The current political debate is quickly becoming about the past, rather than the future. There is a depressing parallel between policymakers who are arguing about who did or didn’t vote for the war in Iraq instead of what to do in Iraq, and the debate about securing the border to prevent the arrival of immigrants who are already here. Focusing on 9/11, the authorization of war in Iraq, and the past positions of candidates on immigration is backward-looking and facile. A much more difficult–and much more productive–debate on foreign and domestic policy would focus on what to do now. In terms of immigration, the massive demographic shift occurring in the U.S., involving legal and illegal immigrants as well as their children, has already taken place. Immigration already happened. However, ideology is distorting the debate, and the dominant political discourse makes it politically costly for politicians to try any clear-eyed problem-solving.
We cannot afford to let our emotions cloud the very important task of determining what we should do about the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants that are within our borders. The fate of so many people will have long-term ramifications for our schools, our communities, our economy, our identity as a nation of immigrants and yes, for our political parties (see this Wall Street Journal article for more on how immigration policy could have an impact on how immigrants vote in the future).
If we haven’t even started the primaries and the immigration debate is already so debased, you can be sure that no matter which of the many sides you are on when it comes to immigration, what you won’t see in the coming months is anything resembling a solution.
-Amanda Levinson | Director of Policy Programs
I agree with you – the debate is not about immigration. There are so many on both sides of the issue who have boiled the topic down to bumper sticker slogans, which make little sense, and pose no solutions.
I am not even certain the debate should be what to do about the 12 million-odd illegal immigrants in the US – not yet anyway.
The debate should be about what we are going to do to ensure we have a productive workforce of Americans, and those who wish to become Americans, while being able to keep out those we don’t feel will be productive members of our society. Not everyone who wants to come to the US deserves the opportunity – we have no way to enforce that today.
Once we have the power to decide who gets to come in and who doesn’t, then you’ll find a lot more support for doing “the right thing” about those who are here already, as we have through most of our history as a nation.
1. First thing to do seal the border ASAP even if we have to bring troops back from Iraq to do so. Stop in inflow of illegal immigrants.
2. Enforce existing laws by.
A. Penalizing employers of people who came here illegally so it
hurts enough that they stop employing them , when there are no
jobs for them the illegals will leave.
B. Change Federal Laws to allow all levels of government
( STATE, COUNTY, & MUNICIPAL )to assist in the
enforcement of our immigration laws.
C. IMMEDIATE DEPORTATION OF ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHEN THEY
ARE DISCOVERED.
3. Change existing laws so people here illegally can not receive and financial support from any level of government (taxpayer dollars) for anything, and do not grant citizenship of offspring born to illegal immigrants. Make English our OFFICIAL LANGUAGE and ONLY CONDUCT ALL GOVERNMENT FUCTIONS IN ENGLISH !
It disturbs me that a HSG contributor would be so completely devoid of any compassion. Of course, a country has to have borders or it’s not a country. And of course we have to enforce our laws. But these people are not essentially different from us, they are human and often desperate. Their countries have not solved the economic and population problems that push them here where we are so fortunate and have so much opportunity.
John is correct that we’d limit illegal immigration if we punished employers. We’d probably also crush our own economy. Construction companies would close, huge numbers of working mothers would lose nannies, and all the hotels and restaurants and subways that depend on those workers would be in desperate straits. And soldiers on our borders! What a public relations nightmare that would be. Haven’t we engendered enough anti-American sentiment with pictures from Iraq? If not enough people hate us, allowing sick or injured people to die rather than treat them at taxpayer-supported hospitals would do it. Worse, our wobbly moral compass would go completely off course.
The only reasonable suggestion John makes is that children of illegal immigrants not be granted citizenship. If our education system improves the lot of a child who should not be here in the first place, then he should go home to his own country and improve the lot of others. The citizenship of the parents should determine the citizenship of the child.
The only humane, as well as economically feasible, answer to the problem of illegal immigration is a guest worker program. It is the only good idea of this administration and it makes perfect sense. Workers are needed here to do jobs Americans won’t do, and much of their money is sent back home, a form of foreign aid. If their contributions are legitimized by a federal guest worker program, they can be granted rights and protections, and then, instead of swelling the U.S. population, they can go home again when their families are economically more stable.