We don’t talk that much about illegal immigration and immigrants on this site as the primary focus is helping foreigners both understand and navigate the US immigration system. We all cover topical issues in US immigration but again more focused to those issues that pertain to legal immigration (eg. H1B visa legislation, Green Card Processing Delays, etc.)

However one point that we strongly believe that one of the top 2 or 3 causes of illegal immigration in the US is the legal immigration system. This is a widely held belief among well versed Americans that really understand the US Immigration system and its major inadequacies and inequities, as well of course a lot of foreigners that have to suffer through it.

The illegal immigration issue is far more widely covered in the media and talk radio due to its ability to garner passions which are too often irrational among the consumers of those providing the media. As ultimately that passion turns into greater numbers of viewers, listeners or readers and thus more advertising dollars for the publication and those engaging the audience.

The main focus of the illegal immigration debate tends to center around some core issues in the US today which includes;
- Terrorism & National Security
- Open Borders & Need for a fence on the US Southern border
- Illegal immigrants who commit felonies
- Paying taxes and receiving social benefits
- Unsafe and illegal workplace conditions for undocumented workers
- Lowering overall wage levels & taking US jobs
- Breaking up families where parties are of different nationalities

As you can see just by the nature of the headers, each of these points on their own has the ability to garner strong views from both side of the political spectrum producing less than cordial debate and thus no practical, long term, workable and overall beneficial solutions.

I would like to approach a couple of these issues from a different perspective that is rarely discussed in the mass media as a solution for all these problems. That being the US immigration system or the legal immigration system and its inequities that help cause many of the above problems.

As it relates to National Security types issues and Border Control, the current US immigration system and processing is not only more than sufficient, it goes way past what is practical. Every person who applies for a US visa has to supply all 10 fingerprints at their US Consulate interview. Additionally all these people as well as those traveling via the Visa Waiver Program and the new ESTA have to give fingerprints at the port of entry. This is in addition to all the background checks against all suspect databases and information.

Given that 99.999% of people are not National Security threats, nor have done anything that would make them even be considered a threat, this is certainly a huge intrusion into people’s privacy for a free society. It is also worth pointing out that almost all illegal immigrants are not national security risks and that many of the people that have committed atrocities within the US were legal immigrants or citizens. Everyone of the people who slipped through the system were as a result of government bureaucracy and federal agencies not talking to each other.

So really by implement ever more intrusive procedures the US is further alienating almost all the foreigners that are law abiding and follow the rules and yet still missing the ones they want to catch because of simple communication issues that a adolescent could see needed to be fixed.

The other issue I will cover relates to the workplace, taxes, social benefits and taking jobs from US citizens. In a healthy proportion, illegal immigrants are performing tasks that Americans would like not to do and at the same time are secretly happy is being performed by illegals at lower wages as it means lower prices at grocery stores, restaurants and retail stores.

Additionally illegal immigrants like their legal immigrant counterparts are also paying taxes like Social Security and Medicare on top of the relevant Federal and State taxes with no acess to any of these social services. So all immigrant types are helping to contribute to the welfare of their US citizens counterparts. Now if the US government even gave some basic access to social services to legal immigrants, then that would be a reason for people to both follow the rules as immigrants and to also pay their taxes.

As we have discussed in numerous other posts, citing studies like those by Duke Professor, Vivek Wadhwa of the huge net benefit job wise of the healthy immigration policy the US has always had. In that the overall benefit is of a mass job creation and innovation and thus more jobs and wealth for the US and its citizens. So making this process more streamlined and equitable in the end will only create more jobs for US citizens as opposed to arbitrary restrictions and protectionist policies.

In the end illegal immigration is a issue that deserves a lot more attention than this one post. However we just wanted to highlight the relationships between illegal and legal immigration and how fixes in one area can only help the other and the US as a whole.

CJ

This is supposedly going to be a big year for US Immigration Reform with the Healthcare Reform debate almost at a conclusion.

Along with our Top 10 US Immigration Predictions, legislation like the Dream Act and Senators Grassley and Durbin’s H1B Visa and L1 Visa Reform bills are already being debated a little and in the case of the latter bill already introduced into Congress. Suffice it to say this is going to be one crazy year for US Immigration.

Now in terms of specifics now that January has progressed a little things are looking less hopeful in some ways than they did on January 1, 2010. At that point there was a general expectation that the Healthcare reform bill which in 2 different forms had passed the House and Senate in Congress was going to be reconciled relatively speedily given the length of the process thus far.

Then President Obama, at least according to his and the Democrats ideal timetable would have been able to sign the bill into law in advance of his State of the Union address to the US Congress and the country this week.

However with Republican’s Scott Brown win in Massachusetts this Monday to fill the vacant Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, everything has hit a major roadblock as this was supposedly a safe a Democratic seat and part of the country as there is. Ted Kennedy had held this seat for 46 years with his brother John F Kennedy before that.

It is also a state that Obama won overwhelmingly in the 2008 Presidential Election by over 20 points and that has very socially liberal policies like Gay Marriage and ironically Universal Healthcare! (always interesting the selfish nature of people when they have something of their own but it will cost more to have others able to have the same benefit they seem to play ignorant)

So given this and the extended and controversial nature of the Healthcare debate, one of two things are probably going to happen. Either the debate is going to continue as Obama indicated he would like this week but will be a more bipartisan bill and thus far more limited in its scope. Or Healthcare rebate in this debate and this current reform is going to cease which of course will mean more of the status quo for all Americans.

Now what does this all mean for US Immigration reform. Well even Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, one of the major driving forces of Healthcare Reform and the Liberal agenda of the Democratic Party has which includes more open Immigration policy, recently made some cautious statements. She said given the nature and nastiness of the fight and the political fallout already following the Massachusetts Senate race, that she does not want the House to debate anything additional controversial in 2010 until the Senate passes many of the bills they have already sent there.

Immigration Reform even in better economic times as it was in 2007 still was a heated and polarizing debate and eventually failed to pass both Houses of Congress and thus was defeated. And that was a bipartisan bill. So the chances of particularly the Democrats going out on a limb with reforms to help;
- legal and application costs
- ease and simplicity of process
- abuse in workplace by unscrupulous employers trying to threaten foreign workers
- green card delays and processing and lack of visa numbers particularly for citizens of China and India who are looking at delays of over 10 years
- increase in arbitrary quotas like the H1B visa quota
- lack of tax/social security benefits even though foreigners are paying all of these in full from their income
- fixing delays and morally unfair process like 221(g) administrative processing
- and others like illegal immigrants amnesty and path to US Citizenship
etc.

to me would seem remote as these are controversial issues that will probably illicit even more demonization in the media and from politicians that was seen in the Healthcare Debate. Republicans would be unlikely to be too involved in any major legislation as with the 2010 midterm elections upcoming they are more like at making bigger gains in the House and Senate ironically by doing nothing and criticizing the opposition that creating anything that could be attacked (you have got to love what the US legislative and political machine has become!!)

Additionally the lobby groups are only going to get stronger given they already played such a strong part in framing the Healthcare bill even though Obama campaigned that he wanted to limit the special interest influence. The lobby for groups like ultra nationalistic organizations that oppose all immigration is strong. As well as for lawyers who will always fight to keep the system geared towards them so they can continue to exploit and charge outrageous fees to foreigners who have little choice and option in the US Immigration system.

This will only be enhanced by the recent US Supreme Court ruling to overturn parts of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance reform bill which limited how much organizations like corporations could spend supporting or attacking candidates in advertisements.

All in at this point in time, it looks largely bleak for any meaningful reform or even US Immigration reform at all in 2010 given the Healthcare issue. Maybe the Obama State of the Union address may shed some light on what may be to come but at this stage if you are a foreigner, I would continue to expect to navigate the US Immigration system as you are largely for a while yet.

CJ