Immigration

I've wanted to write about immigration for a long time. It's a situation that has not been addressed well through government policy. Over the years it seems that it has been used by politicians to define themselves and their opponents, and so it has been more convenient for both sides if the situation were to remain unsolved.

In some sense, being relaxed about illegal immigration has been a tacit conspiracy between government and business. The construction industry, food processing plants, assembly work, landscaping and janitorial companies, and restaurants and retail, to name a few employers have a huge need for low-wage unskilled or semi-skilled positions. These are the jobs that undocumented workers are able to fill, either because the employer keeps them off the books or accepts false identification without looking too closely at it. We all benefit from lower costs on goods and services, but our salaries are lower too. Citizens would likely take these jobs if they paid more, and they would probably pay more if there weren't undocumented aliens here willing to work for less. If all these jobs paid more because citizens took them for more money everyone at all levels of employment would make more, but then the cost of those goods and services would be higher so maybe it would all be the same.

The terms people use to refer to people who are in the country without citizenship or authorization reveals a lot about the attitude of the person choosing which term to use. Calling someone an "illegal" reveals the speaker as against that person being here and it's probably a good bet it reveals some racism as well. Referring to the person as "undocumented" shows a person more socially sensitive; it's the word I use, but it still defines a person by what they are not. "Alien" is not a bad word; it means "a person owing allegiance to a country other than that in which he or she lives, or any being or thing foreign to the environment in which it now exists" according to www.wordreference.com, but people don't seem to feel comfortable using it. We should think more about why aliens are here.

I often hear people say, " Breaking the law makes them illegal" or "I wouldn't mind them coming if they did it legally." For almost all of the people that emigrate from Mexico and Central America illegally, there is not a legal option. Citizens of other countries cannot say, "oh, let's move to the United States" and apply to move here. There are only certain circumstance in which citizens of other countries can move to the United States to live. American citizens who are immediate family can petition to unite their family in the US. American businesses can, after demonstrating they can't find American workers to fill a position, sponsor foreign workers who have a particular skill that is difficult to find. American employers such as produce growers can also seek foreign unskilled workers on a temporary basis because they say they can't find people in the United States who want to spend twelve hours a day in 100 degree temperatures bent over culling sprouts or harvesting radishes.

Refugees who are displaced from their homeland and would likely be persecuted or killed if they were to return can apply. Some recent examples of this are the Sudanese and Somalis who have sought refuge here. The last avenue is asylum. People who succeed in making it to American soil can ask for political asylum for much the same reasons that refugees do. A father in Mexico unable to find work to provide the basics of food, clothing, and shelter for his family need not apply. Three billion people in the world are living in dire poverty. How many would we be able to approve and who would decide? Clearly, a system allowing entry for people who just want a better life would be infeasible. To the father in Mexico who leaves his family behind, risking a dangerous border crossing to an unfamiliar land where he doesn't speak the language, hoping to find work with a company willing to hire him, the act doesn't feel illegal; it feels to him like he is responding to a higher law: the law of survival. I like to ask people to what lengths would they go to feed their children. The answer is usually, "whatever I have to". Fortunately, if an American can't inexplicably find work, he or she can just show up at a food bank or apply for food stamps.

 Building a wall seems entirely unnecessary; we create the demand for undocumented workers and for illegal drugs. It is very easy to determine if a person is legally eligible to work in the United States. Any business that hires someone illegally surely is breaking the law by looking the other way. We need to look at ourselves when it comes to blame for creating demand for illegal drugs. If we didn't buy them, no one would go through the trouble of bringing them here.

It seems it would make sense to establish some kind of temporary worker program by which people from Mexico, at least, could come and work for a limited period of time in areas of employment that are traditionally difficult to fill. This would meet some of our demand for workers at low-paying job and it would help some of our neighbors to the south. I also think we need to consider permitting those of whom we have been complicit in allowing to enter and work and have not committed significant crimes should be given a legal option for staying. Those whom were brought here as children should have a means of establishing citizenship and all the rights associated with it.