I am no immigration expert, and I don’t even play one on TV, but there is plenty of accurate information readily available about America’s immigration system, if anyone wants to actually understand it. At the end of this post I will include links to a number of articles and reports from a variety of sources, including the CATO Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Brookings Institute, and the Economist.
First of all, there is no immigration “crisis.” That doesn’t mean that as a nation we are doing a good job managing the issue of immigration. But it does mean that our current system, though badly broken, is not endangering the republic.
Our current immigration situation is the result of decades of inaction and inattention. Eleven million unauthorized immigrants did not get here overnight. The mismatch between the goals of our immigration system and the needs of the U.S. economy did not develop yesterday.
While clearly not optimal, our failure to implement an effective immigration system is neither taking jobs away from Americans nor boosting America’s crime rate. Unemployment is at a near-record low, and crime has been declining in this country for fifty years. The loss of low-skilled jobs is far more attributable to automation and offshoring than to immigration (legal or illegal). Please note that automation, offshoring, and the hiring of illegal immigrants are actions performed by American businesses, and are not perpetrated by immigrants. (Except, I suppose, when immigrants become business owners…)
So, you have to recognize that the breathless warnings about the existential threat of immigration are a political stunt intended to use fear to fire up a certain segment of the voting public.
Our current immigration system is unsustainable. But so is our current system of health care, our deficits/national debt, our inability to fund infrastructure improvements, our college tuition costs, and our continued pumping of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere (just to see what will really happen…). We are headed down a lot of roads where we would really rather not go, but since immigration is the issue that most visibly energizes some voters, it is the pre-election priority of the current administration.
When we discuss immigration, we should understand what is really going on. Here are twelve facts about immigration in the United States:
- Congress hasn’t passed significant immigration reform legislation since 1986.
- There are about 11 million illegal immigrants in the US today. Many of them have been here for years as valued and productive members of their communities.
- Most illegal immigrants in the U.S. did not cross the border, they arrived legally and overstayed their visas.
- The rate of illegal immigration into the U.S. has been declining since before the current administration took office.
- Immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans.
- Immigration boosts the U.S. economy. Immigrants purchase goods and services, pay taxes, and provide labor for American businesses.
- Immigrants do not take jobs away from Americans.
- Illegal immigrants pay more in taxes (sales tax, property tax, and income tax withholding) than they consume in government services. They are ineligible for virtually all government benefits, including Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and food stamps.
- Immigrants are motivated to come here far more by conditions in their home countries than by anything we say or do here. Central Americans aren’t coming here because they want to pick vegetables or wait on tables. They can do that at home. They are coming here to escape violence.
- Our current immigration system does not support the needs of our economy for skilled workers. With a declining birthrate and an aging population, the United States needs an influx of skilled workers to maintain economic growth. Immigration can be part of the solution.
- There are far too few immigration judges handling far too many cases, which leads to a backlog that can leave immigrants waiting for years.
- A $20 billion border wall will neither remove illegal immigrants already here nor will it provide some of the skilled workers our economy needs.
Immigration reform is not some secret, dark art that only a few understand. The path we should be taking is pretty well-marked. We need a system that:
- Strengthens border security through an increase in the size of the Border Patrol, additional surveillance systems, and other measures.
- Increases the number of immigration judges, courts, and ICS agents to reduce the backlog of immigration cases.
- Determines the skills and abilities the U.S. economy needs and develops an immigration process that values and prioritizes those attributes. Many nations, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia use a points-based system to determine immigrant desirability and award the majority of visas to high-skilled workers while still allowing for family and humanitarian visas
- Addresses the existing backlog in our green card system by creating effective temporary worker programs for workers of all skill levels that can provide workers that American businesses need and reduce the motivation to enter illegally.
- Establishes an effective worker verification system for employers of all sizes to reduce unauthorized employment.
- Establishes a process that sets forth strict eligibility criteria for allowing the otherwise law-abiding individuals who are already here to earn legal status.
I am sure that this is the ultimate plan that the administration has in mind, they just haven’t announced it yet.
And here is a section of a report by the conservative CATO Institute:
“The overriding impact of immigrants is to strengthen and enrich American culture, increase the total output of the economy, and raise the standard of living of American citizens. Immigrants are advantageous to the United States for several reasons: (1) Since they are willing to take a chance in a new land, they are self-selected on the basis on motivation, risk taking, work ethic, and other attributes beneficial to a nation. (2) They tend to come to the United States during their prime working years (the average age is 28), and they contribute to the workforce and make huge net contributions to old-age entitlement programs, primarily Social Security. (3) Immigrants tend to fill niches in the labor market where demand is highest relative to supply, complementing rather than directly competing with American workers. (4) Many immigrants arrive with extremely high skill levels, and virtually all, regardless of skill level, bring a strong desire to work. (5) Their children tend to reach high levels of achievement in American schools and in society at large.”
https://www.cato.org/research/immigration
Sources:
https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/fall-2017/illegal-immigration-outcomes-us-southern-border
https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-dozen-facts-about-immigration/
http://fortune.com/2017/02/16/donald-trump-immigration-canada/
https://nypost.com/2018/09/23/why-the-american-immigration-system-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/how-experts-would-fix-the-broken-us-immigration-system.html
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/06/30/americas-immigration-system-is-broken
October 31, 2018