Illegal Immigration – Pros and Cons

I am still trying to figure out how I feel about all the illegal immigrants in this country and the various action plans floating around to deal with them.  My gut reaction is not kind, but I know there is much more to the picture than what my knee-jerk emotions are telling me.   I do know that many legal immigrants that I have spoken to resent the illegal immigrants that have not jumped through all the hoops they have, yet seem to be able to stay in this country unbothered.

Towards the end of clarifying my thought process I thought I would gather up some of the arguments, favoring and oppositional.

We have a tendency due to our dysfunctional political system to not act, to drift, to let the status quo rock on.  This should not be the case with immigration reform as the current system is full of abuse, personal and systematic.   Since the Federal government is not acting, states are stepping up to the plate.  I tend to think the hodge-podge of policies that will result from this will not be good for the country as a whole.  We need a national, coherent policy.  I will also list some of the proposed solutions that I find.

My aim is not to come to a conclusion at this time.  It is to just gather information / arguments.

Arguments favoring the illegal immigrants:

1. Opinion polls favor controlling the border and integrating illegal immigrants already here.  They do not favor mass deportation, self or otherwise.
2. It would be very costly to deport 11 million people.  Government estimates put the figure at around $285 billion
3. What would be the world’s perception of the USA if we forcefully deported 11 million people?  I’m thinking not good.
4. Illegal immigrants provide the bulk of the farm labor and keep American produce competitive
5. There would be an adverse economic impact from running off a big portion of lower end work force.
6. For skilled workers (IT, engineers, medical, etc) the competition for them is global.  Current immigration policies are hurting our competitive ability to attract these workers, and thus our competitive edge as a country.
7. Current immigration policies are a relic of another time and need to be revamped.  The current ones have more to do reuniting families and are European centric.  Current immigration is predominately from Latin America and Asia.
8. Mexicans are the majority of illegal immigrants.  Mexico is one of our biggest trading partners.  You cannot say yes to money and no to people.
9. Current immigration policies and NAFTA are creating turmoil in Mexico and Central America.
10. Illegal immigrants are lured by jobs, but are essentially outside the legal system.  This leaves them open to all sort of abuses.  Abuses in the work place and abuse outside.  Apparently, kidnapping illegal immigrants and forcing ransom from relatives in the mother country is big business.  It continues because they have little recourse under the current system
11. As working conditions deteriorate due to employer abuse of illegals it affects Americans in the same work place.  Legalization would stop the downward pressure on wages and benefits.
12. Many religious groups see it as a moral imperative to stop the abuse this group is experiencing. Making a place for them here is also seen as moral responsibility since so many have fled bad conditions
13. Wage theft is rampant against undocumented workers.  This hurts all workers.
14. Mexicans immigrants assimilate slower than other immigrants. This has been associated with their illegal status.  I can see this also being an argument for stepping up border enforcement.
15. Aggressive enforcement has pushed border crossings to desert areas.  This results in fewer being caught, more deaths, and once here reluctance to go back due to difficulty of crossing.
16. Legalization would prevent work place abuse, raise wages, and hopefully push them into insurance freeing up emergency rooms.
17. It would reduce crime.  Currently there is a huge criminal enterprise involved in smuggling illegals, providing false documents, and who knows what else.

Arguments oppositional to the illegal immigrants:

1. We might have to accept some sort of strong national identity card
2. Illegal immigrants are characterized as crooks since they broke laws to enter this country.  There is strong opposition to giving 11 million “crooks” amnesty.
3. Illegal immigrants are a burden on our medical, educational, and social net programs
4. Most agricultural workers in this country are foreign citizens, the vast majority illegal, estimates are 50 to 75%.   The current belief/rhetoric is that Americans will not do this work, especially at the wages being paid.  Higher wages would make American produce uncompetitive.  (Unrelated thought – what if we got back to a family farm model and away from the huge agri-business corporate model we now have)
5. Current system forces farmers to accept fake documentation.  This is a result of a court ruling. All sides know it is illegal, but continue anyway.
6. Illegal immigrants are union busting.  That is not their intent, but their willingness to accept lower wages and poorer working conditions have that result.
7. Collapse of wages and benefits in those trades with a high illegal immigrant penetration.  (Last two items may be a favorable or oppositional argument depending on your politics)
8. Real loss of citizen’s jobs where illegal immigration has taken place.
9. Many illegals caught are going to private prisons.  I’m not sure we are not creating a perpetual motion machine by making their internment a for-profit business.
10. Providing illegals a path to citizenship is unfair to the multitude of immigrants that came here legally

Proposed solutions/remedies:

1. Each state could pass their own laws in regards to illegal immigration.  Currently 44 states have a multitude of bills under consideration.  12 states are looking at laws patterned after Arizona’s law.  This law effectively results in self-deportation as the illegal immigrants want to avoid the police.  This would have a tendency to just push the problem from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
2. Work place reform so that all workers are legal and a wink and a nod are eliminated
3. Better border enforcement and prosecution of human smugglers.
4. A real guest worker program that meets the needs on both sides.
5. A path to legal status for the 11 million (or more) illegal immigrants that are already here and have established lives here.
6. We might have to accept some sort of strong national identity card.
7. Levy a tax on all monies transferred to Mexico.
8. Strip illegal immigrants of access to any social net services.

Sources/Resources:

1. River Front Time – Return to Sender: What would comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds got moving?
2. ImmigrationProCon.org
3. Little Known Facts in the Immigration Debate
4. Balance Politcs.org Immigration
5. Wage Theft is Rampant in America
6. Measuring Immigrant Assimilation in the United States
7. Cato Institute: Mexican Migration, Legalization, and Assimilation (excellent article worth the time to read in its entirety)
8. Three Immigration Myths Meet the Facts
9. Why Women Who Pick and Process Your Food Face Daily Threats of Rape, Harassment and Wage Theft