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

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

One of the many changes President Obama has promised America is immigration law reform. Many ideas have been discussed. One of them is the DREAM Act, sponsored by Senator Lugar from Indiana and Senator Durbin from Illinois, among others. The basic idea is to allow certain illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age and who have been educated in American schools to become permanent residents.

Under the DREAM Act, certain undocumented individuals could become legal residents. The first step in this process is for the individual to enroll in some type of higher education, such as a university, vocational school, or apprenticeship program. Another option is to enroll in the U.S. military. If certain requirements are met, this person may apply for conditional residency in the U.S. Upon receipt of an associates degree or a 2-year equivalent within six years of the initial petition, the conditional status can be changed and the individual can become a legal permanent resident of the United States.

To be eligible for permanent residency under the DREAM Act, the individual must have entered the United States before turning 16 years of age and must have been in the United States for at least five years without interruption. The individual must also demonstrate the ability to speak English.

Conditional residents under the DREAM Act will be eligible for private loans to fund their education, but will not be eligible for Pell grants. Under the DREAM Act, 65,000 students could become conditional residents each year, and eventually become permanent residents and citizens if they comply with current immigration rules and regulations.

One of the ideas behind the DREAM Act is to better utilize the taxpayer dollars that are being used to educate illegal immigrant youth in public schools across the country. If these youth are willing to continue their education through additional schooling or through the military, they would be allowed to become a legal part of our society without the fear of losing their families through deportation. In addition, the DREAM Act initially only benefits those who most likely were taken across the border by their parents through no decision of their own. Many of these individuals have spent more years illegally in the United States than in their home countries.

The DREAM Act could be merged with other legislation as part of comprehensive immigration law reform in 2010. If other ideas do not receive the necessary support from members of Congress, the DREAM Act could be enacted without additional reform measures. Either way, even the proposal of such legislation gives hope to many people now living in the United States who currently have no way of becoming a legal resident.

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

Why?

Well Immigration essentially comes down to the core issue of race and thus how many people of other races and nationalities does the US want to allow into its current racial mix at any point in time. Thus when looked at from that perspective it is easy to see how it used a tool of propaganda on all sides to further an agenda they may have. For as we all well know Race according to many was (and to some today still is) the major devicive issue in the US in its history

History

With each new racial group that came to the US there was negative feeling towards them by the local populations at time. Whether it be the Chinese who came to California during the Gold Rush, the Russians and Eastern Europeans that came following the Soviet Revolution, the Italians and Jews who came late in the 19th and early in the 20th century or the Irish a few generations before that following famine back home, no group has been immune from being ostracized by the mainstream at the time.

So this issue goes well beyond the Africans who came to these shores as slaves, the Latinos from the South who are viewed as lowering the standard of living and wages by many locals or the Indians who are supposedly taking all the jobs from hard working Americans today.

In each generation, politicians and community leaders have sort to exploit the newest groups at the time who have yet to form into powerful enough numbers to have a strong voice to stand up to the majority groups. They are the easy target to blame for a bad economy, lack of jobs, crime and anything else that may stick if voiced often enough

What Is The Reality?

I have spent a lot of words in a lot of posts writing about the successes of the Immigrant worker both now and in the past and how the US is what it is today because of a robust and open Immigration policy coupled with personal freedoms that most nations only dream of.

However history has taught us that once a group or a nation becomes satisfied, closed off and ceases to be dynamic it no longer grows and is eventually surpassed by other societies where this is happening. From Egypt to Greece to Rome to the Mongols to the more recent colonial empires headed by the Great British Empire have all fallen victim to this curse.

In the end most of the Empires history will record that their primary source of decline from being the pre-eminent nation of their time was due to mostly problems from within. So while wars later in their history like the World Wars of the 20th century for the British or the attacks from the Barbarians and others to the Romans help precipitate their fall, it was only possible because of the sense of self indulgence, selfishness and infighting within and thus no forward thinking.

So while the US today seems to publicly view Arab terrorists as the greatest threats to its security and 2 emerging powers from Asia in China and India as its greatest threats to economic superiority, the real threat is within.

When Teddy Roosevelt declared many parts of the US like Yellowstone as National Parks, when Carnegie helped build the US rail system, a humble mayor from NY decided on a street grid for Manhattan with a Central Park in the middle and men like Ford, Bell and Edison created things and ideas that would last long after they were gone, investment in future was paramount.

Today it is just ensuring quarterly earnings are met for companies or that mid term elections are won every 2 years with short term promises. The truth is that if General Electric the company Edison founded was assessing his trying over a 100 times and years to eventually invent the light bulb today, it might scrap the project much earlier as too risky to meet a quarterly earnings number.

So next time you hear a conversation or a news bulletin about Immigration reform, it is not just whether Illegal Immigrants have a path to citizenship or how many Indians make up the H1B visa numbers, it is really a discussion about the future of the entire United States and its place in the world.

As is enscribed on the Statue of Liberty and the fact that over 100 million US citizens (one third) are descendants of Ellis Island, a more open and understanding policy towards Immigration will ultimately pay dividends for all of the US.

CJ

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.