The Senate and President Barack Obama recently released separate, but fairly similar, outlines for immigration reform. Since immigration policy has been a dismal failure for multiple decades, it is an exciting prospect to see the federal government “fix the system.” Unfortunately, neither the Senate’s Gang of Eight proposal nor President Obama’s proposal will do anyone much good in the long run.
The American immigration system is hardly effective. It makes it difficult for potential immigrants to come to the country legally, and in turn undocumented workers cross the border for work and many people overstay their work or education visa (or worse, leave after their education visa runs out). More so, many undocumented workers arrive in America via inhumane ways. Clearly, fixing the immigration system will benefit all parties involved.
However, plans put forth are practically non-starters. There are some positives, such as getting back taxes and fines from undocumented immigrants who wish to become documented. It is important for the government to officially know who is in the country, and it is beneficial for immigrants to become documented.
But there is no provision in the plans that will reasonably stop illegal immigration in the future. The Gang of Eight proposed E-Verify and other border security measures. The problem is these plans will probably never happen because they are so-called “triggers” in the legislation. They are meant to go in place eventually, which in Washington speak means never or in a weakened form so bastardized from the original intention it might as well not be implemented.
Even more, these control measures will be expensive and ineffective. Secure borders and controlled immigration are important goals, but the facts speak louder than hopes and wishes. E-Verify has been ineffective in Alabama, where it is already implemented, and the federal government should use that experiment as a warning not to waste the time and money. And if history has taught us anything, it’s that if there is a border, people will get around it.
The mix of unpromising enforcement tactics and the promise of de facto amnesty will ensure nothing but the necessity to address immigration reform again in the next 30 or so years.
So, what should be done? Immigration reform needs a way to control immigration. The best way to do this is to make the legal channels for immigration easier. This does not mean America needs to make citizens out of anyone who asks, but willing workers should have a flexible way to get a visa and legally work in the States. It means the American and Mexican governments—let’s be honest, immigration reform is really geared toward south of our border—need to work together to make sure that citizens are coming in safely and legally.
Reformer wannabes in Washington could look to the European Union and its labor agreements. They could draft a freedom of movement for workers that allows Mexican workers easily accessible paperwork, in order to freely find work in America. Or perhaps they could create a guest worker program that does not tie workers to a single employer or field, but to employment in general. The United States doesn’t need to make immigration tougher—11 million undocumented immigrants show that they will go to great lengths to work in America—they need to make it more enticing to go through the legal channels. If Washington tries to make visa, guest-worker programs and high-skilled immigration less of a pain in the ass, it will do more to control the borders than any fence could.
Surely allowing for more legal workers to migrate to America will raise some questions. When can workers begin to collect government benefits? What will the path to citizenship look like for those just looking for work? These are more long-term issues our representatives need to worry about, but they only seem to care about how these reforms will affect the next elections.
Hopefully, Washington will take time to look to fixing long-term issues in the immigration system. Immigration is an economic as well as a humanitarian issue. The American people deserve a government plan that will be enforceable. Immigrants deserve a safe way to get here and get documented so that they can work to their benefit, as well as to the benefit of the larger economy. Until the politicians aim to fix the system in the long run, their plans don’t deserve the title of a reform.
Matt Beaty is a senior majoring in computer science and mathematics. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
