The problem with illegal immigration

by Jim Sorrells
May 22, 2006

The only thing "illegal" about "illegal immigrants" is that they
aren't documented. The only reason most of them don't have a card is
that they can't get one. The only reason they can't get one is that
we don't give out nearly enough for the people who want them.

Thus, one way to "get rid of" the illegal immigrants is to make
them legal by giving them cards. What would be the problem with that?
After all, they're already here. Will even more come? Maybe, until
word filters back that there aren't any more jobs.

I find it amusing that we are trying to force people to become
one geo-political entity who don't want to become one geo-political
entity, i.e., the factions of Iraq, while we keep trying to separate
two countries that are economically tied, i.e., the U.S. and Mexico.

I daresay that if all Latino immigrants who are here illegally
were suddenly to vanish (the movie, A DAY WITHOUT MEXICANS), the
following industries would virtually collapse, at least in some
areas: fast food, elder care, large sectors of agriculture,
housekeeping in private homes and in the hospitality industry, auto
maintenance, yard work, meat-packing, and construction, especially
home repair in New Orleans.

Ah yes, but don't illegal immigrants drive down wages? According
to most studies, the only wages that are driven down are for high
school dropouts, jobs that nobody else will take.

But don't immigrants drive up taxes through their use of schools
and public health services? According to a study by the National
Research Council, "The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and
Fiscal Effects of Immigration," each Hispanic immigrant household in
California received $5,000 more in federal, state, and local services
than they paid in taxes. On the other hand:

The Social Security Administration receives around $7 billion a
year in payroll taxes that can't be linked to valid names and thus
presumably paid by illegal immigrants. If this money were diverted to
states and local governments, it would pay about half the $5,000
difference between services and taxes.

Second, the NRC study also found that immigrants boost the GNP by
$10 billion per year. More workers means more output. This doesn't
count the self-employed immigrant entrepreneurs who own and operate
all kinds of businesses.

Third, the products of companies paying lower wages to workers
are presumably cheaper. Or to state the reverse, if the pool of lower
wage workers were to evaporate and higher wage workers hired, prices
would go up. Philip Martin, an economist at UC. Davis, says that if
the current influx of migrant workers were cut by 40%, the average
American family would end up spending about 2.5% more on fruit and vegetables.

Fourth, the cost of educating immigrant children is actually an
investment in the tomorrow's workforce. Those who stay will become
taxpayers, and the better educated they are, the better jobs they
will get, earning more money, paying more taxes.

The basis of the "even more will come" objection is the
presumption that those additional immigrants will also be illegal.
Instead of spending a ton of money building an absurd, objectionable
fence, the likes of which Israel is now tearing down, and squandering
a resource like the National Guard, so badly needed in the event of
emergencies, we need to put in place a mechanism by which any
non-felon who wishes to come here via Mexico can get a tamper-proof
ID card. He or she could be required to report at intervals to one of
a variety of offices to confirm housing and employment status.

The guidelines for handling those already here should be
flexible. We should encourage and facilitate permanent visas or
citizenship for those who have been here longest, who have stable
employment histories, who have purchased homes, who have children in
school, and who show no evidence of being anything but upstanding citizens.

We have been through this before, after all, with every tide of
immigrants from Europe and the Chinese, sometimes committing
atrocities before we came to our senses. California even went through
it with the "Oakies" amidst cries of alarm that everything was going
to hell in a hand basket. Can't we for once learn from history and
deal with this sensibly, not hysterically?

Jim Sorrells, su amigo en Guerneville