Thread: Honest Immigration, America's Laws are a Tangled Mess

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny- ... -headlines

Honest immigration
America's immigraton laws are a tangled mess
August 7, 2005

Bienvenido, amigo! Welcome to the United States! If you can make it over the wire-topped wall and past the U.S. border patrol on the other side, you may proceed to build a shadowy life for yourself right here in the good old Land of the Free. We only ask you to bear in mind El Norte's rules of the road:

Because you're here minus papers, you must agree to endure sweatshop wages. But cheer up. Your income will still beat what you made back home. And it'll probably be tax-free, since you don't exist on the government's books.

If you mind your manners, the cops and school administrators in cities like New York won't report you or yours to federal immigration authorities. That's because we Americans - somewhere in our hearts - appreciate your pluck and contribution to our economy. We also appreciate the fact that you do indeed exist on our streets, in our hospitals and in our legal, and not-so-legal, rooming houses.

And yet, on occasion, we reserve the right to look the other way and let bosses and landlords take advantage of you. That's because you are illegal, and there's just so much we can do. On other occasions, we Americans may let the cops chase you out of your rooms and into the woods. It often depends on the whim of the political winds.

But please understand that America is a steadfast nation of laws.

All right. America has a problem.

Its immigration system is thoroughly dishonest. It must be fixed - with new laws that let officials admit low-skill workers in proportion to the demand for their services, and with policies that aim to shrink drastically America's large illegal communities.

Our current laws are a tangled mess.

America presides over one of world's largest economic machines. Hungry for labor, this behemoth virtually begs workers to ignore our stubborn laws and run, walk, swim or fly to get here. And that is precisely what they do.

The result? Many folks make money.

But on the down side, this system is cynically corrosive. While it gives the United States the labor supply it needs - the laws be damned - it encourages undocumented people and many millions of regular citizens to condone illegal behavior as normal. This isn't good. For all our failings, we must at least strive to be a nation of laws.

There's another problem. The current system fails to protect from exploitation the 11 million or so illegals who live in this nation now - including 400,000 in New York City. Their lives, like their job records, often stay off the books. This means bosses can fail to hand over paychecks and landlords can overcharge. Fearing deportation, who's going to scream?

Meanwhile, off-the-books workers sustain a hidden economy that offers a slap in the kisser to taxpayers.

Consider: Long Island's visible economy comes to about $122.9 billion a year, explains Pearl Kamer, the Long Island Association's chief economist. She says the Island's underground economy - the wages, say, of some landscapers or painters or dishwashers - might possibly add another 15 percent to 20 percent onto the Island's economy. Bottom line: At a minimum, some $18.4 billion a year may be going untaxed.

Protecting borders

One other reason to fix the mess: Americans need national borders they can defend - against terrorists, against drug dealers and against arms retailers. That task gets impossibly tricky when our borders have turned into sieves thanks to powerful economic tides.

So what should Washington do?

Well, it can't change these tides, nor should it. Like it or not, immigration will be a fact of U.S. life for eons to come. All things considered, that's a promise for more economic vitality. But how can Washington control this tide and make it legal?

The best answer is this: Through a smarter application of the visa system. As the American Immigration Law Foundation notes, about half of all job openings until 2012 will be for folks with a high-school education or less. Many Americans will be over-qualified. But many immigrants could find that these jobs match their skills well.

And yet, says the foundation, our visa program aims disproportionately at high-end workers. Only one of the government's five categories of visas for permanent immigration status is aimed at "less-skilled workers." And that category is capped at 5,000 visas per year. True, the feds have 16 visa categories - based on employment - for temporary workers. The trouble is, only two are open to workers with meager skills, says the foundation.

In short, federal officials are geared up to greet a flood of rocket whizzes and computer geniuses. This is fine - the more talent we can pack into our midst the better. But besides the elite, American employers need to open more legal immigration pathways into the United States for the backbone of the work force - from slaughterhouse workers to farm hands.

Free-market approach

Unfortunately, our visa supply fails to meet the market's demand for such workers. That's one reason why our borders are so insecure. The best way to bring honesty to the system? Congress should adopt a free-market approach in matching willing workers with willing bosses.

Washington is awash in immigration-reform legislation now. But any workable package will need to ensure that the labor market functions smoothly - to the benefit of American taxpayers, the border police, honest employers and work-ready multitudes from throughout the world.

The McCain-Kennedy immigration package looks especially strong in this regard. Sponsored by the odd couple of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), it stands a reasonable political shot. It sets out in a clear-eyed way to match willing workers with jobs that need doing.

But it does come loaded with a huge conundrum. What about the 11 million illegals who already live and work in our midst? Should we make them legal - that is, simply give them amnesty? Wouldn't that just encourage more lawbreaking? Should we send them home and make them start the process over again? Wouldn't that just prompt them to burrow deeper underground?

Avoid amnesty

McCain and Kennedy are shooting for a compromise. They say they want to avoid amnesty, which is a truly wretched idea. But they don't want to send them home, another bad idea. They would fine them, make them pay back taxes and send them to the back of the green-card line. No one knows for sure how all this might work.

But it is the best plan on the table. And it can only improve our current immigration situation, a reality show that demeans outsiders, even as it makes the rest of us look like helpless chumps.

HEY!! Wake up and Listen!!

American Immigration Laws ARE NOT A "TANGLED MESS".

That's a lie.

Americans are clear on their desire to have these laws enforced to the letter.

That's the truth.

The problem is traitors like John McCain and Ted Kennedy who don't know what PEOPLE elected them and WHO they are paid to represent.

What's the solution:

DEPORT CONGRESS that couldn't fix its own zipper without calling Vicente Fox to say, "what do I do, Amigo?"

Since Vicente Fox can't fix his own zipper....the US Congress has become completely incompetent, unrepresentative of its constituents, and is therefore irrelevant with their ZIPPERS down and their impotency hanging out for all the WORLD to see!!

the Minutemen -- doing the job Congress won't do