Immigration Reform and Sausage

There is an old saying that you do not want to watch two things being made: legislation and sausage. This adage is certainly being proven true in Congress these days as we watch the fight over immigration reform.

Over the next year as we watch the Senate and House of Representatives fight over the extremely important issues collectively referred to as “immigration reform”, it is important to remember there really is only one fundamental issue and that is low skilled jobs. If the United States did not have millions of low skilled jobs available, people from other countries, primarily Mexico and Central America, would not stream to the United States to do them. Furthermore, if Congress had taken the initiative to provide a legal process for employers to hire low skilled employees, none of this mess would have started in the first place.

Following the “amnesty” program in the late 1980’s, Congress did the worst possible thing it could have done by severely limiting the legal options for employers who wished to employ low skilled workers. Starting with the Immigration Act of 1990 which cut the number of visas to 10,000, and then the Immigration Act of 1996 which completely eliminated low skilled workers as an option, it is Congress which has significantly contributed to the problem from the beginning. It does not matter whether nine million people are given amnesty in 2014 or 2024 if Congress does not allow employers to have a legal option to employ low skilled workers in the future. Otherwise the cycle will simply repeat itself.

Looking at the legislation which is currently pending in the Senate, it is clear that the “Gang of Eight” senators who proposed the legislation are clearly trying for comprehensive reform. In this regard their efforts should be applauded. However, the proposed bill only provides for 250,000 low skilled visas per year for the entire U.S. Just as the professional level visas are capped at a ridiculously low number (currently 85,000) the 250,000 number will not be adequate to satisfy the hundreds of thousands of jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled workers which are available each year.

The Senate proposal does provide for a “path to citizenship” for those undocumented people who are currently in the U.S. This step is long overdue for a variety of reasons and it is interesting to watch the anti-immigrant groups continue to battle this idea despite its obvious benefits to our country.

A significant portion of the proposed bill deals with securing “the border” before any of the “amnesty” provisions can take effect. Although border security is obviously an important component of immigration reform, it must be noted that apprehensions along the southern border of the U.S. are at a record low and the amount of federal money spent on border enforcement is currently 18 billion dollars per year which is more than the combined budgets for all federal enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA and others. Again, it would make much more financial sense to provide employers with a legal means to employ these workers rather than chasing them around the Southwest desert with drones and even more border patrol officers.

Some of the most interesting aspects of the proposed legislation are relatively minor in comparison. For example, the fourth preference family category for the brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens would be eliminated. However, the elimination of this category would also probably provide for an acceleration of those cases which have previously been filed. The current waiting period for fourth preference is around 10 years for the world-wide category and in some instances, such as Mexico, it is around 20 years. This is obviously bad news for siblings of U.S. citizens going forward but great news for those who have already filed their cases.

We also see siblings of U.S. citizens in a new program called “merit-based immigrants”. This category will allocate 120,000 immigrant visas based upon a point system. The bill outlines a number of areas in which the applicant can accumulate points and once a particular number is reached, immigrant status will be granted. The point system favors things such as education (such as doctorates, master’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees on a sliding scale) and employment. The employment points are accumulated based upon the number of years of experience in particular fields, primarily technology based, or those who own companies and employ at least two individuals in professional and technical fields. Basically it appears that this program favors those with highly technical skills based on education and work experience as well as those who create jobs in those fields. There are also a number of ambiguous categories such as “civic involvement” and “caregiver”. It will be extremely interesting to see how the immigration service promulgates its regulations for this category since it is completely new to the U.S. immigration system.

Of course none of this may be included in the final immigration reform legislation, if in fact a bill is ever passed by Congress. It is important for everyone to be involved in the debate, watch Congress carefully over the next several months and contact your Senators and Congressmen to voice your opinion. If you are an advocate for immigration reform it is extremely important for you to voice your opinion since the anti-immigrant groups are constantly in touch with members of Congress to express their displeasure with the entire process. 

 

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