ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FINALLY BEING ADDRESSED

We have an immigration problem in this country.

The population of the United States will double in less than 60 years. We have the highest growth rate of any industrialized country in the world. The Population-Environment Balance organization fact sheet points out that over 70% of the United States’ annual population growth results from immigration, and a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center indicates that there are approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. today, 78% of them from Mexico and Latin America.

Another area of concern is the fact that there has been a large increase in the number of illegal immigrants from South Asia and East Asia; reports by the media indicate that the authorities are seeing non-Hispanics crossing our border with Mexico.

How do we eliminate the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States? Some people say our concern with illegals is unimportant, because most illegal immigrants have jobs and are law-abiding. (94% of the illegal males hold jobs.) Also, immigrants are filling jobs most Americans don’t want, and these jobs are a key part of our economy. From what I have read, the Catholic Church, other partisan organizations, and immigrant rights advocates are against the detention of illegal immigrants and those who arrange or assist in the activities associated with bringing them into our country. Their approach appears to be to ‘open the door’ and let all who want to enter come in, and greet them with open arms. This is a very Utopian idea but represents extreme risk for Americans in today’s world. There are reasons for having immigration laws. They are to protect the American population. Today more than ever, because of the threat of terrorism and the fact that we are at war with an enemy who preys on civilians, our government must know who is entering the United States, where they are working, being educated or trained, etc.

The House of Representatives this week passed a bill (H.R. 4437) that is aimed at gaining control over illegal immigration. A major component of this legislation will require all employers to use a new automated employment verification system. Since most illegal immigrants are coming to this country for better jobs than they can get in their homeland, this system is a key part in any immigration reform. Per Rep. Ken Calvert, “Turning off the job-magnet that encourages people to flout the law” is necessary if we are to gain control of our borders. The system will do a lot to ensure a legal workforce, and would reduce identity theft. H.R. 4437 will change the undocumented presence of immigrants from a civil offense to a felony offence, will plug existing loopholes in the law to ensure that those who arrange and assist in illegal immigration are prosecuted and convicted, will erect 700 miles of wall along our Mexician border, and will add new surveillance systems for border patrol. All of this is a good start in getting control of a bad situation. I hope the Senate will pass this bill and sent it to President Bush for signing.

Advocates who want legislation that would provide legalization of undocumented workers already here have an idea that has merit when you look at the fact that 7.2 million immigrants are employed, and the cost to our economy of repatriating them to their country of origin. They say, and I agree, we need to guarantee legal immigrants proper treatment in the work place.

This Bill (H.R. 4437) is a good start. Congress should also quickly revisit the key points of President Bush’s Immigration Proposal:

* Workers in the United States illegally can join a temporary labor program.

* Those workers then can apply for permanent U.S. residency, but they will receive no preferential consideration.

* Employers hiring these workers must show they cannot find U.S. laborers to fill the jobs.

* These undocumented workers get guaranteed wage and employment rights.

* These workers receive a temporary three-year visa, renewable once. They are expected to return to their countries once their visas expire.

* Congress will be urged to increase the current annual limit of 140,000 green cards.

* The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will administer the program.


This said, we must keep in mind that there is a limit to the number of people our country can physically support. I will address this in a future posting.