Immigration Debates

Part 3 of 3 on Immigration Issues

Mike Scruggs

The Republican Presidential debates, and especially the Las Vegas debate on October 18, reflect the fact that the public is increasingly aware of the damage being done to the American economy and job market by illegal immigration.

Fourteen million Americans are unemployed according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics U-3 report, which does not reflect the full magnitude of the tragedy. The more comprehensive U-6 report indicates that nearly 25 million Americans want a full time job but cannot find one. That is an effective unemployment rate of 16.5 percent. There are other problems, too. The wages of American workers have failed to keep up with inflation over the last decade, despite the fact that their productivity has continued to increase. A huge portion of this decline in real wages is due to a massive increase in wage competition from both legal and illegal immigration in the last decade. Many American families have kept up their standard of living by going deeper into consumer debt. This does not bode well for future consumer spending, investment, and job growth.

As Harvard economist George Borjas, a Cuban immigrant, has pointed out, the net U.S. economic benefit of immigration over the last two decades has been about $10 billion per year. But this relatively small benefit is offset by an annual fiscal drain of over $100 billion per year on federal, state, and local governments for the education, healthcare, social welfare, and law enforcement costs associated with illegal immigration. To this must be added a less visible economic cost estimated at more than $250 billion annually in American wages suppressed by competition from low-paid illegal immigrant labor. American workers, families, and taxpayers are being hurt badly by poorly informed immigration policies. Even more unconscionably, they are being hurt by deliberate Federal Government failure to enforce our immigration laws.

Eight million illegal immigrants hold U.S. jobs, while 25 million willing American workers cannot find full-time work. We can no longer allow political candidates to ignore or dance around immigration issues. Yes, “America is a nation of immigrants,” but we do not want that to be the epitaph on our national tombstone.

The Las Vegas debate audience and the American public had to endure some misguided distractions about Mitt Romney’s hiring a lawn service that employed an illegal immigrant, but two candidates, Romney and Bachmann, directly endorsed E-Verify as a means of reducing illegal immigration and saving American jobs. Several others, including Perry, also recognized the need to cut off the “jobs magnet” that draws illegal immigrant workers to a “don’t ask-don’t tell” employment market, where respect for U.S. law takes a back seat to easy hiring of cheap foreign labor.

I strongly agree with NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck that securing our borders is not nearly enough to significantly reduce illegal immigration and the number of illegal immigrants in the country.

NumbersUSA (numbersusa.com) has come up with a five-point plan that Beck believes will cut the number of illegal immigrants in the country by half within six years. Here is a brief description of the five:

1. Turn off the jobs magnet. The best way to do this would be to pass House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith’s Legal Workforce Act. This would make E-Verify mandatory for all employers within two years. Smith’s bill also strengthens E-Verify by making it apply to new hiring as well as existing personnel. Cutting off the jobs magnet would deter most illegal immigrants from coming to the U.S. and cause most of the existing illegal workforce to self-deport within a few years.
2. Turn off other magnets. The three most important of these are Birthright Citizenship, non-payment of hospital and medical bills, and in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants. There should be no Red Carpet treatment for lawbreakers.
3. Secure the Border. Build whatever fences or other physical barriers are needed to secure our Southern border. In addition, increase border surveillance by advanced technology and more Border Patrol boots on the ground. Border Patrol manpower must be raised to a sufficient level to do the job.
4. Fully implement a check-in/check-out system. We have 45 million foreign visitors each year but do virtually nothing to track them after entry. Nearly 40 percent of illegal immigrants do not have to sneak across the border. Why should they? All they need is a tourist, student, or work visa, and they can disappear into the country with little fear of being punished for immigration violations, identity theft, document fraud, or tax evasion. This measure is also a matter of national security and public safety.
5. Enforce existing Deportation Laws. Most of the illegal immigrants identified by law enforcement each year are not deported. Most illegal aliens facing a deportation hearing simply abscond. Only about four percent of illegal aliens wind up being deported each year. This is destroying the credibility of effective immigration enforcement.
   

To these measures I would add a strong warning. Never again should the U.S. pass an amnesty by any name. According to a 2010 CNN poll, 66 percent of U.S. adults oppose amnesty or an easy path to citizenship. With good reason! Amnesties beget more amnesties and—judging by the aftermath of the 1986 amnesty—multiply the number of illegal immigrants by a factor of two to three within 10-20 years. Do the math. Do we need 20 to 30 million more illegal immigrants? This would not only bankrupt the country but would also change the electorate. The Democrat Party wants amnesty because the new electorate would guarantee liberal Democratic dominance forever. Republicans should not accommodate their own demise.