The DREAM Act is one of the many controversial and politically charged US Immigration debates that exist today and even moreso during 2012 being a Presidential Election year. Read the link to get more in depth information about the proposed legislation but in short it a bill designed to give children born in the US to illegal immigrant parents (some refer to these kids as anchor babies) to have a legal path to US citizenship. In short this will allow these kids;

- to go to College legally
- access student loans and in state tuition rates
- apply for a social security number
- work legally
- access social support benefits
- and of course after becoming a citizen, vote in state and federal elections

In general, Democrats have been supportive of the most well known and proposed legislation that has existed as pending legislation in various forms for over 10 years. From a political standpoint this has largely lined up with their base being more supportive of the Hispanic demographic, the poor, minorities, being more supportive of a social safety nets and otherwise more all encompassing immigration policies.

However with Hispanic voters being both the largest minority voting block and the fast growing by far of all ethnic groups in the US, Republican politically candidates across the US including the Presidential candidates like Mitt Romney are acutely aware of not alienating this large bloc. It has profound consequences for many both many states today in deciding the Presidency in 2012 but also for future elections. Aware how as a party after the Civil Rights movements in the 60s, when Republicans lost the majority of the African American vote to Democrats, never to return to date, they desperately do not want to lose the majority of another ethinic group predicted to be 40% of the entire US population in 2050.

Enter Dream Act 2.0 as it has been dubbed by many, authored by Republican Florida Senator and Cuban American, Marco Rubio. This takes the original intention of the Dream Act and scales it back without criminalizing these kids of illegal immigrant parents. Essentially instead of providing a direct path to US citizenship, it provides an indirect and uncertain path to US citizenship for all groups except for ones who join the military who will receive a green card after serving.

All others will essentially be eligible for non-immigrant status which is really a fancy (and many say demeaning) way of saying they are eligible for work visas like the H-1B and student visas like F-1 which are the same visas that foreigners can apply for to come to the US. Then from that point via either relevant employer based applications, marriage to a US citizen or legal resident family sponsorship they could get access to a green card albeit with no guarantees and waits of up to 10 years or more.

So is it a good thing if you are a child of illegal immigrant parents?

Well the reality is anything is better than the current situation where they can’t attend college, work legally, travel outside the US, get legal IDs, access to many forms of private healthcare or have any path to normal sort of life with a constant threat of deportation. However you only have to talk to current foreigners to realize how bad and unfair the current Immigration System, Green Card opportunities and Wait Times are.

For example Mexican nationals after going through the 12-18 month green card application process under a status like EB-3 (which is common for professionals with a Bachelors Degree and less than 5 years of experience) will have a waiting period of over 10 years by current wait times before being eligible for a Green Card. (to note; the H-1B length is 6 years for regular maximum).

Ultimately while Democrats have for years for political reasons pandered to the Hispanic voting bloc, the so-called Dream Act 2.0 is a poor imitation of the original designed to curry a little favor to Republicans from the same group. However make no mistake, non-immigration status in many ways is only a small notch above illegal status with constant uncertainty and no clear path to permanency. Additionally adding a whole new bloc of people to the already long waiting queues for Green Card status will only increase wait times for everybody.

Cj

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