I watched the President’s speech tonight, as I’m sure many others did. And I’ve read the posts around the blogsphere and MSM on the issue, looking for insights into this complex problem. Bottom line is there is no simple solution.
The US has done little to diminish the flood of immigrants coming across our borders. The boarder patrol appears to be woefully understaffed – some 11,000 agents cover 19,000 miles of land, although most of them are concentrated along the US-Mexico boarder. It seems our biggest problem is with Mexicans entering the country illegally. Estimates are that there are some 11-12 million illegal aliens in the country right now.
Some say that illegals are doing jobs that Americans won’t do. I don’t think it is that simple. To me, it’s a chicken-or-the-egg thing: are these jobs low-paying ones because there are so many illegals willing to work them or are there so many illegals because the jobs pay so little? And if by some magic these jobs all of a sudden started paying a reasonable wage would Americans take those jobs? I don’t know the answer to that. My sense is that as long as businesses continue to employ illegal labor, there is no incentive to pay higher wages. And as long as no one else will do these jobs, illegals will continue to cross the border.
Then there is the issue of what to do with the 11-12 million illegals already in the country. Even if we had the money (and with the deficits, we certainly don’t), there would be no way to deport all of them. So some process of documenting them needs to occur. Although I am not a fan of putting more stuff on businesses, this might be one way. Of course, my guess is that many employers of illegals are paying them with cash that neither the employer nor the illegal is claiming as income. Perhaps the IRS could hook up with INS and coordinate some enforcement actions on businesses who historically hire illegal aliens.
I think the very biggest issue with immigration is something the President mentioned tonight: assimilation. If illegals came to the US, learned the language and adopted the culture, the backlash against them would not be nearly as bad as it is now. Each immigrant group before them did that and became what we think of as Americans. For whatever reason, this wave of immigrants doesn’t seem to want to do that. And I think Americans are more than a little tired of “push 1 for English, 2 for espanol” that seems to have taken over everywhere. It is this fear that the American way of life is somehow changing – and not necessarily for the better – by the influx of non-English speaking immigrants who want what America has to offer without becoming American.
The immigration problem did not materialize overnight and we can’t expect to solve it overnight. We need to attack the problem from many angles and come up with solutions that are best for all parties concerned.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Very thoughtful analysis, Vivian. I think that you strike a very reasonable middle ground.
I have long been active on the offshore outsourcing and worker replacement issues affecting the white collar information technology workforce. (I’m a software engineer who has directly experienced this new politically-enabled business practice.) I agree that the issue isn’t that Americans won’t take these jobs. It’s that many American employers do not want to offer these jobs at anything but poverty wages and no benefits.
One of most important issues, as I see it, is that many American businesses will use lower wage replacements whenever possible — especially if it means violating largely unenforced laws with minimal penalties. They could easily conclude that this is a reasonable business risk given the indifference shown by immigration enforcement agencies.
Of course, this hurts our communities by driving down wage scales and employment opportunities for American workers and places honest American businesspeople who follow the rules and don’t hire illegal aliens at a competitive disadvantage. The presence of large numbers of underpaid low wage illegal aliens in our communities further compounds the burden on middle and working class Americans by placing additional stress on our social programs, public health system and educational system.
The real winners in this scenario are the business owners who use illegal aliens. Like the companies which outsource, the enjoy a competitive advantage over others by practicing labor arbitrage and reap a windfall of profits not broadly shared by middle and working class Americans. The presence of illegal aliens in our society are, in contrast, regressive — especially devastating to working class Americans attempting to climb the ladder into the middle class.
I shall not discuss race in the context of this issue. (You’ve already made some very good points in this area.) I think that reasonable people have concluded that this is a multi-racial society. I hold no animosity to people of any race and am well aware of the fact that members of my own family have faced racial discrimination and bigotry.
However, I am an American and this is the United States. Whatever one’s race or ethnic origins, this country’s natioal leadership should be focused on the general welfare of all Americans; this should be the driving force behind all national policy.
Great comments. I especially think we have got to figure out how to force businesses to not use illegal labor. My thought is that we need to make the penalties so severe for doing so, that all but the most rouge among them will comply with the law.