Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), was online Tuesday, April 11, at washingtonpost.com to discuss the immigration rallies in D.C. and around the nation Monday and the growing debate about the status of immigrants in the U.S.

FAIR is a "national nonprofit immigration reform group with some 200,000 members and supporters around the country." FAIR seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest—more traditional rates of about 300,000 a year. They do a tremendous job. Their web-site is:
http://www.fairus.org/

The Washington Post regularly hosts these interviews where anyone can ask a question. The Q&A starts with first a question and then a response from Ira Mehlman (FAIR), source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/po ... 041006.htm

Transcript follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rockville, Md.: I lived in Texas when the 'bracero" program was in effect and was happy that it resulted in better living conditions for the Mexicans and a source of workers for the farms. But farms used more people then - 1956-1958.

Now, I tell people "If you want to retire soon, thank a Mexican." This person, or someone from further south, is helping our aging population cope.

I want to move away from the current environment to a legalized guest worker program. Also, our two Mexican workers in the 50's wanted to return to Mexico. they were funding and supporting ranches in Mexico with their wages. They had something to go back to.

Ira Mehlman: If a generation of relatively affluent baby boomers expect that they will be able to spend their golden years on the golf course being supported by low wage immigrant workers who will have to fork over an ever larger share of the meager earnings to Social Security, they are going to be in for a rude surprise.

In the meantime, many of the resources that might have been used to help seniors, will have to be allocated to providing for these low wage workers and their families.

_______________________

Gaithersburg, Md.: Why do immigrants feel that they have rights in a country where they are not a citizen? Why should Americans feel an obligation to extend rights to people who do not respect our laws?

There is no debate here!

People have illegally INVADED our country, and we need to remove them and force them to enter this country like every one of our ancestors did, the legal way! Let's not make excuses, because this is an INVASION, and our history will forever be changed if we allow this to continue!

Ira Mehlman: Every nation has a sovereign right to protect its borders and its way of life. Immigrants -- legal and illegal -- act out of self-interest. There is no reason why Americans cannot also act out of self-interest in formulating and enforcing immigration policies.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Yesterday, a friend and I left work momentarily to watch the march for immigration rights proceed down 16th St, NW. From a distance we could see just a few people milling around the traffic circle. As we approached, we realized that the marchers--thousands and thousands of them--were going through an underpass. We watched from a railing as they waved flags and chanted passionately in Spanish and English. A veteran of anti-war and women's rights marches, this was perhaps the first that brought tears to my eyes. How could I not become emotional at the site of so many fellow Americans taking advantage of a truly American right--to make public their opinions and highlight their needs? I just wanted to tell you that yesterday's march will not leave me for a long time. I am so proud of the work you are doing.

Ira Mehlman: The question is, Who is marching to protect the millions of American workers who used to earn solid middle class wages doing many of the jobs now being done by illegal immigrants? Many people are justifiably outraged when companies outsource American jobs to lower wage workers overseas, but find no problem with "in-sourcing" low wage foreign workers to do jobs that must remain in the U.S.

_______________________

Oxon Hill, Md.: Rep. Tancredo claims that illegal do not pay taxes because they are all paid under the table - cash. Not true. There are many illegals who pay their taxes and also medical insurance - just like citizens. My question though is, after all the illegals are sent home, who will pay those huge credit card bills and others that these illegals have incurred? There is bound to be a domino effect if it is at all feasible to deport all illegals.

Ira Mehlman: Tancredo has never said all illegal aliens are paid under the table. But clearly many are -- no one would dispute that.

The attraction of illegal immigrant labor is that they work for low wages. Thus, even those who are paying taxes are paying them on very low incomes. If you consider that the cost of educating a child in the U.S. today is about $6,000 a year, if that low-wage illegal puts just one child in a public school, he is necessarily using more in government services than he is paying for in taxes.

_______________________

Reston, Va.: I am a naturalized citizen who immigrated here legally. I don't understand why people are turning this into an anti-immigration and xenophobia issue. This is about stopping illegal entry into our country. Then you hear the line, "they do the work no American wants to do." My father scrubbed toilets and washed dishes as an American. My mother works as a cashier at a 7-11 as an American. The coal miners risking their lives so that we can have electricity to watch TVs are Americans. They have no respect for the law. They can't obtain drivers licenses but they drive anyway...without insurance. So what's next? Nothing is stopping them from doing any of this.

Ira Mehlman: American workers are routinely insulted in a way that would not be tolerated if those same assertions were made about any other group of people. Americans work at all sorts of difficult and dirty jobs. What they expect is a dignified wage in return and we should not have government policies in place that deliberately undermine the ability of working Americans to support themselves and their families.

_______________________

Silver Spring, Md.: Would you be willing to break any laws to prevent your child from living in poverty?

Ira Mehlman: Would you demand that the law be enforced if the person breaking it was preventing you from keeping your own child out of poverty? Many Americans who used to do the jobs now being done by illegal aliens have a right to be protected as well.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: What is your reaction to Americans gathering to burn the Mexican flag?

Ira Mehlman: There is no justification for desecrating other people's flags.

_______________________

Plainsboro, N.J.: I am first generation immigrant - came in legally 26 years ago - naturalized citizen. I support legal immigration that can be changed based on the needs of our country. We are 200+ million legal citizens and residents who want the laws of the land to be enforced and obeyed. Why is no one mobilizing a similar grass roots march to show the politicians that they have to hear us - not just the law breakers

Ira Mehlman: American citizens and legal immigrants tend to get their message across at the ballot box. It does not have the same dramatic impact that mass street demonstrations have, but the politicians are aware that the folks back home, according to every poll, are vehemently opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

_______________________

Falls Church, Va.: I used to feel that the illegal immigrants should be sent home and made to come into the US in a legal manner. However, I saw a movie called 'A Day Without a Mexican' on cable one day and it really made me think hard about the U.S. policies. I now have a lighter attitude concerning immigration reform but I still feel that the folks coming in, if they want to stay, need to learn English.

Ira Mehlman: All of the jobs now being done by people from Mexico and elsewhere used to be done by American workers. These are not jobs that Americans won't do; they are jobs Americans used to do for better wages.

No society can flourish if it creates an entire class of exploitable people.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Mr. Mehlman,

Do you believe that there should be an increase to the minimum wage? By many of your responses, it seems that way.

Ira Mehlman: Yes, we should have an increase in the minimum wage. But, unless we also control the supply of labor, we will become a nation of minimum wage worker, working at minimally acceptable conditions. The minimum wage should be a floor, not a ceiling.

Also, if we do not enforce laws against hiring illegal immigrants, raising the minimum wage will encourage even more people to come here illegally.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Mr. Mehlman:

What exactly is your position with regard to this issue? Also, what, in your opinion, is most appropriate way to solving this issue? Thank you.

Ira Mehlman: We need to convince people there is no reason to come to the U.S. illegally, and if they are here, that there is not reason to remain.

We need to crack down on employers and dry up the availability of jobs to people who are here illegally. We need to limit access to public benefits and services to emergency ones only.

Over time, people will begin to understand that there is no benefit to crossing the border illegally and many who are here will get discouraged and leave. Not all, but many or even most. Not immediately, but over time. There is no law made by man or God that has 100% compliance, but we can do a lot better than the chaos that we have now.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: I understand the need for tighter control of the borders to prevent low-wage workers coming to the US and depressing the minimum wage.

My question pertains to the illegal immigrants already present in the United States. Do you propose we deport those immigrants back to their respective countries? If so, would that not place a heavier burden on the economy than say legalizing those immigrants and having them pay backtaxes and learn English?

If you do not support deporting immigrants, wouldn't asking immigrants to pay "all" their backtaxes end up depressing and impoverishing many of those illegal immigrants? Would it not make sense to have them pay a portion of their backtaxes, learn English while also clamping down on border security?

Ira Mehlman: We need to convince as many illegal aliens as possible to leave on their own by making it very difficult to work or collect benefits here.

As far as back taxes, how are we going to establish what they earned and therefore how much they owe? It will have to rely on their own attestations of what they earned. I'd like to just tell the IRS how much I made and then pay taxes on that amount. Wouldn't you?

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Your claim that immigrants take jobs away from Americans is just a fallacy. The employment rate is very high. That indicates that employment in the U.S. is running at very efficient levels, even given 12 million illegal immigrants. Removing the immigrants may provide short term gains, but in the long term, the loss of productivity and inflation that resulted would make the U.S. a much worse, and not better, place to live and work.

Ira Mehlman: The official unemployment rate does not include people who have dropped out of the labor market, working part-time, working at multiple jobs to earn as much as they used to earn at one, people who are self employed (a euphemism for occasionally employed in most cases).

If Americans were employed at higher wages the price of goods and services to consumers would probably rise moderately. But we are paying these costs anyway. They're just coming out of a different pocket. As taxpayers, we subsidize low wage workers, so we probably end up paying more in the end because we have gotten the government involved.

Cheap goods is not a justification for exploitation in any event. At least not since Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: I think our leaders created this situation because they couldn't be honest with the American people and say, "we want to allow more immigrants into the country legally". They knew, especially given the U.S.'s aging population and low birth rate, that increased immigration was beneficial to the U.S. economy in that it would boost GDP and reduce inflation. But our leaders were too chicken to explain that position to the U.S. people (perhaps afraid that xenophobes would run them out of office).

So they relaxed border enforcement and created the current issue. Let's deal with that part of the equation honestly first. Illegal immigrants are here because they were all but invited (and, except for generating some complaints about English skills, have been beneficial to the country). Why not recognize that, allow them to become citizens, seal off the borders, and increase -legal- immigration for the future.

Ira Mehlman: The question is, who did the inviting? The benefits associated with immigration tend to be concentrated in the hands of the immigrants themselves and their direct employers. For the rest of the population there is no benefit and for lower skilled workers in the U.S. there is a significant harm.

We need to define who the "we" we're talking about is.

_______________________

Re: your position: I appreciate your thoughtful reply to Washington, DC regarding the specifics of your position. You did not mention what to do with the folks currently here that entered illegally. What is your opinion on how to handle those folks. I am also curious about how to handle those that over stay their various visa types.

Ira Mehlman: We need to make it clear that they will not benefit by remaining. That means drying up jobs and limiting benefits. Deportation should also be an option, but realistically, we will only be able to deport a small percentage, the rest will have to be discouraged to a point where they give up and go home.

People who overstay their visas and people who sneak across the border should be treated no differently. They are all breaking the same laws.

_______________________

Montpelier, Vt.: One of the reasons that we don't see waves of illegal Canadians entering this country is that there are viable job markets in Canada...what are your feelings about what impact the US Congress can have on the Mexican government to influence Mr. Fox to stop the outsourcing of Mexican jobs overseas?

Do you feel that the U.S. should take the first step in bringing to a halt Corn exportation to Mexico, causing Mexico to grow their own?

Do you feel that U.S. employers who hire or use illegal immigrants should be fined? What methods are being used by employers that are thwarting efforts to detect illegal immigrant employee hiring?

Thanks

Ira Mehlman: One of the reasons that Mexico has never had the incentive to reform its corrupt political and economic system is that the U.S. has provided a safety valve for its unhappy, unemployed population. They send millions of dissatisfied people to this country, we provide for their needs while they're here, and the immigrants send $20 billion a year back to Mexico in remittances. Why should they change anything?

Clearly we need to rethink trade policies like NAFTA. It has not delivered on its promises. It is making rich people in Mexico and the U.S. richer, undermining the American middle class and making poor Mexicans even poorer. Just because you attach the word "free" to something, doesn't automatically make it good. Economies should serve the needs and interests of people, not the other way around.

_______________________

Bethesda, Md.: Can anyone tell me what the proposed legislation would mean for immigrants who do not have permanent legal status but currently have their green card application pending with Immigration?

Ira Mehlman: Given the bureaucratic nightmare of processing 12 million amnesty applications (and countless millions more fraudulent ones) there will be absolute chaos. The senators promoting this hare-brained amnesty scheme openly admit that they have no idea how it will be managed and executed. Kind of reminds you of how they planned the war in Iraq.

_______________________

Blacksburg, Va.: Reading all the entries and questions I'd like to focus on the other point of the proposed legislation,.... convicting family members, church parishes etc for the assisting of "illegal" immigrants? Can you please explain to me what benefit comes from this?

Ira Mehlman: This is a red herring. No one will be prosecuted for being a Good Samaritan. However, there are religious organizations that are actively involved in aiding, harboring and transporting people who are in this country illegally. They may believe that they are answering to a higher authority, but no individual and no institution can be above the law.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Don't our labor laws and employment policies need to be addressed along with immigration policies? Americans are not willing to pay $8 for a quart of tomatoes. Our demand for lower prices pushes wages down so that farmers can make a profit. Many citizens are not willing to work for the depressed wages. The supply for labor then comes from illegal aliens. It doesn't seem to me that we can have it both ways--high wages across the board and cheap goods/food supply/services et cetera. How do you see the labor policies fitting in with immigration reform?

Ira Mehlman: Tomatoes would not cost $8 a quart. First of all, labor is about a 10% component of the price you pay for produce at the supermarket. Thus, if we doubled every farmworker's wages a dollar's worth of tomatoes today would cost you $1.10 tomorrow. Second, many crops picked by hand in the U.S. are harvested by machines in other places because farmers here have no incentive to invest in expensive capital improvements. Forcing up the price of farm labor could actually result in cheaper produce in the long run.

_______________________

Bowie, Md.: Considering that the Democratic party is mostly dominated by people who see this as a civil rights issue and the Republicans who see an inexpensive labor supply, where is the political will for your position most likely to reach office holders?

Ira Mehlman: And you wonder why the American public is fed up with both parties?

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: All an employee has to show to an employer is a Social Security card and a drivers license. These documents are routinely forged and duplicated. Employers have payrolls that include multiple employees with the same or similar last name/address/ssn. But as long as the employee presents ID, the employer is not required to determine the accuracy of that ID. Big loophole and everyone is in on the game!

Ira Mehlman: There is no technological reason why we can't have a Social Security card that can be verified the same way as your credit card or your ATM card. If the government wanted to protect American workers and crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants the tools are available. The problem is a lack of will, not a lack of technology.

_______________________

Maryland : Should we change the law such that an illegal alien who gives birth here does not automatically claim citizenship for the child?

Ira Mehlman: We absolutely should. The 14th amendment was intended to grant citizenship to the emancipated slaves after the Civil War. The framers never intended for people to come here illegally and give birth to instant U.S. citizens. There are many constitutional scholars who argue that the policy can be changed without amending the constitution.

_______________________

washingtonpost.com: Thank you all for joining us today.