Immigration Policy...

Even including illegal immigration, immigration rates are a fraction of what they were a century ago, a time when the influx of immigrants, all of whom would be considered "illegal" under today's laws, spurred the rise of American economic power. At the time it was believed that the growing American population of Irish, German and Italian peoples would destroy the fabric of our society. Now, those boogeymen have proved not to be awaiting in the our nation's closet, our leaders have turned to Mexicans as a scape goat for their failed policies.

I question why the debate is centered solely on the southern border. The northern border is longer and easier to cross. Those with family on either side travel relatively painlessly between the two countries. Traffic across the Canadian border by foreign terrorists would not raise much alarm given the subsantial immigrant population in Canada. Yet our leaders avert our eyes to the southern border and point to the false boogeyman of the Mexican infiltration.

It may suprise many to learn that illegal immigrants in this country are actually far less likely to commit violent crime than American citizens. They also largely become "American" by the second and third generation. They live in close-knit communities and have strong extended family networks. All in all, they are putting together the type of communities and families that America should celebrate.

I ask why we feel it is necessary to severely limit immigration when immigration is part of what makes this nation and furthers the economic growth and well-being of the United States. As long as this country remains the land of opportunity, as long as we proclaim ourselves the land of the free, people will continue to flock here. Why then, do we not embrace these self-proclaimed monikers and truly deliver freedom and opportunity to our neighbors? It is time to live up the words engraved on the tablet held by the Statue of Liberty..."Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." It is this dream of an America, a nation that opens it's doors of opportunity to the world and shares the dream of freedom and prosperity with all that seek it, that drives my views on immigration.

Thus, my perspective on immigration issues is shaped by a realization that lifting up my neighbor will benefit myself in the long term. Accordingly, I point to the example of post-World War II Europe and Japan and the policy commonly referred to as the Marshall Plan. The economies of these countries were in tatters after years of war, and this posed a problem for the growing American economy. This country spent billions rebuilding the economies of war torn countries. The result was a growing market for American manufacturers and a number of trading partners which served to promote prosperity in each of the nations. By sharing it's own prosperity, America ensured continued prosperity for years to come.

By contrast, agreements such as NAFTA are destroying the viability of the Mexican economy while increasingly sending capital abroad with not much to show for it here. The result is a people desperate, a people willing to risk everything to cross the border for the hope of a better life for their children and themselves. Until the Mexican economy is prosperous in it's own right, these people will continue to cross our borders. Thus, if one's concern is truly to end the migration of peoples north, a strengthening of the Mexican economy must be the first priority.

Not only will aid to Mexico in a Marshall Plan type program assist in curbing illegal immigration, it will provide an opportunity for economic growth here in the United States. Just as the rebuilding of Europe and Japan led to trading partners and markets for American products that can afford to pay for them. This can be part of a program to rebuild the infrastructure of American manufacturing, the key to economic power in an industrialized world and an area where this nation is in serious relative decline. Furthermore, a viable trading partner to the south carries with it the possibility to create a boon for the border states, including New Mexico.

A stronger friend to the south economically tied in a prosperous way with the United States will, in the long-term, increase the security of this nation, much the same way stronger friends in Western Europe and Japan assisted in previous years.

An intelligent approach to comprehensive immigration policies has the possibility to create a safer, more prosperous America.

You can see my long-term approach to the "problem" of illegal immigration over the southern border. That will obviously take time. Here are my thoughts on what can be done in the interim.

While advancing the policies outlined in previous blogs and below, it is important that business are provided with the means to realistically decipher whether or not their workers are legally in the United States. Currently our government seeks to hold employers responsible for hiring illegal workers. Yet when these same employers ask the government for assistance in determining the status of their workers, they are stonewalled. If we are serious about retaining jobs for American workers, it is lunacy to deprive businesses of the means with which to accomplish this.

It is vital that we provide a quicker and easier path to citizenship for people that are established in this country. No good can come out tearing families apart and forcing good, otherwise law-abiding, people into prison and back across the border. Some of the major talking points of those proclaiming the evils of illegal immigration is that these people do not pay taxes and they work jobs for lower pay, pricing Americans out of the labor market. If we fast track those that are established here already into citizenship they will then begin paying taxes on the income earned (which is more than can be said for numerous large corporations) and force companies to pay them the legal minimum wage, thereby alleviating these concerns.

We stand at a crossroads when it comes to those people that have come here through illegal channels in order to establish a better life for themselves and their families. We can either turn them into felons, necessitating a huge expenditure of money to round them up and house them in already overcrowded federal prisons bloated with some 2,000,000 nonviolent offenders, and forcing them further into the shadows of society, a placement that only leads to further problems for society as a whole. Such an approach is baffling when one realizes that immigrants, even those here illegally, are less likely to commit violent crime that American citizens. Or, we can accept that they can be productive members of society, that these families and communities are a positive influence on our culture, and that they become unabashedly American by the second or third generation. We can force them into becoming a drain on society as a prisoner, or we can place them in a position to contribute fully to society. I reject the first option and choose the later. I choose to accept the humanity of my neighbor that has risked everything for the hope that accompanies a promise of freedom and opportunity.

It is this choice that guides my belief that it would be horribly counterproductive to deny education and medicine to immigrants, regardless their status. Some espouse the need for individual responsibility, yet propose to hold children accountable for the actions of their parents. They decry the lack of desire of immigrants to "assimilate" and become productive members of society, and then attempt to deny them the means with which to accomplish these goals. If we truly want immigrant populations to become a strength of this country, we must provide them with the tools to better their position. Not only will this create a better situation for those wishing to gain a foothold in America, but it will lead to a betterment of the whole of our society in the long-term and create strong bonds between newcomers and their new home.

The idea of building a fence on the border is a gross perversion of the ideals with which this nation was founded. One cannot help but remember a time when a wall was erected to prevent people from escaping to freedom, prosperity and a better life. As a child I watched as the German people danced on the remains of that wall. I never imagined members of the United States Congress would propose the turning back the clock and utilizing tactics of oppression which it struggled so long to topple. This country should be embracing freedom seeking peoples of the world, not erect concrete and barbed wire in their path.