Thread: Legalizing Migrants Advocated

Legalizing migrants advocated

Copyright 2009 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
April 14, 2009 Tuesday
Arthur Raymond Deseret News

Legalizing most of the estimated 12 million undocumented residents of the U.S. would bolster the current economic downturn, raise wages for native-born employees and neutralize the increasing costs of immigration enforcement, according to a report released Monday by the think tank Immigration Policy Center, based in Washington, D.C.

During a Monday telephonic panel discussion, center director Angela Kelley said reforming current federal immigration policy was a near-term option for federal legislators to raise revenues. "We would suggest that immigration is low-hanging fruit for Congress that they can pluck as they consider steps for economic recovery," Kelley said. Where these new revenues would come from is outlined in the report issued Monday by Kelley's group, titled "The Economics of Immigration Reform: What Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants Would Mean for the U.S. Economy." The report, which Kelley described as a "synthesis of government and academic data," contends that immigration reform policy that integrates a large-scale legalization process would generate revenue by putting millions of currently undocumented workers on tax rolls for federal, state and local withholdings, and cultivate spending and investment by removing the hindrance of legal presence worries experienced by those who reside in the U.S. illegally.

Panel member Dan Siciliano, executive director of the Program in Law, Economics and Business at Stanford Law School, said legalization would bring members of the immigrant community into the same economic realm as legal residents and make them better contributors to growth. "We want to remove as much uncertainty as possible," Siciliano said. "Consumers who are a part of the 'above-ground' economy are better consumers ? spending more and growing our economy." Kelley said a successful legalization program would have to include requirements for the payment of taxes (including back-taxes), learning English, a record clear of serious legal convictions and proof of current or recent employment. Kelley also noted that legalization would benefit all American workers by eliminating the option used by disreputable employers to undercut wages by exploiting undocumented labor. The report cites net revenue tax gains in the range of $48 billion to $66 billion over nine years and highlights that while U.S Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement budgets have ballooned in recent years, it hasn't contributed to stemming the flow of undocumented immigrants, which the report says has tripled from 3.5 million in 1990 to the current 12 million residing the country. Wes Smith, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce's director of public policy, said Monday he hadn't seen the report, but the issue of widespread legalization and whether to consider it as part of immigration reform, was not a new argument. " As far as wading into the mass legalization process ? I think there are pretty good arguments on both sides of the issue," Smith said. "It's either an incredible expense to enforce current law ? or, the carrot approach, to figure out how to resolve this in a more pragmatic way." The Salt Lake Chamber has been closely involved with immigration reform efforts in Utah and pitched a framework for a guest-worker program to last year's interim immigration task force. The Utah Legislature passed a resolution in the 2009 session seeking federal waivers on payroll withholding issues that would aid in the program's implementation, though it appears to be on hold as some movement has taken place on immigration reform at the federal level. Last week, a senior administrative official to President Barack Obama told the New York Times that immigration reform would be addressed in the coming year and include looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal.

E-MAIL: araymond@desnews.com

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Arghhh. They are not "migrants" or "undocumented reisdents". They are illegal aliens who have broken and continue to break our laws.

What kind of twisted convoluted liberal logic is the above? Legalizing millions of those who violated our laws, borders, sovereignty and use stolen identities to apply for jobs and taxpayer benefits will result in more unemployment to Americans. Those jobs will be permanently lost to them. Illegal aliens invoking chain migration to bring in immediate and extended family members and the 5,000 to 10,000 allowed to illegally cross the border every week (per border patrol estimates) will all compete with Americans for what few jobs remain along with our health care, land, food, water, energy and other LIMITED resources. As soon as this group is amnestied employers will fire them and hire more illegally crossing the border every week because there is no e-verify, enforcement of any immigration laws and the borders remain wide open and will never be secure. The next wave will also be granted amnesty and thus the cycle continues. It all is about taking care of those illegally here at the expense of struggling and suffering Americans. What is it about illegal immigration that open borders butt wipes as that woman don't understand?

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Arghhh. They are not "migrants" or "undocumented reisdents". They are illegal aliens who have broken and continue to break our laws.

Considering how much the MSM has been calling illegals “immigrantsâ€

The same benefits claimed for legalization could be gained from having enforcement because there would be more pressure for businesses to search for and hire unemployed Americans.