First, the problem: illegal immigrants are streaming over the Mexican border.
-Some of them are coming to find work.
-Some are coming to avail themselves of the enormous network of social services we provide that they can’t get in Mexico.
-Some are criminals, with particular emphasis on drug crimes. Within that definition, some are gang members who see more prosperous vistas in the USA than in Mexico.
Now, what do I propose we do about it?
Lets start with the problems.
The first thing to do is recognize that Mexico is, and for years has been, perfectly fine with this.
-It gets rid of the people Mexico, based on its actions, neither wants nor has any interest in providing with decent living conditions.
-It relieves Mexico of the cost of such people – especially health care costs (California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, are acting, in no small part, as adjuncts of the Mexican health care system).
-Money, sent by non-drug related illegals back to Mexico (mostly, I assume to relatives) is a boon to the economy.
OK, there are some (not all of) the problems. Now, what can be done about them?
To answer that question, we have to answer a related one: how do we make it worth Mexico’s while? Because if we don’t, Mexico will continue to what it has been doing all these years – i.e. facilitating the illegal influx of its citizens to the United States. That may not be right, it may not be fair, but it is reality.
This means that if all we do is improve and refine our capability to deport illegals, they’ll keep coming anyway.
With all of the above in mind, I have a modest proposal for revamping our immigration structure, specifically as it relates to the Mexican border. One that seems so elemental, so simple, I’m amazed it has not been done until now.
I propose we scrap the current structure, which obviously does not work, and replace it with an alternative which provides a win-win situation – i.e. it benefits both countries.
Why in the world has that not happened yet?
Of course, saying it and doing it are two different things. So what would some of the key specifics be?
To me, the most expeditious way of accomplishing this is instituting a program for Mexican nationals to come here, work for periods of time (e.g. seasonally if the industry is agriculture) – possibly for years – and then, if they are productive and law-abiding, being given the opportunity for them and their immediate family to have permanent legal residency and, if they chose, an eventual path to full citizenship.
To do this would require them to provide identification, then continuing information on their location and place of employment.
What would this do? Here are your answers, in no particular order:
-It would give a lot of Mexican nationals the opportunity to come here openly. That would mean fewer treks through the desert with little food or water, fewer women and girls being raped then maybe discarded to die along the way, fewer trucks stuffed with dozens of people sweltering to death, fewer “coyotes” profiting off their misery. If we stopped right there it would be a major benefit.
-It would enable us to know, far more than we do now, about who is crossing our border.
-It would enable us to be more selective about who does and doesn’t enter our country;
-It would give Mexican immigrants a solid reason to choose this path instead of illegally jumping the border. If they play by these rules, they don’t have to hide in the shadows, don’t have to worry about deportation, and they have a path to citizenship. If they don’t, they have none of these benefits.
-It would give businesses an opportunity to hire people to “do the jobs no one else will” (if you believe that claim) legally, rather than illegally.
-It would make it less likely that businesses would hire illegals – partly because there would be a larger pool of available legals and partly because, with that pool, the businesses which continued to hire illegals would not only have less excuses to do so , they would be that much more conspicuous/identifiable.
-In that regard, an accompanying revision in the structure must be severe penalties for businesses which, given the opportunity to utilize legal Mexican labor at a decent wage, cheat anyway and hire illegals. This makes it worth their while not to do so as well.
-Since legals would be paid at least minimum wage with benefits, it would at least somewhat lessen the lowering of wage scales, resulting from illegals who, until now, have been taking near-slave wages with no benefits and no way of doing anything about it.
-And – this is extremely important – for Mexico, it would provide at least some of the send-back money its economy currently benefits from – but in a perfectly legal way. In other words, Mexico gets something out of it too, and can proudly proclaim it cooperates with the USA in the bargain.
Will this stop illegal immigration? No, of course not. But a) it makes sense (that should count for something) and b) it will, at least to some degree, lessen the number of illegals, make it worth potential immigrants’ whiles to do things legally rather than illegally, give us more knowledge of who is in our country, keep our wage scales more toward reasonable levels, and provide a way for Mexico to save face as well.
Does this make sense? You tell me.
There are other elements to revamping the immigration system, which apply not only to Mexico but other countries as well. I’ll try to discuss them in future blogs.
