Thread: Editorial: Bipartisan Balancing Act On Immigration Benefit

Editorial: Bipartisan balancing act on immigration would benefit all

Mercury News Editorial

Article Launched: 04/15/2007 01:44:35 AM PDT


President Bush and the Democrat-led Congress are butting heads on many policies. But both sides agree on one thing: the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Our current system, which hasn't been overhauled in two decades, doesn't work for anybody: high-tech workers, undocumented immigrants and their families, students, employers, legal residents or citizens.
Passing a bill that wins bipartisan support in the House and Senate won't be easy, but the need is greater than ever. Witness the mad rush a couple of weeks ago for the 65,000 H-1B visas available for skilled workers in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 - the government received so many applications on the first day that it stopped accepting them a day later and now will pick recipients by lottery.

To achieve a workable bill, lawmakers must balance the public's conflicting feelings about immigration. The legislation must ensure that undocumented immigrants already here can work toward citizenship, allow employers to bring in workers needed for both high- and low-skill jobs, preserve families and strengthen enforcement of immigration laws going forward.

An impossible task? The Bush administration and congressional leaders don't think so. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., hopes to have a bill ready for a Senate vote by the end of May. And Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who leads the subcommittee crafting the House legislation, plans to send her version to the floor by the August recess.

A balanced immigration bill should follow these key principles:

A path to legal status for immigrants already here illegally: Like it or not, as many as 12 million undocumented immigrants are already living and working in the United States. Deporting them all isn't realistic, and neither is leaving them in the shadows. So let's offer those who have steady jobs some kind of provisional residency while they pay fines and any back taxes. If lawmakers feel an additional penalty is needed, they could make these provisional immigrants wait longer to sponsor family members for visas.

A temporary-guest-worker program for agricultural and other low-skilled workers: Immigrants are crucial to farming and other low-wage, labor-intensive occupations. Allowing them to come in and work legally for three years with one renewal would serve employers' needs while also reducing the exploitation that comes with undocumented status.

An overhaul of the H-1B visa program: It's abundantly clear that the United States cannot hire enough highly skilled, foreign-born workers to fill its needs, from computer engineers to nurses. Visa caps for those workers must be raised across the board, with priority status for the highest-skilled, such as students who complete graduate school here and want to work for U.S. companies. At the same time, Congress must boost oversight of the visa program to make sure companies are truly paying market wages and giving U.S. workers a fair shot at skilled jobs.

Reform the "green card" system: The current system for granting permanent residency favors family unification over visas for workers. Caps need to be significantly increased to accommodate the need for more workers. And processing times must be sped up.

Tougher enforcement of immigration laws: The U.S. needs to make it harder for people to enter the country illegally. In part, that means boosting the staff and technology dedicated to border enforcement. But because most people come here to work, it's vital that employers be required to verify workers' identity and immigration status - or face sanctions. At the same time, the government needs to make it easier for employers to perform those checks.

Fair treatment for children: Children should not suffer for the actions of their parents. Children born in the United States or brought here by undocumented parents shouldn't be denied basic benefits, such as medical care and in-state college tuition, that they otherwise would be entitled to if their parents were legal residents.

Polls say Americans, and Californians in particular, want to give undocumented immigrants in this country some kind of pathway to legal status. Yet they also want an end to the porous borders and lax enforcement that contribute to the seemingly endless abuse of our immigration laws.

Congress and the president must address both concerns, wrapping in provisions to also bring in the skilled workers that this nation needs to compete in global markets.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5672684

At the same time, Congress must boost oversight of the visa program to make sure companies are truly paying market wages and giving U.S. workers a fair shot at skilled jobs.

Why not unskilled jobs too? My uncle was a contractor and he paid his roofers and others over $15/hr 10 years ago (in the NE area of US) with a few years experience. Why do they make $7/hr now in AZ? Yes, he had to train them, but he still made huge profits on the houses he built. Market wages should go up from year to year, not stay stagnant or go down just because illegals are willing to work for peanuts.

Steph wrote:

At the same time, Congress must boost oversight of the visa program to make sure companies are truly paying market wages and giving U.S. workers a fair shot at skilled jobs.

Welcome Steph!!!

The entire point of bringing in foreign workers is to increase labor supply and thereby lower American wages. Traditionally, the market place has taken care of this. Shortage of widget makers, high wages to the few there are, then, the people looking for jobs see companies need widget makers. People get trained as widget makers and then there is no more shortage, wages even out.

This way business doesn't have to wait for labor, they just open the flood gates to foreigners, automatically dropping American's salaries. They're going after the skilled workers now. Socialism on the march!

That editorial sounds like Bush wrote it.

We all need to send Rep. Zoe Lofgren an e-mail and tell her we do not want the rest of the country destroyed like they did California, thank you!! and please do not use anymore of my tax money to support Califorina's failing schools, hospitals, social services, jails and law enforcement.
You want sanctuary cities and comprehensive immigration reform well then you should pay for it, not the rest of the country that is trying to fix it and not through amnesty to millions of people. Just try, attrition through enforcement instead of repeating the same old, very old mistakes!!

[quote]
Polls say Americans, and Californians in particular, want to give undocumented immigrants in this country some kind of pathway to legal status. /quote]

ONE BOGUS POLL. 80% of Americans DO NOT want a "pathway" to citizenship. 80% don't see why we can't deport illegals like all other countries can. Our country can afford to do it. Also, take the jobs away, and the ilegal aliens will go home on their own.