This is the third post in a series about priorities for Congress and the second Obama Administration.
Priority #4, Tax Reform
---------------------
Priority #1: The
Fiscal Cliff
Priority #2: Reducing
the Federal Deficit
---------------------
The third priority
for President Obama’s second term is immigration reform. Immigration reform is long overdue in this
country. It has been a major national issue for the past quarter century, but nothing has been accomplished. We have a great
divide between the parties about what should be done. Democrats favor liberalizing our immigration
policies, whereas Republicans literally want to build a wall at our
borders. It is time to resolve our
political disputes, and do what is right for the human dignity and safety of
the immigrant population within our borders, for the aspirations of their
children, and to offer merit-based opportunity to foreign students and others who wish to join us.
Our immigration policies would better serve the interests of our country by providing better opportunity to immigrants.
Our immigration policies would better serve the interests of our country by providing better opportunity to immigrants.
Illegal
Immigrants in America
Let’s begin with our most intractable problem, our illegal
immigrant population. There are about
11.5 million illegal immigrants in America.
Of these, about 60 percent are of Mexican origin. Most illegal immigrants are long-term
residents of the United States; 86% of them have lived in the U.S. since before
2005. Illegal immigrants comprise more
than 5% of the U.S. workforce. Because
of their illegal status, these immigrants lack the basic protection of our
society; they are fearful to contact police and are subject to exploitation.
Amnesty for illegal immigrants has been provided in the
past. The largest single amnesty was
conducted in 1986, during Ronald Reagan’s administration. At that time 2.9 million illegal immigrants
were given legal residency in America.
There have been at least six other amnesty programs since then,
targeting particular groups of illegal immigrants for reasons of political or
economic asylum. Critics of amnesty
programs say that amnesty only encourages another generation of illegal immigrants
to cross our borders. It is impossible to
judge the validity of this argument. It
may be true, partly true, or incorrect.
The Republican response to the illegal immigrant problem was
represented well by Mitt Romney. Romney (and others) propose building a
2000-mile fence along the border with Mexico.
This would be about 20 times the length of the Berlin Wall. Romney recognizes that it is impossible to “round
up” twelve million people, but proposes to make life in America impossible for
illegal immigrants, causing them to “self-deport”. Romney proposes to require employers to
verify the citizenship of their employees, forcing illegal immigrants out of
work, and expecting them to “return home".
Romney and the Republicans seem oblivious to the fact that
this would cause a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions. There is no other home for illegal
immigrants. These are long-term
residents of the United States; their home is here. They have
no house, no apartment, no work and perhaps no relatives in their home
country. Nor does Mexico, or any other
country of origin, have the capacity to absorb this population of economic
refugees. It would be equivalent to
re-locating the entire populations of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska,
South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii,
and Idaho, to a place with no infrastructure or jobs to absorb that
population. It does not matter whether
the immigrants are forcibly deported or “self-deport”. They have no place to go. When Romney proposed this plan through the
course of several candidate debates, I do not understand why someone did not
call in a loud and strident voice “FOR SHAME!”
President Obama supports two proposals regarding illegal immigrants. The
first is the Dream Act, legislation originally proposed in 2001 to provide a
path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants who succeed in
American schools or participate in our military. This
legislation was blocked by Republicans in the 2010 Congress. Following Obama’s re-election, some
Republicans proposed a watered-down version of the same legislation, hoping to
curry favor with Hispanic voters. A compromise version of the legislation will
probably be adopted in 2013. President
Obama also supports a broader path to citizenship for all illegal
immigrants. Obama suggests that illegal
immigrants pay a fine and demonstrate fluency in English to be granted legal
residency and a long-term path to citizenship.
This proposal will be more contentious.
The Republican Party has spent twenty years building a position opposing
illegal immigrants; it will be difficult for the party to reverse course
Legal
Immigration to the United States
About one million immigrants are granted legal residency in
the United States every year. The number
of total immigrants has been fairly stable since 2001. Here are the categories of legal immigrants
in 2011:
Total
|
Family-sponsored preferences
|
Employment-based preferences
|
Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens
|
Diversity
|
Refugees
|
Other
|
1,062,040
|
234,931
|
139,339
|
453,158
|
50,103
|
168,460
|
16,049
|
Family Reunification
Family reunification has long been the centerpiece of
American immigration policy. Until the late
1950s, America’s immigration policy allowed legal immigrants to extend
immigration to only spouses and minor children of immigrants. Since then, however, immigrants have been
able to sponsor parents, siblings, and adult children. This policy has not only come to represent
nearly half of all legal immigrants, but has created a backlog of fifteen to
twenty years for immigrants of this category.
Employment-Based
Preferences
This generally refers to immigration sponsored by an
employer. Many U.S. companies, and
foreign companies operating in the United States are multi-nationals. These companies often find it necessary to
transfer employees to locations where their experience and specialized
knowledge are needed. When I worked for
a U.S.-based multi-national company, the most difficult country to transfer
employees was the United States. To
transfer Americans to another country was simple; to transfer foreign employees
to America was a circus. The process was complex, involving months of
legal shenanigans and meaningless procedures to justify a simple transfer of a
company employee.
Diversity
For aspiring immigrants without sponsorship by family
members, an employer, or refugee status, the only option is the Diversity
category of immigration. Every year a
small number of immigrants are selected through a random lottery. About 25,000 immigrants are selected as
winners, out of an applicant pool of about 9 million; the remainder of the
allotted 50,000 quota are filled by spouses and children of the winning
applicants. The odds of successful
immigration are somewhat less than three-tenths of one percent. In other words, immigration to the United
States without special connections is virtually impossible.
There is no part of the United States immigration process based on merit.
Conclusion
Over the next four years, the Obama administration should
set a priority to reform American immigration policy. Goals should be to provide protection and
human dignity to all immigrants; to provide merit-based opportunity to those
who wish to become Americans, and to serve our country’s interests in obtaining
high-quality workers in our industries. New
policies should provide legal residency to most of our long-term illegal immigrant
population, should provide merit-based opportunity for immigration, and should serve
American industry by allowing companies to hire the foreign workers needed in
our economy.
1) Establish legal residency
for our illegal immigrant population.
2) Provide a path to
citizenship for immigrants brought into the country as children.
3) Provide
opportunity for the best foreign students earning degrees at U.S. universities
to legally remain in the U.S.
4) Provide
merit-based opportunity for general immigration, in addition to the current
diversity lottery system.
5) Simplify the
process for U.S. companies and multi-nationals to transfer employees to the
United States, for temporary or permanent assignments.
6) Reduce the number
of adult relatives of U.S. citizens granted permission to immigrate, in order
to accommodate larger numbers of merit-based immigrants.
-------------------------
References
11.5 Illegal Immigrants in the US in 2011, population
unchanged from 2010.
Of the current population, only 14 percent entered since
2005.
Mexicans are 59 percent, but 68 percent of arrivals since
2000.
Achieve Act.
Applies to young people who were brought to the United
States before the age of 14, and currently under the age of 32. Must have earned a college degree or be
working on a college degree, or have served in the military. Does not grant a path to citizenship, only
legal residency. Denies any government
benefits.
Might apply to as many as 1.2 million immigrants.
Of the 11.5 million illegal immigrants, 8 million are in the
workforce, or 5.2 % of the workforce.
There are 2.1 million Illegal immigrants between the ages of
12 and 35 Obama’s proposed “Dream”
act. However, other provisions of the
legislation would restrict benefits to only about 825,000, because many of the
immigrant children did not receive enough education, speak English fluently, live
in poverty or are already in the workforce.
Seven amnesty laws have been passed since 1965.
Interview with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, following one
of the primary debates.
More Romney “self-deportation”. Romney calls for an undefined “transition
period” in which immigrants would be allowed to work here legally, but would
later be required to leave.
672,000 foreign students in US colleges and universities in
2008-9. New international student
enrollments rose by double-digits in 06 through 09 (8%, 10%, 16%).
Top sending countries were China, India, S. Korea, Canada,
and Japan.
International students contribute $17.8 billion to the US
economy.
Foreign (non-immigrant) college enrollment).
2010 : 691,000,
increase from 286,000 in 1980.
2010: 20.55 million
total. 7.849 million part-time/12.701
million full-time students.
Male: 8.904 total
. 3.172 million
part-time/5.732 million full-time students
64% full-time.
Female: 11.645
total. 4.678 million
part-time/6.967 million full-time students.
60% full-time.
International students increased to 764,000 in 2011/12
school year. Continuing increases
indicated by surveys in 2012.
International students less than 4% of total US higher
education.
194,000 students from China; dramatically increased from
about 60,000 in 2007.
Women comprise 44 percent of international students; steady
increase from 81 to 01, fairly flat since then.
STEM fields 41%; business and management 22%.
International students contributed $22 billion to US economy
in 2011.
Women: 64% of US
study abroad students.
Every year, over 50,000 illegal immigrant children graduate
from US high schools. These students are
unable to receive state aid to attend higher education.
Limited temporary employment permission is available to
international students for the purpose of additional training.
Student visas.
The INS exercises close control on international
students. Employment can only be
limited to on-campus work.
Self-explanatory.
Many articles and blogs.
House of Representatives voted to eliminate the visa lottery
Dec. 4, 2012.
Right-wing view of tech immigration. The visa lottery issues 55,000 “diversity”
green cards annually, under a random process (by country?).
Immigration statistics.
Over 1 million people obtained permanent legal immigrant
status in 2011. Over 1 million per year
since 2001, except 2003 & 2004.
No comments:
Post a Comment