelming number of those employed in
manufacturing were employed as workers, occupations that still had very few
barriers to entry from education, skills, and language. Given that 70% of the American economy
revolved around agriculture and manufacturing the United States in the 1950s
had the ability to absorb large numbers of uneducated and/or unskilled
immigrants.
Currently
agriculture represents between 2% and 3% of the American workforce and
manufacturing represents 16% of the workforce.
Combined agriculture and manufacturing, the traditional areas of
employment for uneducated and/or unskilled immigrants without English language
skills, represent at most, rounded up 20% of the American workforce. This is a 50% drop in share of the workforce
from 1950 for agriculture and manufacturing.
Compared to past economic conditions in American history, agriculture
and manufacturing are not industries able to absorb large numbers of
immigrants. With the increased
mechanization of the agricultural industry, fewer uneducated and/or unskilled
workers are needed, and the workers that the agricultural industry does need
are educated workers who can operate increasing complex and computerized
machines. Employment in the
manufacturing industry is little different from the agricultural industry. After decades of outsourcing which saw the
manufacturing share of jobs in the US economy shrink drastically, manufacturing
jobs are starting to return to the United States, but they are not the
manufacturing jobs of previous eras.
Manufacturing is becoming increasing more automated and
computerized. These new manufacturing
jobs require those with education and specific skills to operate more automated
and computerized manufacturing equipment and factories. An example of the increased automation and
computerization of American factories lies with Nike. Nike has moved some production of shoes from
Vietnam to the United States. They have
not moved to the United States because American labor cost have gone down or
because Vietnamese labor costs have risen sharply, they are moving production
back to the United States because Nike has developed a machine that can produce
the main components of a single show on its own. Their new machine can perform the jobs that
many workers use to perform and without fatigue and greater uniformity. Nike needs educated workers to operate their
new, more complex machine, which is a significant capital expense. What one gleams from the agricultural and
manufacturing employment data is that the agricultural and manufacturing
sectors are no longer large enough to provide suitable jobs for large numbers
of uneducated and/or unskilled immigrants.
Today the United States economy is
comprised much less of agricultural and manufacturing jobs. Jobs and occupations in service industries now
employ the majority of Americans.
Service sector jobs require a greater knowledge of the English language
and general English proficiency. Unlike
agricultural and manufacturing jobs in past American economic eras, service
sector jobs have a language barrier to entry.
When
one considers the fact that the agricultural and manufacturing sectors comprise
a substantially smaller portion of the American workforce, two areas which have
historically been the largest providers of jobs to uneducated and/or unskilled
immigrants, and the substantial growth of service sector jobs, with their
increased language barriers, as a proportion of the American workforce, one
irrevocably comes to the conclusion that the United States in 2014 does not
have the same capacity to absorb large numbers of uneducated and/or unskilled
immigrants lacking English skills as it did in previous eras of large scale
immigration. If immigrants want to find
jobs that can support themselves and possible their families, they will need to
have knowledge of the English language and be much more educated or skilled
than immigrants in the past. Many
politicians who make comparisons to the economic potential of immigrants in
past eras of immigration to the United States are often making false comparisons
with eras of different economic realities for immigrants. The United States lack of economic capacity
to absorb large numbers of uneducated and/or unskilled immigrants without
language skills should be a primary and very powerful motivator towards
adopting an immigration system and policies that favor higher proportions of
educated and skilled immigrants with knowledge of the English language. Our immigration system and policies should
reflect our economic capacity to provide jobs for incoming immigrants.
Canada
and Australia have changed their immigration systems to primarily attract and take
in a large proportion of educated and highly skilled immigrants with knowledge
of English. These types of immigrants
are the most likely to be financially successful in their new countries and by
most measures are much better integrated into their receiving societies than
other immigrants. Their financial
success means they are substantially less likely to utilize public assistance
programs and the overwhelming vast majority contributes more money in taxes
than they consume in government benefits and programs. Compared to other types of immigrants, the
educated and highly skilled immigrants are a much better value proposition for
the destination country. Educated and
highly skilled immigrants are also more likely to hold liberal and tolerant
western views on such topics as women’s rights, religions freedom and the right
to offend, freedom of speech, tolerance for other races, and other western
values. Given that they contribute more
than they receive from the government and that they are better integrated into
societies and culture of their destination countries, educated and skilled
immigrants provide a better value to western countries.
Currently
there is a mismatch in employment in the United States. Employers are unable to find employees who
meet the qualifications for jobs being offered.
In fewer places is this mismatch illustrated in starker contrast than in
Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley, the
birthplace and center of the technology industry, is unable to find the
quantities of programmers and engineers they require. Many prominent Silicon Valley executives,
such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, have personally lobbied the Obama
administration to advocate for immigration reform to allow them to hire more
qualified programmers and computer engineers as well as making it easier for
foreign students studying in the United States to come, stay, and work in the
United States. The tech industry in Silicon
Valley needs adequate numbers of qualified workers to continue growing and
maintain its position as the leading technology center in the world. Immigration reform is needed to give Silicon
Valley the workers it needs.
The
United States needs reform to the structure of our immigration system. If the United States wishes to remain
competitive in the world, it must prioritize educated and highly skilled
immigrants and admit more educated and highly skilled immigrants than
uneducated immigrants without skills. I
propose the United States adopt immigration policies similar to those of Canada
and Australia in order to augment the United States economy.
The
second prong that I have proposed requires finding a solution that allows the
12 million illegal residents in the United States to come out of the shadows
and contribute to the American economy and provides a solution for the cause
the illegal entrant phenomena, while giving the 12 million illegal residents as
many options as possible.
One
must start with the fact that the 12 million illegal residents have gained
entry to the United States and barring an extreme outlier event, they are here
to stay. Physically and forcefully
removing the entire 12 million people who have illegally gained entry into the
United States would be an expensive and draconian process that would not be
optimal economically or morally pleasing.
Currently there are no serious[3] proposals
in the federal government that involve physically removing and deporting 12
million people. It would seem that the
American people and their elected officials do not wish to separate families
and remove members of communities in mass and thus have rejected the idea of
mass deportations. The United States is
then left at an impasse; continue with the status quo which involves 12 million
people not fully contributing to the United States economy and living lives in
the shadows or providing a way to legalize their status in the United States
thus allowing them to contribute more fully to the United States economy. The economic benefits of legalizing the 12
million illegal residents in the United States far exceed the economic benefits
in our current status quo. Without
question a legalized status for the 12 million illegal residents is vastly
preferable to the current status quo, considering that these 12 million people
will remain in the United States whether legalized or not.
I
advocate for a multiple tiered program that legalizes all 12 million illegal
residents without criminal records to work and live in the United States,
provides a path to United States citizenship for those illegal residents who
wish to become citizens, and provides some degree of alleviation for the cause
of the illegal resident phenomena so that it can be diminished or wholly
avoided in the future.
The
first tier should be the legalization of the 12 million illegal residents
without a criminal record. I advocate
creating a one year registration period, during which those illegally residing
in the United States may register with the United States government and if
found to not possess a criminal record, will be granted guest worker status in
the United States. Guest worker status
will not entail the recipient to American citizenship, but will allow the
recipient to legally work and live in the United States. A guest worker may travel back and forth to
their country of origin freely to visit family and make use of the legal
banking system to transfer money. The
will pay United States taxes on income earned in the United States and have the
same access to public services as legal residents. Legalizing the 12 million illegal residents
who do not possess criminal records will allow them to more fully contribute to
the United States economy and will be economically beneficial for the United
States. At the end of the designated one
year registration period, any illegal resident who has failed to register with
the United States government or has a criminal record will lose the ability to
become a guest worker and if discovered will be deported. Currently the United States has a policy of
not pursuing illegal residents past the border[4]
and not pursuing illegal migrants who are living illegal in the United
States. After the one year registration
period has expired, the policy of United States border and law enforcement will
change. Law enforcement will
aggressively pursue illegal migrants past the border conduct investigations
into illegal residents who are living in communities throughout the United
States. If discovered these illegal
residents will be deported to their country of origin. The above described policies will be enacted
in order to deter future individuals who seek to gain entry illegally to the
United States. These harsh laws are
designed to demonstrate that the guest worker status conferred on the current
12 million illegal residents without criminal records is a one-time provision
that will not be extended to future illegal residents.
Giving those of the 12
million illegal residents who do not have a criminal record guest worker status
should be part of a larger initiative to reinstate a general guest worker
program with Mexico and Central American countries. Lack of economic growth and general economic
stagnation in Mexico coupled with strong economic growth in the United States
created significant push and pull factors for mass scale Mexican immigration
into the United States from the 1990s to the 2007 financial crisis. The quantity of Mexicans demanding entry to
work in the United States far exceeded the quantity of immigrants the United
States was willing to accommodate which created an imbalance which lead many
Mexicans who could not enter the United States legally to gain entry
illegally. The economic recession
following the 2007 financial crisis combined with stronger economic growth in
Mexico has very much eliminated the previous push and pull factors for Mexicans
to seek illegal entry into the United States.
Many studies actually show a decrease in the illegal resident population
in the United States as many Mexicans choose to return home to Mexico. While the conditions that created the
current12 million illegal resident phenomena in the United States have abated,
it is not unreasonable that they may come into being and persist again in the
future. The United States needs to
provide a workable solution to prevent another phenomenon of mass numbers of
illegal residents.
I propose the United
States reinstall a guest worker program to provide a legal avenue for Mexicans
and Central Americans seeking to enter the United States to work but who do not
wish to become citizens. A legal guest
worker system will provide a constructive way for the United States to channel
the forces causing Mexicans and Central Americans to gain entry to the United
States legally or illegally. A legal
guest worker system will give the United States a degree of control over the
phenomena of illegal migration by giving would be migrants a legal outlet which
the United States retains control over.
A legal guest worker program can also bring economic benefits for the
United States economy without the cost of providing services to citizens. It will allow United States employers to
access a ready pool of labor for which they need and American citizens are not
able to fill. The United States
government will also gain tax revenue from the work performed by guest
workers. Several countries around the
world have utilized guest worker programs successfully, a prime example being
Germany. The German guest worker program
has been incredible successful in the filling the labor shortages brought about
by decreasing German fertility rates.
Giving Mexicans and Central Americans who want to work in the United
States guest worker status instead of citizenship also fits into larger
immigration reform aimed at reorienting the United States immigration system
towards educated and highly skilled immigrants.
The average Mexican and Central American immigrant is uneducated and
unskilled by Mexican and Central American standards, let alone American
standards. The average Mexican and
Central American immigrant also poses little if any practical knowledge of the
English language. Compared to
substantially more qualified immigrants from other geographic and
socio-economic areas who are much more educated, skilled, and possess knowledge
of English, Mexican and Central American immigrants are undesirable for the American
economy of the present and future. A
guest worker program allows the United States to utilize workers for a the
economic needs they are needed for, provide a legal outlet for the pressures
encouraging millions of people to seek illegal entry and residence in the
United States, as well as complementing an immigration system which seeks to
attract educated and highly skilled immigrants with knowledge of English.
After legalizing those
of the current 12 million illegal residents without a criminal record as guest
workers, the United States should then provide those who wish, the option of
entering into a process that would lead, those who choose to participate, to
American citizenship. After the yearlong
registration period has ended and those of the 12 million illegal residents
without a criminal record who wanted to register have registered and been
awarded guest worker status, another yearlong registration period should be
allowed for those with newly granted guest worker status who wish to enter into
a process of becoming an American citizen.
As of the time of this writing, members of the Republican and Democratic
parties in Congress had agreed on a 13 year time span[5]
for a process of obtaining American citizenship for the 12 million illegal
immigrants. Therefore, I propose a 13
year process, for those of the 12 million illegal residents who are granted
guest worker status, to become American citizens. This process towards American citizenship
will be entirely optional and each individual will have a year after being
granted guest worker status to decide.
If they wish to remain guest workers and legally work in the United
States they may retain that guest worker status for the rest of their
lives. Perhaps many who choose guest
worker status believe this course the best economically or have a patriotic
passion for their country of origin. Whatever
their reason, the decision to become an American citizen is entirely their
decision. After the one year
registration period for the American citizenship process has expired, those who
choose guest worker status will not be able to reenroll and will not have the
option of becoming American citizens.
For those who choose the 13 year process to become American citizens,
there will be no option of holding dual citizenship. Becoming an American citizen through this
special citizenship process requires the successful participants to renounce
the citizenship of their country of origin and all the rights that country’s
citizenship entails. Whether one chooses
to remain a guest worker or chooses the path towards United States citizenship,
all of the 12 million illegal residents without criminal records will be
legalized, brought out of the shadows, and contribute fully to the United
States economy.
If the United States
adopts the course of action described above for the 12 million illegal
residents in the United States, the United States will be able to most
effectively resolve the unique political situation of the 12 million illegal
residents, enabling the United States to address long-term immigration
reform. By providing the 12 million
illegal residents without criminal records the option between being a legal
guest worker and becoming an American citizen, the United States is allowing
the 12 million illegal residents to choose their outcome. While many elected public servants may
disagree with and oppose allowing some of the 12 million illegal residents to
become legal guest workers instead of citizens or become citizens instead of
guest workers, at the end of the day I believe it best to give those directly
affected more options to decide their fate and how they wish to live their
lives.
As a final note on the
proposed solutions to the 12 million illegal residents in the United States,
increased spending on border security and on law enforcements ability to locate
and arrest those who gain illegal entry and illegally reside in the United
States will have to accompany these proposals in order to appease certain right
wing elements in the United States Congress.
While a waste of the United States’ scarce resources, however increased
funding for border security and law enforcement is a political necessity that
must accompany the other proposes in order to enact them. This small inconvenience and waste is worth
the benefits of the overall package.
[1]
This statement is not claiming that people did not live and prosper within the
geographic limits of the current United States.
Native Americans were the first inhabits of North America. The United States was derived at its
formation on the model of a European nation state. The original 13 colonies were modeled as
extensions of European nation states. It
is solely in reference to origins of the United States under the modern nation
state model that predominates the world today and has for the at the very least
the past 300 years.
[2]
Again it should be noted that a portion of this land was already occupied by
Native Americans. Given the policies and
views toward of the federal government and general population at the time to
the legality of Native American claims to land, one can consider the vast
majority of ‘unsettled’ land open for internal migrants and immigrants.
[3]
Placing a large emphasis on the word ‘serious’
[4]
The 12 million people illegally residing in the United States come from a wide
range of origin countries from around the world. But we must recognize that the overwhelming
vast majority of illegal residents in the United States originate from Mexico
and Central America. Any resolution to
the current 12 million illegal resident problem in the United States must take this
previously mentioned fact into account.
If in the course of this essay I insinuate or associate illegal
residents with Mexico and Central America, it is only in recognition of the
majority.
[5] In my
opinion, 13 years is a bit long, but given that both relevant political parties
have agreed on this number and how rare agreement between these parties has
become these days, I will use it for the sake of efficiency.
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