Getting serious about illegal immigration
I see where the latest gambit by House Republicans is to tie Ukraine aid to immigration “reform.” Setting aside the fact that aid to Ukraine is, like most foreign aid, a subsidy for US business, the linkage to immigration is a red herring. All the current approaches are failing, are doomed, and are a waste of taxpayer money, something the GOP pretends to care about.
I’ve long held that the solution to most undocumented immigration is to reduce demand:
• fines and prison for any employer found to be employing undocumented immigrants;
• fines for anyone (yes, you and me) who uses the labor of undocumented immigrants (produce, hotels, golf clubs, lawn services, etc).
Draconian? You bet, but it would work faster and more efficiently than a wall and troops at the borders.
Kevin Drum over a jabberwocking.com takes a similar but less coercive approach:
“The United States should require employers to adopt E-Verify for all new hires. ICE “raids” can then be aimed solely at employers, who would fund the E-Verify program by paying fines whenever they’re out of compliance. If the jobs go away, so will the undocumented workers.”
Of course, this would punish the donor class, raise prices on consumers, and deprive Republicans of a favorite whipping boy, so it will never happen.
Reining in illegal immigration
Moot, in the generally accepted vernacular, given that you can’t stop the migrations. It’s no longer about employing cheap labor, people are leaving these places because they are becoming uninhabitable … they can’t live there anymore. You won’t stop the migrations
Like water, they will go where they will …
@Ten,
If they can’t get jobs here, they can’t live here, either. Like water, when you change the landscape, you change the flow.
It is true that climate change is a substantial and growing contributor to illegal immigration, but there’s push and there’s pull. The pull is employers who hire undocumented workers as cheap labor who won’t complain because of fear of deportation. It is naive to believe that reducing the pull will have no effect on illegal immigration.
Maybe a better way of putting it is that employment is now no longer the motivator, that maybe we need to change our approach to treating it as a secondary factor, rather than primary. I’ve been posting about migration for years, it’s not just happening here. The Middle East and the Island Nations are all suffering the same advancing drought and rapid desertification as the Middle Americas. It all gets dressed up as “drugs and poverty” and “war and poverty” but it still boils down to they’re leaving because they can’t stay.
I guess my point is we have to change the way we’re looking at it …
@Ten,
We definitely have to change the way we’re looking at it. The status quo is immoral.
If it were up to me, I’d couple the E-Verify requirement with a transformed immigration policy that lets in more people legally and offers a realistic path to citizenship. America’s strengths have always included immigrants; we need to build on that history.
Bingo . . .
Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
As bad as this place is sometimes, to ‘illegal’ immigrants, it’s better than elsewhere, apparently.
There is gear for this, god help us.
US Army Volcano mine laying system (Wikipedia)
Or, when Trump resumes his aborted presidency, we will finish his wall, and make it much higher.
If it comes to us using this gear, the guv’mint should just call it quits.
And those who are left just become Road Warriors!
@Fred,
I think you’re missing the point (as did Ten). If there’s a will, there’s a way, when it comes to border crossing. The wall won’t change that.
But if there are no jobs, do you imagine that the immigrants that cross can will jobs into existence? Do you think they can just live on sunlight and air?
Of course, as long as the incentive to employ undocumented immigrants exists, then “if there’s a will, there’s a way” applies to employers.
Surely we can stop them from digging under the wall.
Maybe they will resort to stealthy balloons like the chinese, or homemade ultralights.
We are going to need some serious gated-communities. And/or…
We need to make it so bad here that they will go elsewhere.
Trump can help with that.
BTW, practically everything I wrote after
“As bad as this place is sometimes, to ‘illegal’ immigrants, it’s better than elsewhere, apparently.”
was meant to be facetious.
Joel:
Reverse it.
Make the employers pay a standard wage (I did not say minimum) and provide healthcare benefits (or pay the gov to provide such), pay into Social Security, etc. abide by labor laws for illegal immigrants, etc. provide safe working conditions, etc.
They always complain about not finding enough Labor.
Population growth should not be an issue as we are not producing enough new citizens as it is. Places to go and live is still abundant. We are space yet. Just a few own more land than they could walk in a day.
Why U.S. Population Growth Is Collapsing . . .
I wrote on population growth several times. As usual, it goes unnoticed.
We are not Utopia or “an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members.” We as different groups will always be in conflict unless endangered by external influences. We have come together at such times to push back. During Vietnam, we were made up of different groups of backgrounds. It was not all white or American or US citizens.
My $02. Nice topic. I like it.
Population may not be growing but neither are decent jobs. Unions tend to be opposed to increased immigration with employment rights because the newcomers tend to accept non union jobs and undercut union members on wages. There is abundant evidence of this in the Chicago area in the building trades. It’s not all landscaping.
There is a good bit of alarm about automation and artificial intelligence taking over good jobs. Most of the jobs that go begging for applicants are low wage positions like food services, nursing home employees, cleaning crews and the like.
All jobs that none-the-less need be done …
And Labor costs are far less than the cost of Overhead, materials, etc. Pay them more. They probably do not have healthcare supplied by the business. There is one cost avoided that can be translated into more hourly pay.
I would add in response to Ten Bears, yes, they need to be done but the people brought in to do them are not satisfied to do them indefinitely and seek, understandably, to improve their situations. That’s where the union objections gain traction.
When you consider how densely populated much of the ‘developed’ world is, this country can handle a huge population rise, has done so previously with poor & huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Be ready for it.
@Fred,
Not only can we handle it, we need it and will benefit from it.
Bingo, again.