Update: Solving The Illegal Immigration Puzzle

[Update: this was originally posted April 5, 2006, and Update 2 was added 8/24/10]

So much has been in the news about the illegal immigration issue, and with so many different voices, I can’t sort it all out without writing it out. So here goes.

Everyone I hear speak on the issue, whether from the anti- or pro- side, focuses on one or two factors in this very complicated issue. That’s probably because they know that on television or the radio what matters is easily digestible sound bites. If they try to cover it in all its complexity they will be ignored at best, or their position distorted at worst.

How complex is it? In just a few minutes I jotted down 15 factors related to the illegal immigration issue. There are more, I’m sure, but let’s just deal with those. Think of them as 15 pieces of a puzzle. Leave out a piece and it soon becomes evident that something important is missing. Try to argue your position using only one or two pieces, and you’ll soon be exposed as either shallow or deliberately misleading.

I’ll list the 15 factors and only briefly cover each one.

1. Security. We are less than five years after 9/11 and there are still people who want to kill us and eventually impose their ideology on us. Some them have come across our borders without a visa and some have overstayed their visa and disappeared into the shadows.

2. Border Integrity. The lines don’t show up on a satellite photo, but they are on a map for a reason. A nation (or state or city or school district) that doesn’t keep its borders well defined will eventually lose its identity. Even simpler, as a Realtor®, I am constantly trying to make sure my clients’ property lines are well-established and that there are no encroachments. A survey will show whether the fence the neighbor put up is on the boundary line or a foot into my client’s property.

3. Current Illegal Alien Population. It’s not politically correct to use the term “illegal alien” but for the sake of clarity, let’s call it what it is. The first definition of “alien” as a noun on www.dictionary.com is “An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen.” And, if that noncitizen or alien entered or remained in the country contrary to the law’s requirements, they are an illegal alien.

All sorts of numbers are used for this population. I’ve heard anywhere from 10 million to 20 million. Most of the time the numbers of 10 to 12 million are used. Let’s just say “X Million” and know that it’s a lot.

The major point to be made in quoting X Million illegal aliens here is that it is impossible to conceive that all X Million will be rounded up and sent back to the country where they are citizens.

4. Burdensome Costs On Infrastructure. Citizens, by paying taxes and paying for health insurance, support schools, government services, hospitals, and medical care. Illegal aliens who also pay taxes and have health insurance also support those services; but it’s no secret that many illegal aliens aren’t paid legally and therefore don’t pay taxes (and many don’t have health insurance either). The services they use (sometimes mandated by federal or state laws) become a burdensome cost on the institutions and/or the citizens who do pay for them.

5. Impact On Wages. A complaint of unions is that the workers who will gladly take a job at low wages (because it’s better than they would get at home and because the employer knows they can’t complain) drive down wages for citizens.

6. Enforcement Of Laws. Reasonable laws must be enforced or the population will scoff at the law as a whole, and citizens will lose respect for all authority. Unreasonable laws should either be repealed or changed to protect the integrity of the legal system. [2010 Update: see the absurdity in the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona for that state trying to enforce federal law, while the federal government continues to ignore cities and states who have a "sanctuary" policy that thwarts federal law. Are we a country of laws, or of political whim?]

7. Businesses Who Want Workers. Some businesses say they need whatever workers come here because they have jobs which American workers shun. Or there just aren’t enough workers to fill the need.

8. Businesses Who Exploit Workers. Those who can’t complain without risking deportation are sometimes taken advantage of. Low wages, horrible living conditions, taxes withheld but not sent in to the IRS or state, long hours without overtime pay, and on and on. There are many ways to exploit the helpless.

9. Businesses Who Must Do Government’s Job. The current law requires employers to document their employees’ legal status. Employers can be fined if they don’t comply; and the mandated documentation is itself an unreimbursed cost to the employer.

10. Secure Documentation. False documents are widespread, so a business is at risk regardless of how diligent it is. It doesn’t seem difficult to get a false driver’s license, social security card, or whatever document is needed.

11. “Guest Worker” Programs. One proposed solution to the problem of filling the existing jobs with willing and legal workers. However the solution itself has its critics from many directions.

12. Unsettled Source Countries. Whether it’s a matter of poverty, corruption, dictators, or other problems, there are millions of potential illegal aliens in this hemisphere and millions more in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, etc.

13. Effect On Applicants For Legal Immigration. This is the “crowding in at the head of the line” problem. Two individuals want to come to the United States. One plays by the rules and spends years waiting to be admitted. The other just walks across the border. Is this justice?

14. Effect Of “Amnesty” On Others. Grant amnesty (or anything close to it) now, and it becomes an incentive for others to arrive illegally. They know that all they have to do is make it here, and eventually they too will be granted amnesty.

Right now there are X Million illegal aliens in the United States. Most of them have jobs, we’re told. The economy is growing, and they can find work. What will happen though when the economy takes a downturn or there are 2X Million or 10X Million illegal aliens here? If it’s a matter of justice and compassion to treat the X Million illegal aliens well, admit them to citizenship, and give them all the services they require, why not do the same thing for 100X Million? Surely there must be a line beyond which one must say, “No more”.

15. Compassion And Justice. As a Christian, I too want to befriend the “stranger” in our midst. I know that those in poverty and oppression will do what they think must be done to feed and protect themselves and their families. I don’t feel right about turning anyone away.

Well, there are my fifteen pieces of the puzzle. Coming up with more won’t change the nature of the problem much, so let’s go on from here.

The next question is how to prioritize them. We hear the call for a “comprehensive approach”. Some insist that we try to solve everything at the same time so there is no one-sidedness to our approach.

Sometimes, though, there are not enough resources to tackle the issue with a comprehensive approach. Reality demands that we take the steps one at a time. When that is so, responsible leaders must guide the country to avoid simplistic solutions and approach the problem rationally. Yes, that in itself is utopian and unrealistic thinking, especially when all we see are vote-seeking “leaders” being led by those with the loudest voices or harshest emotional appeals.

A good analogy is the complexity of the scene of a major disaster or accident. Emergency personnel know to set up a triage process to determine who can best benefit from their limited care resources. And when treating one injured individual, the common wisdom is to follow the ABC’s (Airway, Breathing, and Circulation). Some things must be done first to save the patient’s life.

With all these puzzle pieces, where do we start? It’s not unlike putting a jigsaw puzzle together. First you start with the border to provide a frame. From all I hear, and my own logic suggests, I believe the first step in dealing with the illegal alien problem is to stop the flow.

To stop the flow, some of the puzzle pieces will have to be put into place almost at one time to provide the border of the puzzle (border security, enforce current laws or revise them so they become enforceable, provide secure documentation, and cut off employment to those without the proper secure documentation).

Once the flow of illegal aliens has been stopped or abated, then it will be imperative to deal compassionately with those already here, and even realistically provide a way for them to eventually earn the right to full citizenship if they desire it (with all its responsibilities as well as its rights) and if they renounce their citizenship to their country of origin.

16. I hate to bring up what could be a 16th piece of the puzzle, but it is necessary to at least say that what has made American immigration work (and European immigration start to fail) is assimilation. We can’t allow the cancer of unassimilated millions gathered in cultural ghettos to grow as we’ve seen recently in Paris. The goal of immigration has to be to produce assimilated Americans, not hyphenated Americans.

UPDATE: The recent inability of the Senate to come to agreement on a proposed law, and the demonstrations in the streets by thousands who want some kind of "acceptable revision of the immigration law" has led many (including Jay Leno on The Tonight Show) to wonder how a new law will be respected any more than the current one has been. It seems to me that as a country we first have to demonstrate that we can and will enforce the laws we have and secure our borders. Only then will the word get out that America welcomes immigrants who come legally and is serious about its future.

UPDATE 2: So much has happened since 2006, yet so much is the same. Given the divisiveness of the illegal immigration issue and its return to the scene with the Obama administration suing Arizona over that state's new law, some additional pieces of the puzzle have surfaced. I'm adding four to the 15+1 in the original post.

17."Anchor Babies": The 14th Amendment, enacted to justifiable grant citizenship to newly-freed slaves (who were brought to this country by force and against their will), has been expanded by practice to include anyone born on United States soil, regardless of the citizenship of the parents. This has led to rich people from across the oceans paying thousands of dollars for a package deal to get the pregnant mother to the U.S. just in time for her to deliver her baby here; and it's led to thousands of women coming over the southern border to get free medical care, delivery in a U.S. hospital, financial aid while here, and the bonus of citizenship for the baby born here. The baby then becomes the "anchor" for the family to eventually come to the U.S.

18. The draw of a welfare state: In a reductio ad absurdum argument, if there are no national boundaries (as some would have it) and no restraints on people moving from one area to another, then a "community" (with no national boundaries we can't call it a "country") that offers free medical care, free retirement benefits, free welfare for those who can't or won't work will attract everyone who can get there. Soon, that "community" will exhaust its ability to help its own needy people, much less those who keep coming in.

19. Identity theft: To some, it may seem like a petty misdemeanor for an illegal alien to use someone else's Social Security number to get work. But this kind of identity theft doesn't stop there. They also use the false I.D. to get credit cards and other loans, and the person whose identity was stolen has their own credit wrecked; and thousands of dollars and hours of time are required to get their life back. A lender told me of one homebuyer who got upset because as her credit was being checked, the lender discovered the Social Security number didn't match her life. When told the number was not good, the "buyer" (an illegal alien) said, "Of course it is good. I paid $500 for it."

20. What "amnesty" of millions of immigrants, many of whom have incomes that would qualify them for the "Earned Income Tax Credit", would do: there would eventually be social upheaval when there are more people who don't pay income tax than there are who do pay income tax. One can always get the vote from John to tax Paul and then redistribute the money back to John. But then what does that do to the society as a whole when the "Pauls" of the country lose incentive to work?

Again, there are probably more pieces of the puzzle. It's enough for now to see that those who only focus on "Christian compassion" or others who only focus on "border security" have a too simplistic perspective to help move the issue to resolution. It's even worse when those with simplistic perspectives claim the moral high ground over others without the same perspective.

The issue is complex. What is needed is leadership, not political tricks to win votes. The security and the future of the United States is at stake. If this country fails, where can those seeking freedom and prosperity go?

Abraham Lincoln on the role of the State in Economic Development

In reading “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, I’m impressed by Abraham Lincoln’s view of the government’s role in supporting economic development.

 

Economic development provided the basis, … that would allow every American “an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.” In Lincoln’s mind, the fundamental test of a democracy was its capacity to “elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all.”  A real democracy would be a meritocracy where those born in the lower ranks could rise as far as their natural talents and discipline might take them. (p. 90, 91)

 

For Lincoln, infrastructure improvements (schools, roads, railroads, waterways, etc.) were essential for a state or nation to flourish because, as Goodwin says, they “would enable thousands of farming families to emerge from the kind of poverty in which the Lincoln family had been trapped.” (p.90)

 

Economic development results when the state provides the path (literally and figuratively) for individuals and private companies to get their goods to market without unnecessary barriers and burdens. The goal is to enable the state (or town or nation) to grow by liberating people from what traps them in the station in life into which they were born.  This is best done by freeing individuals to pursue their dreams with their own energy and industry (so they can “receive a full, good, and ever increasing reward for their labors”) (p.90), not by removing incentives to escape from poverty.

 

Lincoln knew about poverty from his personal experience.  When obtaining an elected position, he didn’t argue that the state should distribute money to the poor.  Rather, the state’s role was to remove barriers that kept the poor in poverty.  His remedies were designed to help people learn to contribute and businesses better able to grow so jobs would be available.