http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.d ... E/61208003

Con: The costs of undocumented immigration outweigh the benefits




by Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington D.C.
Special to The Desert Sun
December 8, 2006

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It is critical to distinguish the reform that the public seeks from the deceptive package the immigration lobby is peddling. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) feels now is the time to speak out about "true comprehensive immigration reform."

The evidence that illegal immigration and mass immigration are harming our country is overwhelming and irrefutable. Congestion, environment, crime, health care, education - the costs are too high to continue to bear.

Since immigration burst on the scene some 20 years ago, the term "reform" has been associated with those who believe large-scale illegal immigration is a serious problem that needs reducing. FAIR has educated the public the past 25 years on the need for true and comprehensive reform while opponents claimed a problem did not exist.

Recently, the political winds have shifted. As opponents learned the majority of the American public is "pro-reform," they tried to wrap their defense of unchecked record levels of illegal immigration as being "reform measures" when, in fact, they will "deform" our already broken system.

True comprehensive immigration reform, as FAIR believes it to be, must adhere to this set of immutable principles:

1) Cut the numbers. Any level of illegal immigration is unacceptable, and current legal immigrant admissions of about 1 million people each year are entirely too many. Immigration is a discretionary public policy to advance the interests and security of the nation.

2) No amnesty or mass guest-worker program. The 1986 amnesty was a failure; rather than reducing illegal immigration, it led to an increase. Any new amnesty measure will further weaken respect for immigration law. Laws against illegal immigration must be enforced. Redefining illegal aliens as "guest-workers" or anything else is an attempt to hide the fact it is an amnesty, not reform.

3) Protect wages and standards of living. Immigration policy should not be permitted to undermine opportunities for America's poor. The need for guest workers must be determined by objective indicators demonstrated by rising wages. The current system accepts self-serving attestations of employers who seek lower labor costs.

4) Upgrade interior enforcement with strong employer penalties. Employers who knowingly employ unauthorized workers are the magnet that attracts illegal entry into the U.S. We must reform the current system by enforcing employer sanctions and punishing employers who break the law. Punishments will be fines, jail for repeat offenders, and loss of corporate charters. No U.S. industry has jobs in which there are no American workers. If illegal workers are decreased over time, wages will rise to again attract American workers. Real shortages can be met with short-term temporary foreign workers.

5) Stop special-interest asylum abuse. Reforming the refugee and asylum system means returning to the original purpose of the program: to provide protection "because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion...." America must honor its responsibilities to protect people fleeing true political persecution. Efforts to expand those definitions to include all forms of "social persecution" invite massive fraud and endanger the security of this nation.

6) Immigration time out. We must restore moderation to legal immigration. Beginning with the recommendations of the Jordan Commission in 1995, we need to restrict immigration consistent with stabilizing the U.S. population. Overall immigration must be reduced to balance migration, while permitting nuclear family reunification and a narrowly focused refugee resettlement program. We should abolish the extended relation preferences.

7) Equal under the law. There should be no favoritism or discrimination against anyone because of race, color, creed, or nationality.