The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, currently working its way through Congress, has been hailed as a magic bullet for America’s immigration problems. The plan proposes to increase border security and interior enforcement, while supporting a guest-worker program and a legalization process for illegal immigrants already in the country. While these goals are sound in principle, there are major issues with the details of the proposal. Moreover, the bill would reinforce a precedent of simply granting amnesty to illegal immigrants every time the government manages to let the problem spiral out of control.
The bill outlines a legalization process for illegal immigrants already in the country, which amounts to an amnesty with strings. Instead of a blanket amnesty like the one issued in 1986, illegal immigrants must fulfill a host of conditions and pay various fees in order to secure an employment, or a Z visa. According to a White House press release, “”applicants must be employed, pass background checks, pay processing fees and agree to meet accelerated English and civics requirements to get their Z visas.””
Additionally, there are fines of several thousand dollars to simply initiate the process.
One part of the bill that seems like a good idea – on the surface – is increased border security. The bill calls for triple-layered “”strategic border fencing and vehicle barriers”” along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, out of the total 1951-mile border between the United States and Mexico, the bill only requires 370 miles of border fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers. This fence would merely redirect people away from the prying eyes of border patrol officers and into harsher terrain; rather than keeping illegal immigrants out, it will just cause more of them to die on their journey. The fence in its current form would accomplish little to stem the flow of illegal immigrants – potentially pushing Congress to grant yet another amnesty 20 years from now. Instead of a symbolic halfway measure, the bill should provide for fence construction along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
While the bill’s creators use the fence and other security measures to portray their legislation as toughening up security, the heart of the bill is a conditional amnesty. While this version is slightly more difficult to qualify for than the blanket amnesty granted by Ronald Reagan in 1986, the end result is the same. Instead of shaking its collective fists while proclaiming that this time will be the last, Congress needs to address the core of the problem: the economic opportunities that exist in the United States for illegal immigrants.
People from across the world illegally come into the United States seeking better-paying jobs than those available in their home countries. From farms across the nation to corporate giants such as Wal-mart, illegal immigrants readily find job opportunities. However, these jobs are only available because of the immigrants’ undocumented status, meaning the employer can avoid paying minimum wages or providing employee benefits. In addition to targeting the immigrants and the border, Congress should also move to stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants. To that end, the bill is increasing the fines for hiring illegal immigrants from $3,000 to $75,000.
However, this increase in fines is next to meaningless, as the vast majority of the currently illegal workers would become legal through the new amnesty process. Even if laborers do not go through the legalization process, the increased fines are useless without better enforcement of the law.
Currently, many employers use illegal laborers without the fear of fines because the government lacks the manpower – and the will – to enforce the already-existing fines. Creating a complicated amnesty process merely siphons resources away from other areas of immigration enforcement. Instead, Congress should dedicate more resources to efforts at preventing employers from exploiting illegal immigrants within the United States.
Immigration reform is badly needed at all levels, and this new legislation is a good first step in the right direction. However, more needs to be done, and th government needs to make the hard, necessary choices to develop a truly sensible immigration policy.
