Over the course of United States history, immigration has played an irreplaceable role in shaping the overall demographic that makes this country unique. The United States has seen immigration due to famines, political unrest, religious persecution, and of course, entrepreneurship. Through the years, the United States has had to deal with the reality that wealth and opportunity in the United States would draw immense immigration numbers. At times, the citizens of the United States have had very mixed opinions on the issue of immigration, and towards immigrants themselves. However, in today's debate about illegal immigration... none of that matters.
What? None of that matters? Nope.
Today, the United States is faced with an immense problem. The problem is not immigration. The problem is not Hispanics. The problem is not diversity. The problem... is illegal immigration. Today, I'd like to dispel a lot of the myths you hear about illegal immigration, and would hope to inform you about the grim realities facing the United States if it does not act quickly to stem the overflow of unskilled and illegal labor into the United States economy.
Illegal immigration has been a growing thorn in the foot of the American economy ever since President Reagan (who I'd generally hold to be a decent President) failed to deal with the issue in the mid 1980's. Ever since the amnesty grants of the Reagan administration in 1986, (the word amnesty can be debated here, but something resembling amnesty was achieved, no less) waves of illegal immigrants have poured into the United States at an alarming rate. For the majority of this essay, I'll be referring to statistics that involve illegal immigrants and Hispanics... because lets face it... the amount of non-Hispanic illegal immigrants in this country is simply statistically insignificant compared to the amount of Hispanic illegal immigrants.
Before we get too deep into this... here are some facts for you.
(statistics taken from http://www.census.gov/, http://www.cis.org/)
As of 2005...
The U.S. Census found that 14% of all documented Americans are Hispanic.
The estimated documented population of the United States is 300 million people.
14% of 300 million is approximately 42 million.
Of the roughly 42 million Hispanics in the United States, over half (53%) are children of illegal immigrants, children of illegal immigrants who were later granted citizenship, or were illegal immigrants themselves, and were later granted citizenship.
Currently, anywhere from 12 million (low estimate) to 30 million (high estimate) undocumented (and illegal) immigrants live in the United States. Of these, it is estimated that over 98% are from Mexico.
On average, 1 million people are given citizenship to the United States annually. Obviously, most of these legal citizens have immigrated from Mexico. No trouble there. However, compared to the 98% mark that Mexico bears in the wave of illegal immigrants, the people who come here from Mexico legally carry a much lower ratio. What does this mean? There is a disproportionate amount of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico. Bear with me, this will all come together shortly.
Out of roughly 200 countries measured, Mexico ranks around 50 in overall GDP. (This isn't to say there isn't poverty in Mexico) Why is this important? Hold your horses, I'm still building.
So putting the numbers together... I'll go with a relatively safe medium here... we have roughly 35-40 million people living in the United States who were at one time illegal immigrants, or are currently illegal immigrants, or are children of illegal immigrants. Considering the overall population of the United States is 300 million, (or roughly 310-330 including illegal immigrants) the fact that over 10% of this nation is made up of people who are/were here illegally is troubling. That is one heckuva potential voting block.
Five reasons why the re-occurring issue of illegal immigration so troubling...
1) Illegal immigration is illegal.
Problem: Illegal immigrants is being considered the same (or even remotely the same) as the people who came here and founded this country.
Fact: The people who fled Europe to come to the United States were political and religious refuges, their families, and explorers.
Problem: People claim that illegal immigrants are "here to work".
Fact: Such a claim is as much of a generalization and stereotype as claims that illegal immigrants are all here to collect welfare checks and be lazy. Frankly, illegal immigrants aren't being interviewed by the government, so it isn't fair to say one or the other.
Problem: People believe that illegal immigration is the result of extreme poverty in Mexico.
Fact: While there is poverty in Mexico, there is much greater poverty in nearly all of South America, nearly all of Africa, and even West Asian/Eastern European countries such as the Ukraine. (which is weak and feeble, according to Cosmo Kramer)
2) People don't seem to know what they're talking about.
Problem: People feel like they are adding to the debate by waving signs that say "Immigration is not a crime".
Fact: When you hit a baseball through your neighbor's window, you didn't tell him "playing baseball is not a crime".
Problem: Demonstrators have been waving Mexican flags and burning American flags.
Fact: The best way to convince us that illegal immigrants will not assimilate, is to show that the legal ones still haven't.
3) People are confused as to where Americans really stand.
Problem: The protest-everything generation has found another cause to grab onto. Millions are seen marching in the streets, creating a perception that this country stands with the illegal immigrants in their crusade to become legal.
Fact: 51% of Americans believe that the United States would be better off if we deported all illegal immigrants. Less than 40% believe we'd be worse off.
(Source: Time, April 10, 2006, page 33)
Problem: The media has changed the language in the illegal immigration debate. First we had illegal aliens. Then we had illegal immigrants. Then we had undocumented immigrants. Then we had undocumented workers. Now they just call them immigrants.
Fact: There is a distinction between people who have come here legally and who have not come here legally. Suggesting to the mass public that laws which deal strictly/harshly with illegal immigration are "anti-immigrant" is not only misleading, it is Orwellianly so. Double plus ungood.
4) Having problems with the debate? Hate America.
Problem: People on the side of illegal immigrants routinely suggest that illegal immigrants are just taking jobs that Americans a) do not want to do OR b) are too lazy to do.
Fact: Illegal immigrants undercut labor by taking less for jobs that American citizens would get paid more to do. Why is that such a problem? Capitalism doesn't work that well if illegal immigrants undercut the supply and demand axis, and then send their money into a different market.
Problem: The very suggestion that Americans are lazy and that illegal immigrants are hard workers. They also suggest that illegal immigrants obey our laws, and are only here to work.
Fact: This is nothing less than America hating. Firstly, a broad-sweeping (and statistically inaccurate, when you examine the amount of hours the average American works per year) statement about Americans is a negative stereotype. Secondly, an equally broad-sweeping statement about illegal immigrants is a positive stereotype. Again, considering we don't regularly interview illegal immigrants, how is it accurate to say that they are just here to work? How is it accurate to say they're obeying the laws? Why do people believe this, and then also believe that Americans are lazy, when all the claims are unsubstantiated?
5) Illegal immigrtion is a great crime against non-Americans.
That's right. This is the end all and be all of the points. Illegal immigration isn't horrible because Hispanics are generally poor when they come here. I could care less about someone's social status. I also personally believe that illegal immigrants probably are here to work, although I don't exactly think it is fair/correct to make even that generalization. I have a deep admiration for Hispanic/Mexican culture, and think that the United States has a lot to learn from the generally strong families in said culture. I am pursuing education to eventually become bilingual, because I am not blind to the plight of the struggling Hispanics in our country, and feel a sense of Christian duty to help them.
However, I must reject, on my principles of justice... that any illegal immigrant, old or young, black or white, Mexican or Hungarian, be allowed to stay here, be allowed to enter into worker programs, or be allowed to obtain temporary anythings. Why? They are, at best, skipping in lines. While countless others wait legally to come to the land of opportunity, millions have stolen or delayed that opportunity. We cannot claim to be just, if we allow people who break the law to come here to be rewarded, while people who obey the law and wait are punished. I stand against illegal immigrants, not because of any crime I claim against myself, (while I could claim one, just for violating the borders of my country, as a United States citizen) but on behalf of those decent, perhaps starving, perhaps more desperate people, who are quite literally dying to get here. People who can't get here, because less decent, less starving, less desperate people are breaking the law, cutting in front of them in lines, and in turn reducing immigration quotas along the way.
In the end, none of America's colorful history involving immigration matters in this debate. Illegal immigrants aren't cut out of the same mold as the Irish who came here during the famines. Illegal immigrants aren't cut out of the same mold as the pilgrims who came here for religious freedoms.
There is a failure to assimilate. There is a failure to learn the language. This debate has shown a demonstrated failure of recently "naturalized" illegal immigrants to identify themselves as Americans, even after becoming citizens. There is a lack of emergency (by comparison) to justify claims of desperation. Does this mean we end immigration altogether? Certainly not. But there are strikingly troubling problems as we observe the issue of illegal immigration, and the Hispanic-American response to the issue. When principals raise the Mexican flags over their schools in Hispanic communities, it must make us wonder where their loyalties rest.
Despite the fact that many of these illegal immigrants may be good workers, they don't deserve to be here. They broke the law. They generally are guilty of high levels of tax evasion, and are generally guilty of illegal exportation and importation of goods (including drugs) as well. They came here out of self-interest, from a nation that is comparatively less well off than ours, yet comparatively better off than most other countries in the world.
People say that mass-deportation is not practical. I agree. But it is just. Simply out of fairness and decency to the people who are not getting into this country because they obey our immigration laws, we must deal harshly with those who do not. Because coming here illegally hurts more than just Americans, we must change the way we look at illegal immigration. Because people are dying in line to get here, and cannot, because people who are in a country that ranks in the top 25% of all nations for GDP see a chance to improve themselves, and can most easily take advantage of that opportunity. Because it is the right thing to do, we just can't appeal to future voting blocks while legitimate future voters never get the chance to come here legally.
People say that if we seek to deport illegal immigrants, they will remain in their hiding places. These people suggest that if we fine them and offer them a method to become legal citizens, or give them temporary working permits, or give them some sort of path, we will be doing the right thing. They think that illegal immigrants will remain hidden if we threaten to send them back. Do they really think that asking illegal immigrants to pay a fine will get them to come out of hiding? Do they really think that asking illegal immigrants to learn English will convince them to take time away from working? Do they really think that asking illegal immigrants to subject themselves to more taxes by becoming citizens will be convincing to enough illegal immigrants? Do they really think that asking them to do all these things, in exchange for permits (or citizenship) which probably won't earn them more money will get them to raise their hands and open their wallets? Do they think we actually have the resources for all the programs they will be eligible for upon become citizens or legal workers?
Questions to consider:
What kind of message are we sending to the millions waiting, when we allow those who have violated our laws, violated our borders, for the most part refuse to learn our language, and who don't spend their money here, to pass them up in line, simply because they came here illegally?
How many have died while waiting to come into the United States, when they could've been here already if it were not for the mass waves of illegal immigration?
What right do politicians have to try to curry favor with the Hispanic demographic at the expense of those who are in far worse economic/social/political/religious circumstances than Mexico?
Why is the fact that the United States (compared to the civilized world) already has the easiest requirements to come here legally not emphasized when discussing this issue?
Why does it seem that the Bush Administration is both counting the political points it can gain with Hispanic voters, while also counting the fact that businesses can take advantage of cheap labor, at the expense of United States sovereignty?
Why is the fact that the Mexican government deals extremely harshly with illegal and legal immigrants from Central American not part of this debate?
What kind of fiscally responsible nation takes on another 10-30 million people into its welfare class, when it is already running budget deficits?
Why does President Bush continue to mislead the United States by meeting with Vicente Fox, (who has aided and promoted illegal immigration) while continuing to promote a senseless plan which only serves to further undermine our borders?
Why hasn't this problem been looked at more closely in the post 9/11 world, considering the potential risk that Extremist Islam would pose, if Jihadists were to mask themselves as Hispanics and come here illegally from Mexico?
As always, hope to have you reading again tomorrow, when Jeff Underhill offers somewhat of a different perspective on illegal immigration!
Eric Drzewiecki is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. He has a bachelor's degree in Political Science, as well as Public Administration. He can be reached at eric_drz@hotmail.com
3 Comments:
Shatnermosism - (major credit for reading it, firstly)
1) I do think that in order to deport, you'd have to HAVE the illegal immigrants already... I don't think any sort of programs should be given, and deportation should be on a first found, first deported basis.
2) Public perception of immigrants is hurt by illegal immigration. Racism against Hispanics is bolstered because of illegal immigration. Job markets for immigrants is hurt by illegal immigration. Quotas for legal immigration are lowered because of the fact of illegal immigration.
Response to your proposal - I actually didn't suggest we put the effort into rounding up all the illegal immigrants. However, I do think that when they are found, they need to be sent back. That isn't my proposal to end illegal immigration. I didn't really make one. There are a substantial amount of illegal immigrants working untrackable jobs such as in the agricultural and construction industries, where work isn't permanent employment, but on a job-by-job basis. We can do something about the Walmart illegal immigrants, for sure.
My perception, is the issue of wage differences on a global spectrum. The demand for illegal immigrants is partially based on the fact that the WTO and NAFTA (while having some good aspects) have given countries without good labor standards a leg-up on employment.
The other obvious problem, is that we're running only a hybrid of capitalism, and that minimum wage laws don't really jive with capitalism. Beyond that, they don't actually help the people making minimum wage, because of the rise in cost of goods that the minimum wage earner would be purchasing.
I think a major problem rests on conditions in Mexico. If we threaten to place low immigration quotas for Mexicans, as well as do something like a wall or fence, in order to be able to realistically enfoce our immigration laws, we could create an internal atmosphere in Mexico where those waiting legally would work with us to make sure others didn't come here illegally.
I do agree we should punish businesses hiring illegals. Not sure how easy it will be to find most of them, because farm hands and construction hands rarely make the official employment of a business.
First off, I'd like to say good job, Eric on a well thought out and researched article. You brought up many valid points that should be common sense and covered, but aren't.
I got the vibe and agree that before opening their mouths, anyone should know the basics of the issue and arguing for either side. With out that, it makes either side look ignorant and when arguing, nothing can come of it. Though I don't have cable at the moment, I'm surprised to not hear about many hour long specials trying to cover this, because I know it's a big issue. Do they just not want to touch it with a ten foot pole because they are afraid to offend someone?
I agree with Eric and can't really think of any points to clearify, disagree or improve upon, and I think after a little clearification, shatnermosism, for the most part, does to. Am I wrong?
Now if we can only get all this information assimilated into the minds of everyone involved...
Wait... sounds like the borg there at the end, Shawn. Shatner would have something to say about the borg, even if they didn't exist during his reign at the helm of Star Trek.
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